Genesis 43

1 And the famine [is] severe in the land;

Now the land was in bitter need of food.

2 and it comes to pass, when they have finished eating the grain which they brought from Egypt, that their father says to them, “Return, buy for us a little food.”

And when the grain which they had got in Egypt was all used up, their father said to them, Go again and get us a little food.

3 And Judah speaks to him, saying, “The man protesting protested to us, saying, You do not see my face without your brother [being] with you;

And Judah said to him, The man said to us with an oath, You are not to come before me again without your brother.

4 if you are sending our brother with us, we go down, and buy for you food,

If you will let our brother go with us, we will go down and get food:

5 and if you are not sending—we do not go down, for the man said to us, You do not see my face without your brother [being] with you.”

But if you will not send him, we will not go down: for the man said to us, You are not to come before me if your brother is not with you.

6 And Israel says, “Why did you do evil to me, by declaring to the man that you had yet a brother?”

And Israel said, Why were you so cruel to me as to say to him that you had a brother?

7 And they say, “The man asked diligently concerning us, and concerning our family, saying, Is your father yet alive? Have you a brother? And we declare to him according to the tenor of these things; do we certainly know that he will say, Bring down your brother?”

And they said, The man put a number of questions to us about ourselves and our family, saying, Is your father still living? have you another brother? And we had to give him answers; how were we to have any idea that he would say, Come back with your brother?

8 And Judah says to his father Israel, “Send the youth with me, and we arise, and go, and live, and do not die, both we, and you, and our infants.

Then Judah said to Israel, his father, Send the boy with me, and let us be up and going, so that we and you and our little ones may not come to destruction.

9 I am guarantor [for] him, from my hand you require him; if I have not brought him to you, and set him before you—then I have sinned against you all the days;

Put him into my care and make me responsible for him: if I do not give him safely back to you, let mine be the sin for ever.

10 for if we had not lingered, surely now we had returned these two times.”

Truly, if we had not let the time go by, we might have come back again by now.

11 And their father Israel says to them, “If so, now, do this: take of the praised thing of the land in your vessels, and take down to the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices and myrrh, nuts and almonds;

Then their father Israel said to them, If it has to be so, then do this: take of the best fruits of the land in your vessels to give the man, perfumes and honey and spices and nuts:

12 and double money take in your hand, even the money which is brought back in the mouth of your bags, you take back in your hand, it may be it [is] an oversight.

And take twice as much money with you; that is to say, take back the money which was put in your bags, for it may have been an error;

13 And take your brother, and rise, return to the man;

And take your brother and go back to the man:

14 and God Almighty give to you mercies before the man, so that he has sent to you your other brother and Benjamin; and I, when I am bereaved—I am bereaved.”

And may God, the Ruler of all, give you mercy before the man, so that he may give you back your other brother and Benjamin. If my children are to be taken from me; there is no help for it.

15 And the men take this present, double money also they have taken in their hand, and Benjamin; and they rise, and go down to Egypt, and stand before Joseph;

So they took what their father said for the man, and twice as much money in their hands, and Benjamin, and went on their journey to Egypt, and came before Joseph.

16 and Joseph sees Benjamin with them and says to him who [is] over his house, “Bring the men into the house, and slaughter an animal, and make ready, for the men eat with me at noon.”

And when Joseph saw Benjamin, he said to his chief servant, Take these men into my house, and make ready a meal, for they will take food with me in the middle of the day.

17 And the man does as Joseph has said, and the man brings in the men into the house of Joseph,

And the servant did as Joseph said, and took the men into Joseph's house.

18 and the men are afraid because they have been brought into the house of Joseph, and they say, “For the matter of the money which was put back in our bags at the commencement are we brought in—to roll himself on us, and to throw himself on us, and to take us for servants—our donkeys also.”

Now the men were full of fear because they had been taken into Joseph's house and they said, It is because of the money which was put back in our bags the first time; he is looking for something against us, so that he may come down on us and take us and our asses for his use.

19 And they come near to the man who [is] over the house of Joseph, and speak to him at the opening of the house,

So they went up to Joseph's chief servant at the door of the house,

20 and say, “O my lord, we really come down at the commencement to buy food;

And said, O my lord, we only came down the first time to get food;

21 and it comes to pass, when we have come to the lodging-place, and open our bags, that behold, each one’s money [is] in the mouth of his bag, our money in its weight, and we bring it back in our hand;

And when we came to our night's resting-place, on opening our bags we saw that every man's money was in the mouth of his bag, all our money in full weight: and we have it with us to give it back;

22 and other money have we brought down in our hand to buy food; we have not known who put our money in our bags.”

As well as more money, with which to get food: we have no idea who put our money in our bags.

23 And he says, “Peace to you, do not fear: your God and the God of your father has given to you hidden treasure in your bags, your money came to me”; and he brings out Simeon to them.

Then the servant said, Peace be with you: have no fear: your God, even the God of your father, has put wealth in your bags for you: I had your money. Then he let Simeon come out to them.

24 And the man brings in the men into Joseph’s house, and gives water, and they wash their feet; and he gives provender for their donkeys,

And the servant took them into Joseph's house, and gave them water for washing their feet; and he gave their asses food.

25 and they prepare the present until the coming of Joseph at noon, for they have heard that there they eat bread.

And they got ready the things for Joseph before he came in the middle of the day: for word was given to them that they were to have a meal there.

26 And Joseph comes into the house, and they bring to him the present which [is] in their hand, into the house, and bow themselves to him, to the earth;

And when Joseph came in, they gave him the things which they had for him, and went down to the earth before him.

27 and he asks of them of peace and says, “Is your father well? The aged man of whom you have spoken, is he yet alive?”

And he said, How are you? is your father well, the old man of whom you were talking to me? is he still living?

28 And they say, “Your servant our father [is] well, he is yet alive”; and they bow, and pay respect.

And they said, Your servant, our father, is well, he is still living. And they went down on their faces before him.

29 And he lifts up his eyes and sees his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and says, “Is this your young brother, of whom you have spoken to me?” And he says, “God favor you, my son.”

Then, lifting up his eyes, he saw Benjamin, his brother, his mother's son, and he said, Is this your youngest brother of whom you gave me word? And he said, God be good to you, my son.

30 And Joseph hurries, for his bowels have been moved for his brother, and he seeks to weep, and enters the inner chamber, and weeps there;

Then Joseph's heart went out to his brother, and he went quickly into his room, for he was overcome with weeping.

31 and he washes his face, and goes out, and refrains himself, and says, “Place bread.”

Then, after washing his face, he came out, and controlling his feelings said, Put food before us.

32 And they place for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians who are eating with him by themselves: for the Egyptians are unable to eat bread with the Hebrews, for it [is] an abomination to the Egyptians.

And they put a meal ready for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians who were with him by themselves; because the Egyptians may not take food with the Hebrews, for that would make them unclean.

33 And they sit before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the young one according to his youth, and the men wonder one at another;

And they were all given their seats before him in order of birth, from the oldest to the youngest: so that they were looking at one another in wonder.

34 and he lifts up gifts from before him to them, and the gift of Benjamin is five hands more than the gifts of all of them; and they drink, indeed, they drink abundantly with him.

And Joseph sent food to them from his table, but he sent five times as much to Benjamin as to any of the others. And they took wine freely with him.