Genesis 43

1 And the famine was sore in the land.

The famine in Canaan got worse.

2 And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the food which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said unto them, Go again, buy us a little food.

Finally, when Jacob and his family had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, Jacob said to them, “Go back to Egypt and buy some more grain for us!”

3 And Judah spake unto him, saying, The man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you.

But Judah said to him, “The man who sold us the grain warned us sternly, ‘I will not let you see me [SYN] again if you come and your younger brother is not with you.’

4 If thou wilt send our brother with us, we will go down and buy thee food:

So, if you will send our younger brother with us, we will go down to Egypt and buy some grain for you.

5 But if thou wilt not send him, we will not go down: for the man said unto us, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you.

But if you will not send him, we will not go down there, because that man said to us, ‘I will not let you see me again if your younger brother is not with you.’”

6 And Israel said, Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me, as to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother?

Jacob asked, “Why did you cause me to have this trouble by telling the man that you had a younger brother?”

7 And they said, The man asked us straitly of our state, and of our kindred, saying, Is your father yet alive? have ye another brother? and we told him according to the tenor of these words: could we certainly know that he would say, Bring your brother down?

One of them replied, “The man asked about us and about our family. He said, ‘Is your father still living? Do you have another brother?’ We had to answer his questions. (We could not know that he would say, ‘The next time that you come down here, bring your brother with you!’/How could we know that he would say, ‘The next time that you come down here, bring your brother with you!’)” [RHQ]

8 And Judah said unto Israel his father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go; that we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, and also our little ones.

Then Judah said to his father Jacob, “Send the boy with me, and we will go immediately, in order that we and you and our children may get grain and not die from hunger.

9 I will be surety for him; of my hand shalt thou require him: if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever:

I myself will guarantee that he will return. You can require me to do what I am promising [IDM]. If I do not bring him back to you safely, you can say forever that (I am to blame/it was my fault [that he did not return to you)].

10 For except we had lingered, surely now we had returned this second time.

If we had not (wasted so much time/waited so long), by now we could have gone there and returned two times!”

11 And their father Israel said unto them, If it must be so now, do this; take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds:

Then their father Jacob said to them, “If there is no other way, do this: Put in your sacks some of the best things that are grown in this land, and take them down to the man as a gift. Take some balm/perfume and honey and spices and myrrh/ointment, some pistachio nuts, and almonds.

12 And take double money in your hand; and the money that was brought again in the mouth of your sacks, carry it again in your hand; peradventure it was an oversight:

Take twice as much money as you took the previous time, because you must return the silver that someone put in the tops of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake that it was put in your sacks.

13 Take also your brother, and arise, go again unto the man:

Take your younger brother and go back to that man.

14 And God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your other brother, and Benjamin. If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.

I will pray that God Almighty will cause that man to act mercifully toward you, so that he will let your other brother, as well as Benjamin, come back here with you. But as for me, if my sons are taken from me, then I will not have my sons!”

15 And the men took that present, and they took double money in their hand, and Benjamin; and rose up, and went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph.

So the men took the gifts that Jacob said that they should take, and twice the amount of money that the grain would cost, and they also took Benjamin. They went down quickly to Egypt, and they stood in front of Joseph.

16 And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the ruler of his house, Bring these men home, and slay, and make ready; for these men shall dine with me at noon.

When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the man who (was in charge of/supervised) things in his house, “Take these men to my house. Slaughter an animal and prepare a meal, because I want them to eat with me at noon.” [And he told him in what order they were to be seated].

17 And the man did as Joseph bade; and the man brought the men into Joseph’s house.

The man did as Joseph said. And he took them to Joseph’s house.

18 And the men were afraid, because they were brought into Joseph’s house; and they said, Because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time are we brought in; that he may seek occasion against us, and fall upon us, and take us for bondmen, and our donkeys.

But they were afraid because he was taking them to Joseph’s house. They were thinking, “He is taking us here because of the silver that was put in our sacks the first time that we came here. While we are eating, he will have his servants attack us and seize us and cause us to become his slaves, and also take our donkeys.”

19 And they came near to the steward of Joseph’s house, and they communed with him at the door of the house,

They went with the man who was in charge of things in Joseph’s house. When they arrived at the entrance of the house,

20 And said, O sir, we came indeed down at the first time to buy food:

one of them said to him, “Please, sir, listen to me. We came down here previously and bought some grain.

21 And it came to pass, when we came to the inn, that we opened our sacks, and, behold, every man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight: and we have brought it again in our hand.

But at the place where we stopped for the night as we were returning home, we opened our sacks. We were astonished to see that in the top of each of our sacks was the exact amount of silver that we had paid for the grain! So we have brought it back with us.

22 And other money have we brought down in our hands to buy food: we cannot tell who put our money in our sacks.

We have also brought more silver with us to buy more grain. We do not know who put the silver in our sacks.”

23 And he said, Peace be to you, fear not: your God, and the God of your father, hath given you treasure in your sacks: I had your money. And he brought Simeon out unto them.

The man replied, [“Relax]! Do not worry about it! I received the silver that you brought. Your God, the God your father worships, must have put it in your sacks.” And then he brought Simeon to them from the prison.

24 And the man brought the men into Joseph’s house, and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their donkeys provender.

Then he took them into Joseph’s house. He gave them water to wash their feet and gave them food for the donkeys.

25 And they made ready the present against Joseph came at noon: for they heard that they should eat bread there.

He told them that they were going to eat with Joseph at noon. So the men prepared their gifts to give to Joseph when he arrived.

26 And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed themselves to him to the earth.

When Joseph came home, they presented to him the gifts that they had brought into the house. Then they bowed down to the ground in front of him.

27 And he asked them of their welfare, and said, Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spake? Is he yet alive?

He asked them if they were (well/in good health), and then he asked, “How is the health of your old father, the one that you told me about? Is he still living?”

28 And they answered, Thy servant our father is in good health, he is yet alive. And they bowed down their heads, and made obeisance.

One of them replied, “Yes, our father, [who is willing to be] your servant, is still alive, and he is well.” Then again they bowed down in front of him.

29 And he lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, Is this your younger brother, of whom ye spake unto me? And he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son.

Then he saw his [younger] brother Benjamin, his own mother’s other son. He asked them, “Is this your youngest brother, the one whom you told me about?” After they said “Yes,” he said to Benjamin, “Young man, I pray that God will act kindly toward you.”

30 And Joseph made haste; for his bowels did yearn upon his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there.

Joseph quickly left the room. He realized that he was about to cry because he (was full of emotion about his younger brother/loved his younger brother so much). He went into his private room and cried there.

31 And he washed his face, and went out, and refrained himself, and said, Set on bread.

Then, after he washed the tears from his face, he came out, and controlling his emotions, he said to the servants, “Serve the food!”

32 And they set on for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, which did eat with him, by themselves: because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews; for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians.

The people of Egypt considered that it was disgraceful for them to eat with Hebrews, so the servants served food to Joseph by himself, and served the other people of Egypt who ate with him by themselves, and they served Joseph’s older brothers and younger brother by themselves.

33 And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth: and the men marvelled one at another.

His brothers were astonished to see that their seats were arranged according to their ages, from the oldest to the youngest!

34 And he took and sent messes unto them from before him: but Benjamin’s mess was five times so much as any of theirs. And they drank, and were merry with him.

And when their portions of food were served to them from Joseph’s table, Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as anyone else’s portion! So they ate food and drank wine with Joseph and became very cheerful.