Genesis 43

¹And the famine was severe in the land.

²And it happened that when they had finished eating the grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, 'Go back, buy us a little food.'

³And Judah said to him, saying, 'The man solemnly warned us, saying: You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.'

⁴If you are willing to send our brother with us, we will go down and buy food for you.

⁵But if you are not willing to send him, we will not go down, for the man said to us: You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.

⁶And Israel said, Why did you do me such harm, telling the man that you had yet another brother?

⁷And they said: 'The man asked us thoroughly about ourselves and our kin, saying: Is your father of you all still alive? Do you of you all have a brother? And we told him in accordance with these words. Could we have known that he would say: Bring your brother of you all down?'

⁸And Judah said to Israel his father, 'Send the youth with me, and let us arise and go, so that we may live and not die — we, and you also, and our little ones also.'

⁹I myself will be surety for him — from my hand you may seek him. If I do not bring him to you and set him before you, then I will bear the guilt before you all my days.

¹⁰For had we not delayed, we would have returned this second time by now.

¹¹And Israel their father said to them: 'If it must be so, then do this: take some of the best of the land in your vessels, and bring down to the man a gift — a little balsam and a little honey, tragacanth gum and ladanum, pistachio nuts and almonds.'

¹²And take double the silver in your hand, and the silver that was returned in the mouth of your sacks you must take back in your hand — perhaps it was a mistake.

¹³And take your brother, and arise, return to the man.

¹⁴And El Shaddai will give you compassion before the man, and he will release to you your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me — if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.'

¹⁵And the men took this gift, and double silver they took in their hand, and Benjamin. And they arose and went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph.

¹⁶And Joseph saw Benjamin with them and said to the one who was over his house: Bring the men into the house, and slaughter an animal and prepare, for the men will eat with me at noon.

¹⁷And the man did as Joseph had said, and the man brought the men into Joseph's house.

¹⁸And the men were afraid because they were brought to Joseph's house, and they said: It is because of the silver returned in our sacks at the first — we are being brought in to have it roll upon us and to have him fall upon us and take us as slaves, along with our donkeys.

¹⁹And they approached the man who was over the house of Joseph, and they spoke to him at the entrance of the house.

²⁰And they said: 'By your leave, my lord — we did indeed come down at the first to buy food.'

²¹And it was when we came to the lodging place, that we opened our sacks, and look, each man's silver was in the mouth of his sack, our silver in its full weight. And we have brought it back in our hand.

²²And other silver we have brought down in our hand to buy food — we do not know who put our silver in our sacks.

²³And he said, 'Peace be to you all. Do not fear. The God of you all and the God of your father has given you a treasure in the sacks of you all; your silver came to me.' And he brought Simeon out to them.

²⁴And the man brought the men into Joseph's house, and he gave water, and they washed their feet, and he gave fodder for their donkeys.

²⁵And they prepared the gift for Joseph's coming at noon, for they had heard that they would eat bread there.

²⁶And Joseph came into the house, and they brought him the gift that was in their hand into the house, and they bowed down to him to the ground.

²⁷And he asked them about their welfare, and said: 'Is your father well — the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?'

²⁸And they said, Your servant our father is well; he is still alive. And they bowed and prostrated themselves.

²⁹And he lifted his eyes and saw Benjamin his brother, his mother's son, and said, 'Is this your youngest brother of whom you spoke to me?' And he said, 'May God be gracious to you, my son.'

³⁰And Joseph hurried, for his compassion burned toward his brother, and he sought to weep. And he went into the inner chamber and wept there.

³¹And he washed his face and came out, and he restrained himself and said, Set out bread.

³²And they set for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, for the Egyptians cannot eat bread with the Hebrews, for it is an abomination to the Egyptians.

³³And they were seated before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth, and the men marveled at one another.

³⁴And he lifted portions from before him to them, and the portion of Benjamin was five times greater than the portions of all of them. And they drank and were merry with him.