1 | And Jacob seeth that there is corn in Egypt, and Jacob saith to his sons, `Why do you look at each other?` |
2 | he saith also, `Lo, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt, go down thither, and buy for us from thence, and we live and do not die;` |
3 | and the ten brethren of Joseph go down to buy corn in Egypt, |
4 | and Benjamin, Joseph`s brother, Jacob hath not sent with his brethren, for he said, `Lest mischief meet him.` |
5 | And the sons of Israel come to buy in the midst of those coming, for the famine hath been in the land of Canaan, |
6 | and Joseph is the ruler over the land, he who is selling to all the people of the land, and Joseph`s brethren come and bow themselves to him -- face to the earth. |
7 | And Joseph seeth his brethren, and discerneth them, and maketh himself strange unto them, and speaketh with them sharp things, and saith unto them, `From whence have ye come?` and they say, `From the land of Canaan -- to buy food.` |
8 | And Joseph discerneth his brethren, but they have not discerned him, |
9 | and Joseph remembereth the dreams which he dreamed of them, and saith unto them, `Ye [are] spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye have come.` |
10 | And they say unto him, `No, my lord, but thy servants have come to buy food; |
11 | we [are] all of us sons of one man, we [are] right men; thy servants have not been spies;` |
12 | and he saith unto them, `No, but the nakedness of the land ye have come to see;` |
13 | and they say, `Thy servants [are] twelve brethren; we [are] sons of one man in the land of Canaan, and lo, the young one [is] with our father to-day, and the one is not.` |
14 | And Joseph saith unto them, `This [is] that which I have spoken unto you, saying, Ye [are] spies, |
15 | by this ye are proved: Pharaoh liveth! if ye go out from this -- except by your young brother coming hither; |
16 | send one of you, and let him bring your brother, and ye, remain ye bound, and let your words be proved, whether truth be with you: and if not -- Pharaoh liveth! surely ye [are] spies;` |
17 | and he removeth them unto charge three days. |
18 | And Joseph saith unto them on the third day, `This do and live; God I fear! |
19 | if ye [are] right men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your ward, and ye, go, carry in corn [for] the famine of your houses, |
20 | and your young brother ye bring unto me, and your words are established, and ye die not;` and they do so. |
21 | And they say one unto another, `Verily we [are] guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul, in his making supplication unto us, and we did not hearken: therefore hath this distress come upon us.` |
22 | And Reuben answereth them, saying, `Spake I not unto you, saying, Sin not against the lad? and ye hearkened not; and his blood also, lo, it is required.` |
23 | And they have not known that Joseph understandeth, for the interpreter [is] between them; |
24 | and he turneth round from them, and weepeth, and turneth back unto them, and speaketh unto them, and taketh from them Simeon, and bindeth him before their eyes. |
25 | And Joseph commandeth, and they fill their vessels [with] corn, also to put back the money of each unto his sack, and to give to them provision for the way; and one doth to them so. |
26 | And they lift up their corn upon their asses, and go from thence, |
27 | and the one openeth his sack to give provender to his ass at a lodging-place, and he seeth his money, and lo, it [is] in the mouth of his bag, |
28 | and he saith unto his brethren, `My money hath been put back, and also, lo, in my bag:` and their heart goeth out, and they tremble, one to another saying, `What [is] this God hath done to us!` |
29 | And they come in unto Jacob their father, to the land of Canaan, and they declare to him all the things meeting them, saying, |
30 | `The man, the lord of the land, hath spoken with us sharp things, and maketh us as spies of the land; |
31 | and we say unto him, We [are] right men, we have not been spies, |
32 | we [are] twelve brethren, sons of our father, the one is not, and the young one [is] to-day with our father in the land of Canaan. |
33 | `And the man, the lord of the land, saith unto us, By this I know that ye [are] right men -- one of your brethren leave with me, and [for] the famine of your houses take ye and go, |
34 | and bring your young brother unto me, and I know that ye [are] not spies, but ye [are] right men; your brother I give to you, and ye trade with the land.` |
35 | And it cometh to pass, they are emptying their sacks, and lo, the bundle of each man`s silver [is] in his sack, and they see their bundles of silver, they and their father, and are afraid; |
36 | and Jacob their father saith unto them, `Me ye have bereaved; Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and Benjamin ye take -- against me have been all these.` |
37 | And Reuben speaketh unto his father, saying, `My two sons thou dost put to death, if I bring him not in unto thee; give him into my hand, and I -- I bring him back unto thee;` |
38 | and he saith, `My son doth not go down with you, for his brother [is] dead, and he by himself is left; when mischief hath met him in the way in which ye go, then ye have brought down my grey hairs in sorrow to sheol.` |