Genesis

for unless we had lingered, surely we would have returned a second time by now.

Their father, Israel, said to them, If it be so now, do this. Take from the choice fruits of the land in your vessels, and carry down a present for the man, a little balm, a little honey, spices and myrrh, nuts, and almonds;

and take double money in your hand, with the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks carry again in your hand. Perhaps it was an oversight.

Take also your brother, and arise, go again to the man.

May God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release to you your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.

The men took that present, and they took double money in their hand, and Benjamin; and rose up, went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph.

When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, Bring the men into the house, and butcher an animal, and make ready; for the men will dine with me at noon.

The man did as Joseph commanded, and the man brought the men to Joseph’s house.

The men were afraid, because they were brought to Joseph’s house; and they said, Because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time are we brought in; that he may seek occasion against us, and fall on us, and take us for bondservants, along with our donkeys.

They came near to the steward of Joseph’s house, and they spoke to him at the door of the house,

and said, Oh, my lord, we came indeed down at the first time to buy food:

and it happened, when we came to the lodging-place, that we opened our sacks, and, behold, every man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight. We have brought it again in our hand.

Other money have we brought down in our hand to buy food. We don’t know who put our money in our sacks.

He said, Peace be to you. Don’t be afraid. Your God, and the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks. I received your money. He brought Simeon out to them.

The man brought the men into Joseph’s house, and gave them water, and they washed their feet. He gave their donkeys provender.

They made ready the present for Joseph’s coming at noon, for they heard that they should eat bread there.

When Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed down themselves to him to the earth.

He asked them of their welfare, and said, Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he yet alive?

They said, Your servant, our father, is well. He is still alive. They bowed the head, and did homage.

He lifted up his eyes, and saw Benjamin, his brother, his mother’s son, and said, Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me? He said, God be gracious to you, my son.

Joseph made haste; for his heart yearned over his brother: and he sought a place to weep; and he entered into his room, and wept there.

He washed his face, and came out. He controlled himself, and said, Serve the meal.

They served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians, that ate with him, by themselves, because the Egyptians don’t eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians.

They sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth, and the men marveled one with another.

He sent portions to them from before him, but Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as any of theirs. They drank, and were merry with him.

He commanded the steward of his house, saying, Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man’s money in his sack’s mouth.

Put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack’s mouth of the youngest, with his grain money. He did according to the word that Joseph had spoken.

As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their donkeys.

When they had gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, Joseph said to his steward, Up, follow after the men. When you overtake them, tell them, ’Why have you rewarded evil for good?

Isn’t this that from which my lord drinks, and by which he indeed divines? You have done evil in so doing.

He overtook them, and he spoke to them these words.

They said to him, Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants that they should do such a thing!

Behold, the money, which we found in our sacks’ mouths, we brought again to you out of the land of Canaan . How then should we steal silver or gold out of your lord’s house?

With whoever of your servants it be found, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s bondservants.

He said, Now also let it be according to your words: he with whom it is found will be my bondservant; and you will be blameless.

Then they hurried, and took down every man his sack to the ground, and opened every man his sack.

He searched, beginning with the eldest, and ending at the youngest. The cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.

Then they tore their clothes, and loaded every man his donkey, and returned to the city.

Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, and he was still there. They fell on the ground before him.

Joseph said to them, What deed is this that you have done? Don’t you know that such a man as I can indeed divine?

Judah said, What will we tell my lord? What will we speak? Or how will we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants. Behold, we are my lord’s bondservants, both we, and he also in whose hand the cup is found.

He said, Far be it from me that I should do so. The man in whose hand the cup is found, he will be my bondservant; but as for you, go up in peace to your father.

Then Judah came near to him, and said, Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, and don’t let your anger burn against your servant; for you are even as Pharaoh.

My lord asked his servants, saying, ’Have you a father, or a brother?

We said to my lord, ’We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother; and his father loves him.

You said to your servants, ’Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.

We said to my lord, ’The boy can’t leave his father: for if he should leave his father, his father would die.

You said to your servants, ’Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will see my face no more.

It happened when we came up to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord.

Our father said, ’Go again, buy us a little food.

We said, ’We can’t go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then will we go down: for we may not see the man’s face, unless our youngest brother is with us.

Your servant, my father, said to us, ’You know that my wife bore me two sons:

and the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces; and I haven’t seen him since.

If you take this one also from me, and harm befalls him, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.

Now therefore when I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us; seeing that his life is bound up in the boy’s life;

it will happen, when he sees that the boy is no more, that he will die. Your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant, our father, with sorrow to Sheol.

For your servant became collateral for the boy to my father, saying, If I don’t bring him to you, then I will bear the blame to my father forever.

Now therefore, please let your servant stay instead of the boy, a bondservant to my lord; and let the boy go up with his brothers.

For how will I go up to my father, if the boy isn’t with me? Lest I see the evil that will come on my father.

Then Joseph couldn’t control himself before all those who stood before him, and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me! There stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known to his brothers.

He wept aloud. The Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard.

Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph! Does my father still live? His brothers couldn’t answer him; for they were terrified at his presence.

Joseph said to his brothers, Come near to me, please. They came near. He said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.

Now don’t be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.

For these two years has the famine been in the land, and there are yet five years, in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest.

God sent me before you to preserve you a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance.

So now it wasn’t you who sent me here, but God, and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Hurry, and go up to my father, and tell him, This is what your son Joseph says, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me. Don’t wait.

You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you will be near to me, you, your children, your children’s children, your flocks, your herds, and all that you have.

There I will nourish you; for there are yet five years of famine; lest you come to poverty, you, and your household, and all that you have.

Behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaks to you.

You shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. You shall hurry and bring my father down here.

He fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck, and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck.

He kissed all his brothers, and wept on them. After that his brothers talked with him.

The report of it was heard in Pharaoh’s house, saying, Joseph’s brothers have come. It pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants.

Pharaoh said to Joseph, Tell your brothers, Do this. Load your animals, and go, travel to the land of Canaan .

Take your father and your households, and come to me, and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land.

Now you are commanded: do this. Take wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come.

Also, don’t concern yourselves about your belongings, for the good of all of the land of Egypt is yours.

The sons of Israel did so. Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way.

To all of them he gave each man changes of clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothing.

To his father, he sent after this manner: ten donkeys laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten she-asses laden with grain and bread and provision for his father by the way.

So he sent his brothers away, and they departed. He said to them, See that you don’t quarrel on the way.

They went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan , to Jacob their father.

They told him, saying, Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt. His heart fainted, for he didn’t believe them.

They told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them. When he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob, their father, revived.

Israel said, It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.

Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father, Isaac.

God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob! He said, Here I am.

He said, I am God, the God of your father. Don’t be afraid to go down into Egypt; for there I will make of you a great nation.

I will go down with you into Egypt. I will also surely bring you up again. Joseph will close your eyes.

Jacob rose up from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel carried Jacob, their father, their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.

They took their cattle, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan , and came into Egypt - Jacob, and all his seed with him,

his sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters, and all his seed brought he with him into Egypt.

These are the names of the children of Israel, who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn.

The sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.

The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman.

The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan . The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.

The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puvah, Iob, and Shimron.