創世記 第 43 章

And the famine grew strong upon the land.

And it came to pass, when they had finished eating up the grain which they had brought out of Egypt, that their father said to them, Go again and buy us a little food.

And Judas spoke to him, saying, The man solemnly warned us with a warning, saying, You shall not see my face unless your youngest brother is with you.

If then you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food.

But if you do not send our brother with us, we will not go; for the man said to us, saying, You shall not see my face unless your youngest brother is with you.

And Israel said, Why did you harm me by telling the man whether you had a brother?

And they said, The man closely questioned us and our kindred, saying, Is your father still alive? Do you have a brother? And we told him according to this questioning. Could we have known that he would say to us, Bring your brother?

And Judas said to Israel his father, Send the boy with me, and we will rise up and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and our households.

And I take him in charge; from my hand require him. If I do not bring him to you and set him before you, I shall have sinned against you all my days.

For if we had not delayed, we would already have returned twice.

And Israel their father said to them, If it must be so, then do this: take some of the fruits of the land in your vessels and carry down gifts to the man — some resin and honey, incense and stacte, terebinth nuts and nuts.

And take double silver in your hands; and the silver that was returned in your bags, carry it back with you, in case it was a mistake.

And take your brother also, and rise up and go down to the man.

And may my God give you favor before the man, and may he release your other brother and Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.

So the men took these gifts, and they took double silver in their hands, and Benjamin; and they rose up and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.

And Joseph saw them and Benjamin his brother by the same mother, and said to the one over his house, Bring the men into the house, and slaughter animals and prepare, for the men will eat bread with me at noon.

And the man did as Joseph said, and brought the men into Joseph's house.

And the men, seeing that they had been brought into Joseph's house, said, It is because of the silver that was returned in our bags the first time that we are being brought in — to bring a false charge against us and to fall upon us, to take us as slaves, and our donkeys too.

So they went up to the man who was over Joseph's house and spoke to him at the gateway of the house,

saying, We beg you, lord; we came down the first time to buy food.

And it came to pass, when we came to the lodging place and opened our bags, that here was each man's silver in his bag, our silver in full weight; we have now brought it back in our hands.

And we have brought other silver with us to buy food. We do not know who put the silver into our bags.

And he said to them, Mercy be to you; do not fear. Your God and the God of your fathers gave you treasures in your bags; and your silver, being of good standard, I have received in full. And he brought Symeon out to them.

And he brought water to wash their feet, and gave fodder to their donkeys.

And they prepared the gifts until Joseph came at noon, for they had heard that he was going to dine there.

And Joseph came into the house, and they brought him into the house the gifts which they had in their hands, and did obeisance to him with their faces to the ground.

And he asked them, How are you? And he said to them, Is your father, the old man of whom you spoke, in good health? Is he still alive?

And they said, Your servant our father is in good health; he is still alive. And he said, Blessed be that man to God. And they bowed down and did obeisance to him.

And Joseph lifted up his eyes and saw Benjamin his brother by the same mother, and said, Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me about bringing? And he said, May God be merciful to you, child.

And Joseph was stirred, for his inward parts were churning over his brother, and he sought to weep; and he went into the inner chamber and wept there.

And he washed his face and came out and restrained himself, and said, Serve the bread.

And they served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who dined with him by themselves; for the Egyptians could not eat bread together with the Hebrews, since that is an abomination to the Egyptians.

And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his rank as firstborn and the younger according to his youth; and the men were astonished, each at his brother.

And they took portions from before him to themselves; but Benjamin's portion was made greater than the portions of them all, fivefold compared with theirs. And they drank and became drunk with him.