Genesis 43
43
1And the famine [is] severe in the land;
2and it cometh to pass, when they have finished eating the corn which they brought from Egypt, that their father saith unto them, ‘Turn back, buy for us a little food.’
3And Judah speaketh unto him, saying, ‘The man protesting protested to us, saying, Ye do not see my face without your brother [being] with you;
4if thou art sending our brother with us, we go down, and buy for thee food,
5and if thou art not sending — we do not go down, for the man said unto us, Ye do not see my face without your brother [being] with you.’
6And Israel saith, ‘Why did ye evil to me, by declaring to the man that ye had yet a brother?’
7and they say, ‘The man asked diligently concerning us, and concerning our kindred, saying, Is your father yet alive? have ye a brother? and we declare to him according to the tenor of these things; do we certainly know that he will say, Bring down your brother?’
8And Judah saith unto Israel his father, ‘Send the youth with me, and we arise, and go, and live, and do not die, both we, and thou, and our infants.
9I — I am surety [for] him, from my hand thou dost require him; if I have not brought him in unto thee, and set him before thee — then I have sinned against thee all the days;
10for if we had not lingered, surely now we had returned these two times.’
11And Israel their father saith unto them, ‘If so, now, this do: take of the praised thing of the land in your vessels, and take down to the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices and myrrh, nuts and almonds;
12and double money take in your hand, even the money which is brought back in the mouth of your bags, ye take back in your hand, it may be it [is] an oversight.
13‘And take your brother, and rise, turn back unto the man;
14and God Almighty give to you mercies before the man, so that he hath sent to you your other brother and Benjamin; and I, when I am bereaved — I am bereaved.’
15And the men take this present, double money also they have taken in their hand, and Benjamin; and they rise, and go down to Egypt, and stand before Joseph;
16and Joseph seeth Benjamin with them, and saith to him who [is] over his house, ‘Bring the men into the house, and slaughter an animal, and make ready, for with me do the men eat at noon.’
17And the man doth as Joseph hath said, and the man bringeth in the men into the house of Joseph,
18and the men are afraid because they have been brought into the house of Joseph, and they say, ‘For the matter of the money which was put back in our bags at the commencement are we brought in — to roll himself upon us, and to throw himself on us, and to take us for servants — our asses also.’
19And they come nigh unto the man who [is] over the house of Joseph, and speak unto him at the opening of the house,
20and say, ‘O, my lord, we really come down at the commencement to buy food;
21and it cometh to pass, when we have come in unto the lodging-place, and open our bags, that lo, each one's money [is] in the mouth of his bag, our money in its weight, and we bring it back in our hand;
22and other money have we brought down in our hand to buy food; we have not known who put our money in our bags.’
23And he saith, ‘Peace to you, fear not: your God and the God of your father hath given to you hidden treasure in your bags, your money came unto me;’ and he bringeth out Simeon unto them.
24And the man bringeth in the men into Joseph's house, and giveth water, and they wash their feet; and he giveth provender for their asses,
25and they prepare the present until the coming of Joseph at noon, for they have heard that there they do eat bread.
26And Joseph cometh into the house, and they bring to him the present which [is] in their hand, into the house, and bow themselves to him, to the earth;
27and he asketh of them of peace, and saith, ‘Is your father well? the aged man of whom ye have spoken, is he yet alive?’
28and they say, ‘Thy servant our father [is] well, he is yet alive;’ and they bow, and do obeisance.
29And he lifteth up his eyes, and seeth Benjamin his brother, his mother's son, and saith, ‘Is this your young brother, of whom ye have spoken unto me?’ and he saith, ‘God favour thee, my son.’
30And Joseph hasteth, for his bowels have been moved for his brother, and he seeketh to weep, and entereth the inner chamber, and weepeth there;
31and he washeth his face, and goeth out, and refraineth himself, and saith, ‘Place bread.’
32And they place for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians who are eating with him by themselves: for the Egyptians are unable to eat bread with the Hebrews, for it [is] an abomination to the Egyptians.
33And they sit before him, the first-born according to his birthright, and the young one according to his youth, and the men wonder one at another;
34and he lifteth up gifts from before him unto them, and the gift of Benjamin is five hands more than the gifts of all of them; and they drink, yea, they drink abundantly with him.
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Genesis 43: YLT98
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Genesis 43
43
Jacob Lets Benjamin Go to Egypt
1The famine was very bad in that country. 2The people ate all the grain they had brought from Egypt. When that grain was gone, Jacob said to his sons, “Go to Egypt and buy some more grain for us to eat.”
3But Judah said to Jacob, “But the governor of that country warned us. He said, ‘If you don’t bring your brother back to me, I will refuse to talk to you.’ 4If you send Benjamin with us, we will go down and buy grain. 5But if you refuse to send Benjamin, we will not go. The man warned us to not come back without him.”
6Israel said, “Why did you tell him you had another brother? Why did you do such a bad thing to me?”
7The brothers answered, “He asked lots of questions. He wanted to know all about us and about our family. He asked us, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother at home?’ We only answered his questions. We didn’t know he would ask us to bring our brother to him!”
8Then Judah said to his father Israel, “Let Benjamin go with me. I will take care of him. We have to go to Egypt to get food. If we don’t go, we will all die—including our children. 9I will make sure he is safe. I will be responsible for him. If I don’t bring him back to you, you can blame me forever. 10If you had let us go before, we could have already made two trips for food.”
11Then their father Israel said, “If it is really true, take Benjamin with you. But take some gifts to the governor. Take some of the things we have been able to gather in our land. Take him some honey, pistachio nuts, almonds, spices, and myrrh. 12Take twice as much money with you this time. Take the money that was given back to you after you paid last time. Maybe the governor made a mistake. 13Take Benjamin, and go back to the man. 14I pray that God All-Powerful will help you when you stand before the governor. I pray that he will let Benjamin, and also Simeon, come back safely. If not, I will again be sad from losing my children.”
15So the brothers took the gifts to give to the governor. And the brothers took twice as much money with them as they took the first time. This time Benjamin went with the brothers to Egypt.
The Brothers at Joseph’s House
16When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to his servant, “Bring these men into my house. Kill an animal and cook it. They will eat with me at noon today.” 17The servant did as he was told. He brought the men into Joseph’s house.
18The brothers were afraid when they were taken to Joseph’s house and said, “We have been brought here because of the money that was put back in our sacks the last time. They will use this as proof against us and steal our donkeys and make us slaves.”
19So the brothers went to the servant in charge of Joseph’s house. 20They said, “Sir, I promise this is the truth. The last time we came, we came to buy food. 21-22On the way home, we opened our sacks and found our money in every sack. We don’t know how it got there, but we brought that money with us to give it back to you. And we have brought more money to pay for the food that we want to buy this time.”
23But the servant answered, “Don’t be afraid; believe me. Your God, the God of your father, must have put the money in your sack as a gift. I remember that you paid me for the grain the last time.”
Then the servant brought Simeon out of the prison. 24The servant led the men into Joseph’s house. He gave them water, and they washed their feet. Then he fed their donkeys.
25The brothers heard that they were going to eat with Joseph, so they worked until noon preparing their gifts for him.
26When Joseph came home, the brothers gave him the gifts they had brought with them. Then they bowed down to the ground in front of him.
27Joseph asked them how they were doing. Then he said, “How is your elderly father you told me about? Is he still alive?”
28The brothers answered, “Yes, sir, our father is still alive.” And they again bowed before Joseph.
29Then Joseph saw his brother Benjamin. (Benjamin and Joseph had the same mother.) Joseph said, “Is this your youngest brother that you told me about?” Then Joseph said to Benjamin, “God bless you, my son!”
30Joseph felt a strong desire to show his brother Benjamin that he loved him. He was about to cry and didn’t want his brothers to see him, so he ran into his private room and cried there. 31Then Joseph washed his face and came out. He regained control of himself and said, “Now it is time to eat.”
32The servants seated Joseph at a table by himself. His brothers were at another table by themselves, and the Egyptians were at a table by themselves. The Egyptians believed that it was wrong for them to eat with Hebrews.#43:32 The Egyptians … Hebrews The Egyptians would not eat with them because they were shepherds and ate meat from cattle, sheep, and goats. To the Egyptians, these animals represented some of their gods. See Gen. 46:34. 33Joseph’s brothers were seated at a table facing him. The brothers were looking at each other because, to their surprise, they had been seated in order, from the oldest to the youngest. 34Servants were taking food from Joseph’s table and bringing it to them. But the servants gave Benjamin five times more than the others. The brothers continued to eat and drink with Joseph until they were drunk.
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