Bereshis 42

Bereshis 42

1Now when Ya'akov saw that there was shever (grain) in Mitzrayim, Ya'akov said unto his banim, Why do ye look one upon another?

2And he said, Hinei, I have heard that there is shever (grain) in Mitzrayim; get you down to there, and buy for us from there; that we may live, and not die.

3Achei Yosef asarah (Yosefʼs ten brothers) then went down to buy grain in Mitzrayim.

4But Binyamin, achi Yosef, Ya'akov sent not with his achim; for he said, Lest ason (evil, harm) befall him.

5And the Bnei Yisroel came to make purchase among those that were coming; for the ra'av (famine) was in Eretz Kena'an.

6And Yosef was the Shalit Al HaAretz, and he it was that sold to kol Am HaAretz: and Achei Yosef came, and prostrated themselves before him with their faces to the ground.

7And Yosef saw his achim, and he recognized them, but made himself a stranger unto them, and spoke roughly unto them; and he said unto them, From where come ye? And they said, From Eretz Kena'an to buy ochel.

8And Yosef recognized his achim, but they recognized not him.

9And Yosef remembered the chalomot which he dreamed about them, and said unto them, Ye are meragelim (spies); to see the ervat ha'aretz (nakedness of the land) ye came.

10And they said unto him, Lo, adoni, but to buy okhel are thy avadim come.

11We are all bnei ish echad; we are truthful ones, thy avadim are no meragelim.

12And he said unto them, Lo, but to see the ervat ha'aretz ye came.

13And they said, Thy avadim are Shneym Asar Achim, the bnei ish echad in Eretz Kena'an; and, hinei, the katon is today with Avinu, and one is not.

14And Yosef said unto them, That is it just as I spoke unto you, Ye are meragelim;

15Hereby ye shall be tested: by the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth from here, except achichem hakaton (your youngest brother) come here.

16Send one of you, and let him bring back achichem, and ye shall be kept prisoner, that your words may be tested, whether there be any emes in you; or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are meragelim (spies).

17And he put them all together el-mishmar (in custody) shloshet yamim.

18And Yosef said unto them on the Yom HaShlishi,#42:18 See 1C 15:4 This do, and live; for I fear HaElohim:

19If ye be truthful ones, let one of your achim be bound in your bais mishmar; go ye, carry grain for the ra'avon (famine of) bateichem (your house);

20But bring achichem hakaton unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so.

21And they said one to another, Surely we are ashemim (guilty ones) because of achinu (our brother), in that we saw the tzoros of his nefesh, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this tzoros come upon us.

22And Reuven answered them, saying, Spoke I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the yeled; and ye would not hear? Therefore, hinei, the accounting for his dahm is required [of us].#42:22 See Mt 27:25

23And they had no da'as that Yosef understood them; for he spoke unto them by the melitz (go-between, interpreter).

24And he turned himself away from them, and wept; and returned to them again, and spoke with them, and took from them Shim'on, and bound him before their eyes.

25Then Yosef commanded to fill their kelim with grain, and to restore every manʼs kesef into his sack, and to give them provision for the derech; and thus did he unto them.

26And they loaded their chamorim with the grain, and departed from there.

27And as one of them opened his sack to get feed for his chamor in the malon (inn), he saw his kesef; for, hinei, it was in the mouth of his sack.

28And he said unto his achim, My kesef is restored; and, hinei, it is even in my sack; and their lev failed them, and they shook with fear, saying one to another, What is this that Elohim hath done unto us?

29And they came unto Ya'akov Avihem in Eretz Kena'an, and told him all that befell unto them; saying,

30The ish, who is adonei HaAretz, spoke roughly to us, and took us for meragelim HaAretz.

31And we said unto him, We are truthful ones; we are no meragelim;

32We are Shneym Asar Achim, Bnei Avinu; one is not, and the katon is today with Avinu in Eretz Kena'an.

33And the ish, adonei HaAretz, said unto us, Hereby shall I know that ye are truthful ones; leave one of your achim here with me, and that which is needful for the ra'avon bateichem (famine of your houses), take and be gone;

34And bring achichem hakaton unto me; then shall I know that ye are not meragelim, but that ye are truthful ones: so will I restore you achichem, and ye shall freely trade in the land.

35And it came to pass as they emptied their sacks, that, hinei, every manʼs pouch of kesef was in his sack; and when both they and Avihem saw the pouches of kesef, they were afraid.

36And Ya'akov Avihem said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children; Yosef is not, and Shim'on is not, and ye will take Binyamin away; all these things are against me.

37And Reuven spoke unto Aviv, saying, Slay my two banim, if I bring him not to thee; entrust him into my yad, and I will bring him to thee again.

38And he said, Beni (my son) shall not go down with you; for achiv is dead, and he is left alone; if ason (harm, evil) befall him on the derech in which ye go, then shall ye bring down my gray hair in yagon (sorrow) to Sheol.

Genesis 42

The Dreams Come True

1During the famine in Canaan, Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt. So he said to his sons, “Why are you sitting here doing nothing? 2I have heard that there is grain for sale in Egypt. Go there and buy grain for us so that we will live and not die!”

3So ten of Joseph’s brothers went to Egypt to buy grain. 4Jacob did not send Benjamin. (Benjamin was Joseph’s only full brother.#42:4 full brother Literally, “brother.” Joseph and Benjamin had the same mother.) Jacob was afraid that something bad might happen to Benjamin.

5The famine was very bad in Canaan, so there were many people from Canaan who went to Egypt to buy grain. Among them were the sons of Israel.

6Joseph was the governor of Egypt at the time. He was the one who checked the sale of grain to people who came to Egypt to buy it. Joseph’s brothers came to him and bowed before him. 7Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he acted like he didn’t know them. He was rude when he spoke to them. He said, “Where do you come from?”

The brothers answered, “We have come from the land of Canaan to buy food.”

8Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not know who he was. 9Then Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed about his brothers.

Joseph said to his brothers, “You have not come to buy food! You are spies. You came to learn where we are weak.”

10But the brothers said to him, “No, sir, we come as your servants. We have come only to buy food. 11We are all brothers—we all have the same father. We are honest men. We have come only to buy food.”

12Then Joseph said to them, “No, you have come to spy on us!”

13And the brothers said, “No, sir, we come as servants from Canaan. We are all brothers, sons of the same father. There were twelve brothers in our family. Our youngest brother is still at home with our father, and the other brother died a long time ago.”

14But Joseph said to them, “No! I can see that I am right. You are spies. 15But I will let you prove that you are telling the truth. In the name of Pharaoh, I swear that I will not let you go until your youngest brother comes here. 16One of you must go back to get your youngest brother while the rest of you stay here in prison. Then we can prove whether you are telling the truth or not. If you are not telling the truth, then by Pharaoh, I swear that you are spies!” 17Then Joseph put them all in prison for three days.

The Troubles Begin

18After three days Joseph said to them, “I am a God-fearing man. Do this, and I will let you live. 19If you are honest men, one of your brothers can stay here in prison, and the others can go and carry grain back to your people. 20But then you must bring your youngest brother back here to me. Then I will know that you are telling the truth, and you will not have to die.”

The brothers agreed to this. 21They said to each other, “We are being punished for the bad thing we did to our younger brother Joseph. We saw the trouble he was in. He begged us to save him, but we refused to listen. So now we are in trouble.”

22Then Reuben said to them, “I told you not to do anything bad to that boy, but you refused to listen to me. Now we are being punished for his death.”

23-24Joseph was using an interpreter to talk to his brothers, so the brothers did not know that he understood their language. He heard and understood everything they said, and that made him want to cry. So he turned away and left the room. When he came back, he took one of the brothers, Simeon, and tied him up while the others watched. 25Joseph told the servants to fill the bags with grain. The brothers had given Joseph the money for the grain, but he didn’t keep the money. He put the money in their bags of grain. Then he gave them what they would need for their trip back home.

26So the brothers put the grain on their donkeys and left. 27That night the brothers stopped at a place to spend the night. One of the brothers opened his sack to get some grain for his donkey. And there in the sack, he saw his money! 28He said to the other brothers, “Look! Here is the money I paid for the grain. Someone put the money back in my sack.” The brothers were very afraid. They said to one another, “What is God doing to us?”

The Brothers Report to Jacob

29The brothers went back to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. They told him about everything that had happened. 30They said, “The governor of that country spoke rudely to us. He thought that we were spies! 31We told him, ‘We are honest men, not spies. 32There are twelve of us brothers, all from the same father. But one of our brothers is no longer living, and the youngest is still at home with our father in Canaan.’

33“Then the governor of that country said to us, ‘Here is a way to prove that you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with me. Take your grain back to your families. 34Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I will know if you are honest men or if you were sent from an army to destroy us. If you are telling the truth, I will give your brother back to you. I will give him to you, and you will be free to buy grain in our country.’”

35Then the brothers started taking the grain out of their sacks, and every brother found his bag of money in his sack of grain. When the brothers and their father saw the money, they were afraid.

36Jacob said to them, “Do you want me to lose all of my children? Joseph is gone. Simeon is gone, and now you want to take Benjamin away too!”

37But Reuben said to his father, “Father, you may kill my two sons if I don’t bring Benjamin back to you. Trust me. I will bring him back to you.”

38But Jacob said, “I will not let Benjamin go with you. His brother is dead, and he is the only son left from my wife Rachel. It would kill me if anything happened to him during the trip to Egypt. You would send me to the grave#42:38 grave Or “Sheol,” the place of death. a very sad, old man.”

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Genesis 42