[1]And the sons of Ya'akov rose up and took Benyamin and the whole of the presents, and they went and came to Egypt and they stood before Yosef.
[2]And Yosef beheld his brother Benyamin with them and he saluted them, and these men came to Yosef's house.
[3]And Yosef commanded the superintendent of his house to give to his brothers to eat, and he did so unto them.
[4]And at noon time Yosef sent for the men to come before him with Benyamin, and the men told the superintendent of Yosef's house concerning the silver that was returned in their sacks, and he said unto them, It will be well with you, fear not, and he brought their brother Shim'on unto them.
[5]And Shim'on said unto his brothers, The lord of the Egyptians has acted very kindly unto me, he did not keep me bound, as you saw with your eyes, for when you went out from the city he let me free and dealt kindly with me in his house.
[6]And Y'hudah took Benyamin by the hand, and they came before Yosef, and they bowed down to him to the ground.
[7]And the men gave the present unto Yosef and they all sat before him, and Yosef said unto them, Is it well with you, is it well with your children, is it well with your aged father? and they said, It is well, and Y'hudah took the record which Ya'akov had sent and gave it into the hand of Yosef.
[8]And Yosef read the record and knew his father's writing, and he wished to weep and he went into an inner room and he wept a great weeping; and he went out.
[9]And he lifted up his eyes and beheld his brother Benyamin, and he said, Is this your brother of whom you spoke unto me? And Benyamin approached Yosef, and Yosef placed his hand upon his head and he said unto him, May Elohim be gracious unto you my son.
[10]And when Yosef saw his brother, the son of his mother, he again wished to weep, and he entered the chamber, and he wept there, and he washed his face, and went out and refrained from weeping, and he said, Prepare food.
[11]And Yosef had a cup from which he drank, and it was of silver beautifully inlaid with onyx stones and bdellium, and Yosef struck the cup in the eyes of his brothers while they were sitting to eat with him.
[12]And Yosef said unto the men, I know by this cup that Re'uven the firstborn, Shim'on and Levi and Y'hudah, Yissakhar and Z'vulun are children from one mother, seat yourselves to eat according to your births.
[13]And he also placed the others according to their births, and he said, I know that this your youngest brother has no brother, and I, like him, have no brother, he shall therefore sit down to eat with me.
[14]And Benyamin went up before Yosef and sat upon the throne, and the men beheld the acts of Yosef, and they were astonished at them; and the men ate and drank at that time with Yosef, and he then gave presents unto them, and Yosef gave one gift unto Benyamin, and M'nasheh and Efrayim saw the acts of their father, and they also gave presents unto him, and Asnat gave him one present, and they were five presents in the hand of Benyamin.
[15]And Yosef brought them out wine to drink, and they would not drink, and they said, From the day on which Yosef was lost we have not drunk wine, nor eaten any delicacies.
[16]And Yosef swore unto them, and he pressed them hard, and they drank plentifully with him on that day, and Yosef afterward turned to his brother Benyamin to speak with him, and Benyamin was still sitting upon the throne before Yosef.
[17]And Yosef said unto him, Have you begotten any children? and he said, Your servant has ten sons, and these are their names, Bela, Beker, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Achi, and Rosh, Mupim, Chupim, and Ard, and I called their names after my brother whom I have not seen.
[18]And Yosef ordered them to bring before him his map of the stars, whereby Yosef knew all the times, and Yosef said unto Benyamin, I have heard that the Hebrews are acquainted with all wisdom, do you know anything of this?
[19]And Benyamin said, Your servant is knowing also in all the wisdom which my father taught me, and Yosef said unto Benyamin, Look now at this instrument and understand where your brother Yosef is in Egypt, who you said went down to Egypt.
[20]And Benyamin took that instrument with the map of the stars of heaven, and he was wise and looked therein to know where his brother was, and Benyamin divided the whole land of Egypt into four divisions, and he found that he who was sitting upon the throne before him was his brother Yosef, and Benyamin wondered greatly, and when Yosef saw that his brother Benyamin was so much astonished, he said unto Benyamin, What have you seen, and why are you astonished?
[21]And Benyamin said unto Yosef, I can see by this that Yosef my brother sits here with me upon the throne, and Yosef said unto him, I am Yosef your brother, but reveal not this thing unto your brothers; behold I will send you with them when they go away, and I will command them to be brought back again into the city, and I will take you away from them.
[22]And if they dare their lives and fight for you, then shall I know that they have repented of what they did unto me, and I will make myself known to them, and if they forsake you when I take you, then shall you remain with me, and I will wrangle with them, and they shall go away, and I will not become known to them.
[23]At that time Yosef commanded his officer to fill their sacks with food, and to put each man's money into his sack, and to put the cup in the sack of Benyamin, and to give them provision for the road, and they did so unto them.
[24]And on the morrow the men rose up early in the morning, and they loaded their asses with their grain, and they went forth with Benyamin, and they went to the land of Kanaan with their brother Benyamin.
[25]They had not gone far from Egypt when Yosef commanded him that was set over his house, saying, Rise, pursue these men before they get too far from Egypt, and say unto them, Why have you stolen my lord's cup?
[26]And Yosef's officer rose up and he reached them, and he spoke unto them all the words of Yosef; and when they heard this thing they became exceedingly wroth, and they said, He with whom your lord's cup shall be found shall die, and we will also become slaves.
[27]And they hastened and each man brought down his sack from his ass, and they looked in their bags and the cup was found in Benyamin's bag, and they all tore their garments and they returned to the city, and they smote Benyamin in the road, continually smiting him until he came into the city, and they stood before Yosef.
[28]And Y'hudah's anger was kindled, and he said, As YHWH lives, This man has only brought me back to destroy Egypt this day.
[29]And the men came to Yosef's house, and they found Yosef sitting upon his throne, and all the mighty men standing at his right and left.
[30]And Yosef said unto them, What is this act that you have done, that you took away my silver cup and went away? but I know that you took my cup in order to know thereby in what part of the land your brother was.
[31]And Y'hudah said, What shall we say to our lord, what shall we speak and how shall we justify ourselves, Elohim has this day found the iniquity of all your servants, therefore has he done this thing to us this day.
[32]And Yosef rose up and caught hold of Benyamin and took him from his brothers with violence, and he came to the house and locked the door at them, and Yosef commanded him that was set over his house that he should say unto them, Thus says the king, Go in peace to your father, behold I have taken the man in whose hand my cup was found.
|