בראשית 43
| והרעב כבד בארץ | 1 |
The famine in Canaan got worse.
| ויהי כאשר כלו לאכל את השבר אשר הביאו ממצרים ויאמר אליהם אביהם שבו שברו לנו מעט אכל | 2 |
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!”
| ויאמר אליו יהודה לאמר העד העד בנו האיש לאמר לא תראו פני בלתי אחיכם אתכם | 3 |
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.’
| אם ישך משלח את אחינו אתנו--נרדה ונשברה לך אכל | 4 |
So, if you will send our younger brother with us, we will go down to Egypt and buy some grain for you.
| ואם אינך משלח לא נרד כי האיש אמר אלינו לא תראו פני בלתי אחיכם אתכם | 5 |
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.’”
| ויאמר ישראל למה הרעתם לי--להגיד לאיש העוד לכם אח | 6 |
Jacob asked, “Why did you cause me to have this trouble by telling the man that you had a younger brother?”
| ויאמרו שאול שאל האיש לנו ולמולדתנו לאמר העוד אביכם חי היש לכם אח ונגד לו על פי הדברים האלה הידוע נדע--כי יאמר הורידו את אחיכם | 7 |
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]
| ויאמר יהודה אל ישראל אביו שלחה הנער אתי--ונקומה ונלכה ונחיה ולא נמות גם אנחנו גם אתה גם טפנו | 8 |
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.
| אנכי אערבנו--מידי תבקשנו אם לא הביאתיו אליך והצגתיו לפניך וחטאתי לך כל הימים | 9 |
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)].
| כי לולא התמהמהנו--כי עתה שבנו זה פעמים | 10 |
If we had not (wasted so much time/waited so long), by now we could have gone there and returned two times!”
| ויאמר אלהם ישראל אביהם אם כן אפוא זאת עשו--קחו מזמרת הארץ בכליכם והורידו לאיש מנחה מעט צרי ומעט דבש נכאת ולט בטנים ושקדים | 11 |
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.
| וכסף משנה קחו בידכם ואת הכסף המושב בפי אמתחתיכם תשיבו בידכם--אולי משגה הוא | 12 |
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.
| ואת אחיכם קחו וקומו שובו אל האיש | 13 |
Take your younger brother and go back to that man.
| ואל שדי יתן לכם רחמים לפני האיש ושלח לכם את אחיכם אחר ואת בנימין ואני כאשר שכלתי שכלתי | 14 |
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!”
| ויקחו האנשים את המנחה הזאת ומשנה כסף לקחו בידם ואת בנימן ויקמו וירדו מצרים ויעמדו לפני יוסף | 15 |
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.
| וירא יוסף אתם את בנימין ויאמר לאשר על ביתו הבא את האנשים הביתה וטבח טבח והכן כי אתי יאכלו האנשים בצהרים | 16 |
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].
| ויעש האיש כאשר אמר יוסף ויבא האיש את האנשים ביתה יוסף | 17 |
The man did as Joseph said. And he took them to Joseph’s house.
| וייראו האנשים כי הובאו בית יוסף ויאמרו על דבר הכסף השב באמתחתינו בתחלה אנחנו מובאים--להתגלל עלינו ולהתנפל עלינו ולקחת אתנו לעבדים ואת חמרינו | 18 |
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.”
| ויגשו אל האיש אשר על בית יוסף וידברו אליו פתח הבית | 19 |
They went with the man who was in charge of things in Joseph’s house. When they arrived at the entrance of the house,
| ויאמרו בי אדני ירד ירדנו בתחלה לשבר אכל | 20 |
one of them said to him, “Please, sir, listen to me. We came down here previously and bought some grain.
| ויהי כי באנו אל המלון ונפתחה את אמתחתינו והנה כסף איש בפי אמתחתו כספנו במשקלו ונשב אתו בידנו | 21 |
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.
| וכסף אחר הורדנו בידנו לשבר אכל לא ידענו מי שם כספנו באמתחתינו | 22 |
We have also brought more silver with us to buy more grain. We do not know who put the silver in our sacks.”
| ויאמר שלום לכם אל תיראו אלהיכם ואלהי אביכם נתן לכם מטמון באמתחתיכם--כספכם בא אלי ויוצא אלהם את שמעון | 23 |
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.
| ויבא האיש את האנשים ביתה יוסף ויתן מים וירחצו רגליהם ויתן מספוא לחמריהם | 24 |
Then he took them into Joseph’s house. He gave them water to wash their feet and gave them food for the donkeys.
| ויכינו את המנחה עד בוא יוסף בצהרים כי שמעו כי שם יאכלו לחם | 25 |
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.
| ויבא יוסף הביתה ויביאו לו את המנחה אשר בידם הביתה וישתחוו לו ארצה | 26 |
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.
| וישאל להם לשלום ויאמר השלום אביכם הזקן אשר אמרתם--העודנו חי | 27 |
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?”
| ויאמרו שלום לעבדך לאבינו--עודנו חי ויקדו וישתחו (וישתחוו) | 28 |
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.
| וישא עיניו וירא את בנימין אחיו בן אמו ויאמר הזה אחיכם הקטן אשר אמרתם אלי ויאמר אלהים יחנך בני | 29 |
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.”
| וימהר יוסף כי נכמרו רחמיו אל אחיו ויבקש לבכות ויבא החדרה ויבך שמה | 30 |
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.
| וירחץ פניו ויצא ויתאפק--ויאמר שימו לחם | 31 |
Then, after he washed the tears from his face, he came out, and controlling his emotions, he said to the servants, “Serve the food!”
| וישימו לו לבדו ולהם לבדם ולמצרים האכלים אתו לבדם--כי לא יוכלון המצרים לאכל את העברים לחם כי תועבה הוא למצרים | 32 |
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.
| וישבו לפניו--הבכר כבכרתו והצעיר כצערתו ויתמהו האנשים איש אל רעהו | 33 |
His brothers were astonished to see that their seats were arranged according to their ages, from the oldest to the youngest!
| וישא משאת מאת פניו אלהם ותרב משאת בנימן ממשאת כלם חמש ידות וישתו וישכרו עמו | 34 |
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.
