Genesis 43

1 But the famine prevailed in the land.

The famine in Canaan got worse.

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.

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 Judas spoke to him, saying, The man, the lord of the country, positively testified to us, saying, You shall not see my face, unless your younger 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, then, you send our brother with us, we will go down, and buy you 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 you send not our brother with us, we will not go: for the man spoke to us, saying, You shall not see my face, unless your younger 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, Why did you harm me, inasmuch as you told the man that you had 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 closely questioned us about our family also, saying, Does your father yet live, and have you a brother? and we answered him according to this question: did we know that he would say to us, Bring your brother?

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 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 you, and our store.

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 And I engage for him; at my hand do you require him; if I bring him not to you, and place him before you, I shall be guilty toward you 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 if we had not tarried, we should now have returned twice.

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

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.

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 hands, and the money that was returned in your sacks, carry back with you, lest perhaps it is a mistake.

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 And take your brother; and arise, go down to the man.

Take your younger brother and go back to that man.

14 And my God give you favor in the sight of the man, and send away your other brother, and Benjamin, for I accordingly as I have been bereaved, 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 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.

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 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 kill beasts and make ready, for the men are to eat bread 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 said; and he brought the men into the house of Joseph.

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

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.

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 having approached the man who was over the house of Joseph, they spoke to him in the porch 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 saying, We pray [you], Sir; we came down at first 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 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.

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 we have brought other money with us to buy food; we know not who put the money into 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 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 I have enough of your good money. And he brought Symeon out to 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 he brought water to wash their feet; and gave provender to their asses.

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 prepared their gifts, until Joseph came at noon, for they heard that he was going to dine 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 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.

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, How are you? and he said to them, Is your father, the old man of whom you spoke, well? Does he yet live?

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 said, Your 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.

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 Joseph lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, born of the same mother; and he said, Is this your younger brother, whom you spoke of bringing to me? and he said, God have mercy on you, 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 was troubled, for his bowels yearned over his brother, and he sought to weep; and he went 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 came 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 [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.

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 seniority, and the younger according to his youth; and the men looked with amazement every one at his brother.

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

34 And they took their portions from him to themselves; but Benjamin's portion was five times as much as the portions of [the others]. And they drank and were filled with drink 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.