Genesis 43

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

In the mean time the famine was heavy upon all the land.

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 they had eaten up all the corn, which they had brought out of Egypt, Jacob said to his sons: Go again and buy 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;

Juda answered: The man declared unto us with the attestation of an oath, saying: You shall not see my face, unless you bring your youngest brother with you.

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

If therefore thou wilt send him with us, we will set out together, and will buy necessaries for thee.

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 thou wilt not, we will not go: for the man, as we have often said, declared unto us, saying: You shall not see my face without your youngest brother.

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

Israel said to them: You have done this for my misery in that you told him you had also another 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?”

But they answered: The man asked us in order concerning our kindred: if our father lived: if we had a brother: and we answered him regularly, according to what he demanded: could we know that he would say: Bring hither your brother with you?

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.

And Juda said to his father: Send the boy with me, that we may set forward, and may live: lest both we and our children perish.

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;

I take the boy upon me, require him at my hand: unless I bring him again, and restore him to thee, I will be guilty of sin against thee for ever.

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

If delay had not been made, we had been here again the second time.

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 Israel said to them: If it must needs be so, do what you will: take of the best fruits of the land in your vessels, and carry down presents to the man, a little balm, and honey, and storax, myrrh, turpentine, and almonds.

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 with you double money, and carry back what you found in your sacks, lest perhaps it was done by mistake.

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

And take also your brother, and go 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 my almighty God make him favourable to you; and send back with you your brother, whom he keepeth, and this Benjamin: and as for me I shall be desolate without children.

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 the men took the presents, and double money, and Benjamin: and went down into Egypt, and stood 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 he had seen them, and Benjamin with them, he commanded the steward of his house, saying: Bring in the men into the house, and kill victims, and prepare a feast: because they shall eat with me at noon.

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

He did as he was commanded, and brought the men into the 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.”

And they being much afraid, said there one to another: Because of the money, which we carried back the first time in our sacks, we are brought in: that he may bring upon us a false accusation, and by violence make slaves of us and our asses.

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,

Wherefore going up to the steward of the house, at the door,

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

They said: Sir, we desire thee to hear us: We came down once before to buy 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 had bought, and come to the inn, we opened our sacks, and found our money in the mouths of the sacks: which we have now brought again in the same weight.

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.”

And we have brought other money besides, to buy what we want: we cannot tell who put it 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.

But he answered: Peace be with you, fear not: your God, and the God of your father hath given you treasure in your sacks. For the money, which you gave me, I have for good. And he brought Simeon 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 having brought them into the house, he fetched water, and they washed their feet, and he gave provender to their asses.

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

But they made ready the presents, against Joseph came at noon: for they had heard that they should eat bread 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;

Then Joseph came into his house, and they offered him the presents holding them in their hands, and they bowed down with their face to the ground.

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?”

But he, courteously saluting them again, asked them, saying: Is the old man your father in health, of whom you told me? Is he yet living?

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

And they answered: Thy servant our father is in health, he is yet living. And bowing themselves they made obeisance to 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.”

And Joseph lifting up his eyes, saw Benjamin his brother, by the same mother, and said: Is this your young brother, of whom you told me? And he said: God be gracious to thee, 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;

And he made haste because his heart was moved upon his brother, and tears gushed out: and going into his chamber he wept.

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

And when he had washed his face, coming out again, he refrained himself, and said: Set bread on the table.

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 when it was set on, for Joseph apart, and for his brethren apart, for the Egyptians also that ate with him, apart, (for it is unlawful for the Egyptians to eat with the Hebrews, and they think such a feast profane):

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;

They sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his age. And they wondered very much:

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.

Taking the messes which they received of him: and the greater mess came to Benjamin, so that it exceeded by five parts. And they drank, and were merry with him.