Genesis 43
1 But the famine prevailed in the
land. 2 And it came to pass, when they
had finished eating the corn which they had brought out of Egypt, that their
father said to them, Go again; buy us a little food.
3 And Judas spoke to him, saying, The
man, the lord of the country, positively testified to us, saying, Ye shall not
see my face, unless your younger brother be with you.
4 If, then, thou send our brother with
us, we will go down, and buy thee food;
5 but if thou send not our brother
with us, we will not go: for the man spoke to us, saying, Ye shall not see my
face, unless your younger brother be with you.
6 And Israel said, Why did ye harm me,
inasmuch as ye told the man that ye had a brother?
7 And they said, The man closely
questioned us about our family also, saying, Does your father yet live, and
have ye a brother? and we answered him according to this question: did we know
that he would say to us, Bring your brother?
8 And Judas said to his father Israel,
Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die,
both we and thou, and our store. 9 And
I engage for him; at my hand do thou require him; if I bring him not to thee,
and place him before thee, I shall be guilty toward thee for ever.
10 For if we had not tarried, we
should now have returned twice.
11 And Israel, their father, said to
them, If it be so, do this; take of the fruits of the earth in your vessels,
and carry down to the man presents of gum and honey, and frankincense, and
stacte, and turpentine, and walnuts.
12 And take double money in your
hands, and the money that was returned in your sacks, carry back with you,
lest peradventure it is a mistake.
13 And take your
aGr. one.brother; and arise, go down to the man.
14 And my God give you favour in the
sight of the man, and send away your other brother, and Benjamin, for I
accordingly as I have been bereaved, am bereaved.
15 And the men having taken these
presents, and the double money, took in their hands also Benjamin; and they
rose up and went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph.
16 And Joseph saw them and his
brother Benjamin, born of the same mother; and he said to the steward of his
household, Bring the men into the house, and slay beasts and make ready, for
the men are to eat bread with me at noon.
17 And the man did as Joseph said;
and he brought the men into the house of Joseph.
18 And the men, when they perceived
that they were brought into the house of Joseph, said, We are brought in
because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first; even in
order to inform against us, and lay it to our charge; to take us for servants,
and our asses. 19 And having
approached the man who was over the house of Joseph, they spoke to him in the
porch of the house, 20 saying, We
pray thee, Sir; we came down at first to buy food.
21 And it came to pass, when we came
to unlade, and opened our sacks, there was also this
money of each in his sack; we have now brought back our money by weight in our
hands. 22 And we have brought other
money with us to buy food; we know not who put the money into our sacks.
23 And he said to them,
God deal mercifully with you; be not afraid; your
God, and the God of your fathers, has given you treasures in your sacks, and
bq. d. I am satisfied with the money you have given me, both as to quality
and quantity.I have enough of your good money. And he brought Symeon out to them.
24 And he brought water to wash their
feet; and gave provender to their asses.
25 And they prepared their gifts,
until Joseph came at noon, for they heard that he was going to dine there.
26 And Joseph entered into the house,
and they brought him the gifts which they had in their hands, into the house;
and they did him reverence with their face to the ground.
27 And he asked them, How are ye? and
he said to them, Is your father, the old man of whom ye spoke, well? Does he
yet live? 28 And they said, Thy
servant our father is well; he is yet alive. And he said, Blessed be that man
by God;—and they bowed, and did him reverence.
29 And Joseph
cGr. having looked up with, etc.lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, born of the same mother;
and he said, Is this your younger brother, whom ye spoke of bringing to me?
and he said, God have mercy on thee, my son.
30 And Joseph was troubled, for his
bowels yearned over his brother, and he sought to weep; and he went into his
chamber, and wept there.
31 And he washed his face and came
out, and refrained himself, and said, Set on bread.
32 And they set on
bread for him alone, and for them by themselves, and
for the Egyptians feasting with him by themselves, for the Egyptians could not
eat bread with the Hebrews, for it is an abomination to the Egyptians.
33 And they sat before him, the
first-born according to his seniority, and the younger according to his youth;
and the men
dGr. were amazed.looked with amazement every one at his brother.
34 And they took their portions from
him to themselves; but Benjamin's portion was
eGr. was magnified beyond the portions of all five times in comparison of
theirs.five times as much as the portions of the others.
And they drank and were filled with drink with him.