Genesis 43

1 But the famine, was severe in the land.

The famine in Canaan got worse.

2 So it came to pass when they had made an end of eating the corn which they had brought in out of Egypt, that their father said unto them, —Return buy for 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 Then spake Judah unto him saying, —The man, did protest, to us saying—Ye shall not see my face, except, your brother, is 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 art sending our brother with us, we will certainly go down, and buy for 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 art not sending him, we will not go down, for the man, said unto us Ye shall not see my face, except, your brother, is 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 did ye ill to me, —to tell the man, there yet remained to you 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, did ask, concerning ourselves and concerning our kindred saying—Is your father yet alive? Have ye a brother? So we told him according to the tenor of these words. Could we, at all know, that he would say, Bring down 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 Then said Judah unto Israel his father—Come! send thou down the young man with me that we may arise and go our way, —and live and not die, both we and thou and 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, at my hand, shalt thou require him, —as surely as I bring him not in unto thee, and set him down before thee, so surely will I be counted a sinner against thee all the days,

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 lingered, surely now, had we come back here a 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 Then Israel their father said unto them—If so, then do this, —Take of the song of the land in your vessels, and carry down to the man a present, —A little balsam and a little honey, tragacanth gum and cistus gum, pistachio 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 double silver, take in your hand, —also the silver that was put back in the mouth of your sacks, carry ye back in your hand, peradventure it was an error,

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 Your brother also, take ye, —and arise go again unto the man.

Take your younger brother and go back to that man.

14 And, God Almighty, give you compassion before the man, so shall he send with you, your other brother, and Benjamin. But, as for me, when I am bereaved, 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 So the men took this present, double silver also, took they in their hand and Benjamin, —and arose and went down into 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—with them—Benjamin, so he said to him that was over his house Bring the men into the house, —and slay meat and make ready, for with me, shall the men eat 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 So the men did as Joseph had said, 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 Then were the men afraid because they had been brought into the house of Joseph, and they said—For the matter of the silver that came back in our sacks at the beginning, have, we, been brought in, —that he may turn round upon us and fall upon us, and 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 So they drew near unto the man that was over Joseph’s house, —and spake unto him at the entrance 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, May it please my lord! We, did indeed come down, at the beginning 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 had entered into the inn, that we opened our sacks, and lo! the silver of each man, in the mouth of his sack, —our silver in its full weight, —so we have bought it back 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, more silver, have we brought down in our hand, to buy food, —we know not who put our silver 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 to you do not fear! Your God, and the God of your father, hath given you secret treasure, in your sacks, as for your silver, it came in unto me. And he brought forth unto them Simeon.

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 So the man brought the men into Joseph’s house, —and gave them water and they bathed their feet, and he gave them provender for 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 made ready the present, against the coming in of Joseph at noon, —for they heard that it was there they should eat bread.

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 So when Joseph came into the house, they brought in to him the present which was in their hand into the house, —and bowed themselves down 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 Then asked he after their welfare, and said—Is it well with your aged father, 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 said—It is well with thy servant our father, he is yet alive. And they bent their heads and bowed them-selves down.

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 Then lifted he up his eyes, and saw Benjamin his brother son of his mother, and said—Is, this, your youngest brother, of whom ye spake unto me? And he said, God, grant thee favour 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 compassions towards his brother were pent up, and he sought to weep, —so he went into the inner 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 Then bathed he his face and came forth, —and restrained 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 So they set on for him—by himself, and for them—by themselves, —and for the Egyptians that were eating with him—by themselves, for the Egyptians might not eat, bread, with the Hebrews for an abomination, had that been to 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 So they took their seats before him, the firstborn, according to his birthright and the youngest, according to his youth, —and the men looked with amazement, each one at his companion.

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

34 And he sent portions from before him unto them, and the portion of Benjamin exceeded the portions of them all, five-fold. And they drank and made 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.