Genesis 43

¹ But the country was hard-pressed by famine,

² and when they had finished eating the grain they had brought from Egypt their father said to them, ‘Go back and buy us a little food’.

³ ‘But the man expressly warned us’ Judah told him. ‘He said, “You will not be admitted to my presence unless your brother is with you”.

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

⁵ But if you are not ready to send him we will not go down, for the man told us, “You will not be admitted to my presence unless your brother is with you”.’

⁶ Then Israel said, ‘Why did you bring this misery on me by telling the man you had another brother?’

⁷ They replied, ‘He kept questioning us about ourselves and our kinsfolk, “Is your father still alive?” and, “Have you a brother?” That is why we told him. How could we know he was going to say, “Bring your brother down here”?’

⁸ Judah said to his father Israel, ‘Send the boy with me. Let us start off and go, so that we may save our lives and not die, we, you, and our dependants.

⁹ I will go surety for him, and you can hold me responsible for him[*a]. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, let me bear the blame all my life.

¹⁰ Indeed, if we had not wasted so much time we should have been back again by now!’

¹¹ Then their father Israel said to them, ‘If it must be so, then do this: take some of the land’s finest products in your panniers, and carry them down to the man as a gift, a little balsam, a little honey, gum, tragacanth, resin, pistachio nuts and almonds.’

¹² Take double the amount of money with you and return the money put back in the mouths of your sacks; it may have been a mistake.

¹³ Take your brother, and go back to the man.

¹⁴ May El Shaddai move the man to be kind to you, and allow you to bring back your other brother and Benjamin. As for me, if I must be bereaved, bereaved I must be.’

¹⁵ The men took this gift; they took double the amount of money with them, and Benjamin. They started off and went down to Egypt. They presented themselves to Joseph.

¹⁶ When Joseph saw Benjamin with them he said to his chamberlain, ‘Take these men to the house. Slaughter a beast and prepare it, for these men are to eat with me at midday.’

¹⁷ The man did as Joseph had ordered, and took the men to Joseph’s house.

¹⁸ The men were afraid at being taken to Joseph’s house, thinking, ‘We are being taken there because of the money replaced in our corn-sacks the first time. They will set on us; they will fall on us and make slaves of us, and take our donkeys too.’

¹⁹ So they went up to Joseph’s chamberlain and spoke to him at the entrance to the house.

²⁰ ‘By your leave, sir,’ they said ‘we came down once before to buy food,

²¹ and when we reached camp and opened our corn-sacks, there was each man’s money in the mouth of his sack, to its full amount. But we have brought it back with us,

²² and we have brought more money with us to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our corn-sacks.’

²³ ‘Peace to you,’ he replied ‘do not be afraid. Your God and your father’s God has put a treasure in your corn-sacks. Your money reached me safely.’ And he brought Simeon out to them.

²⁴ The man took the men into Joseph’s house. He offered them water to wash their feet, and gave their donkeys fodder.

²⁵ They arranged their gift while they waited for Joseph to come at midday, for they had heard they were to dine there.

²⁶ When Joseph arrived at the house they offered him the gift they had with them, and bowed before him to the ground.

²⁷ But he greeted them kindly, asking, ‘Is your father well, the old man you told me of? Is he still alive?’

²⁸ ‘Your servant our father is well,’ they replied ‘he is still alive’, and they bowed low in homage.

²⁹ Looking up he saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son. ‘Is this your youngest brother,’ he asked ‘of whom you told me?’ Then he said to him, ‘God be good to you, my son’.

³⁰ Joseph hurried out, for his heart was moved at the sight of his brother and he was near to weeping. He went into his room and there he wept.

³¹ After bathing his face he returned and, controlling himself gave the order: ‘Serve the meal’.

³² He was served separately; so were they, and so were the Egyptians who ate in his household, for Egyptians cannot take food with Hebrews: they have a horror of it.

³³ They were placed opposite him each according to his rank, from the eldest to the youngest, and the men looked at one another in amazement.

³⁴ He had portions carried to them from his own dish, the portion for Benjamin being five times larger than any of the others. They drank with him and were happy.