Genesis 43

¹And the famine was severe in the land.

²And it came to pass when they had finished eating the grain that they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, “Return, buy for us a little food.”

³And Judah said to him, saying, “The man surely warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’

⁴If you send our brother with us, we will go down and we will buy for you food.

⁵But if you are not sending him, we will not go down, for the man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’”

⁶And Israel said, “Why have you done evil to me, to tell the man you had yet to you a brother?”

⁷And they said, “The man surely asked about us and about our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Is there unto you a brother?’ And we told him, according to the mouth, these words. How could we possibly know that he would say, ‘Bring down your brother’?”

⁸And Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy with me, and let us arise and let us go and we will live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones.

⁹I myself will guarantee him; from my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then I shall bear the blame to you all the days.

¹⁰For if we had not lingered, surely now we would have returned these two times.”

¹¹And Israel their father said to them, “If so, then do this: Take from the best products of the land in your vessels, and carry down to the man as a gift—a little balm, and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds.

¹²And double the silver take in your hand, and the silver that was returned in the mouth of your bags you shall return in your hand. Perhaps it was a mistake.

¹³And take your brother and arise; return to the man.

¹⁴And may El-Shaddai give to you mercy before the man, and may he release to you your other brother and Benjamin! And I—if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.”

¹⁵And the men took this gift, and double the silver they took in their hand, and Benjamin. And they arose and went down to Egypt, and they stood before Joseph.

¹⁶And Joseph saw Benjamin with them, and he said to the one over his house, “Bring the men to the house, and slaughter an animal and prepare it, for the men will eat with me at noon.”

¹⁷And the man did as Joseph had said, and the man brought the men into the house of Joseph.

¹⁸And the men were afraid because they were brought into the house of Joseph. And they said, “It is because of the silver that was returned in our bags the first time that we are being brought in, to roll himself upon us, and to fall upon us, and to take us for servants, and our donkeys.”

¹⁹And they drew near to the man who was over the house of Joseph, and they spoke to him at the door of the house

²⁰and they said, “Please, my lord, we surely came down the first time to buy food.

²¹And it came to pass when we came to the lodging place and we opened our bags, and behold, the silver of each man was in the mouth of his bag—our silver in its weight—and we have brought it back in our hands.

²²And other silver we have brought down in our hand to buy food; we do not know who put our silver in our bags.”

²³And he said, “Peace to you. Do not fear; your God and the God of your father has given to you hidden treasure in your bags; your silver came to me.” And he brought out to them. Simeon

²⁴and the man brought the men into the house of Joseph, and he gave water, and they washed their feet. And he gave feed to their donkeys.

²⁵And they prepared the gift for the coming of Joseph at noon, for they heard that they would eat bread there.

²⁶And Joseph came into the house, and they brought to him the gift that was in their hand into the house, and they bowed themselves before him to the earth.

²⁷And he asked them about their wellbeing, and he said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?”

²⁸And they said, “It is well for your servant; for our father, he is still alive.” And they bowed down and worshiped.

²⁹And he lifted up his eyes and saw Benjamin his brother, son of his mother, and he said, “Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me?” And he said, “God be gracious to you, my son!”

³⁰And Joseph hurried, for his compassions yearned for his brother, and he sought to weep, and he went into the chamber and wept there.

³¹And he washed his face and went out, and he restrained himself and said, “Set the bread.”

³²And they set for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians who were eating with him by themselves, because the Egyptians are not able to eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to Egypt.

³³And they sat before him the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth, and the men were astonished, each man to his neighbor.

³⁴And he lifted up portions from before him to them, and the portion of Benjamin was greater than the portions of all of them—five hands. And they drank and became drunk with him.