Jacob sendeth his ten sons to buy corn in Egypt. Their treatment by
Joseph.
42:1. And Jacob hearing that food was sold in Egypt, said to his sons:
Why are ye careless?
42:2. I have heard that wheat is sold in Egypt: Go ye down, and buy us
necessaries, that we may live, and not be consumed with want.
42:3. So the ten brethren of Joseph went down, to buy corn in Egypt:
42:4. Whilst Benjamin was kept at home by Jacob, who said to his
brethren: Lest perhaps he take any harm in the journey.
42:5. And they entered into the land of Egypt with others that went to
buy. For the famine was in the land of Chanaan.
42:6. And Joseph was governor in the land of Egypt, and corn was sold
by his direction to the people. And when his brethren had bowed down to
him,
42:7. And he knew them, he spoke as it were to strangers, somewhat
roughly, asking them: Whence came you? They answered: From the land of
Chanaan, to buy necessaries of life.
42:8. And though he knew his brethren, he was not known by them.
42:9. And remembering the dreams, which formerly he had dreamed, he
said to them: You are spies. You are come to view the weaker parts of
the land.
You are spies.... This he said by way of examining them, to see what
they would answer.
42:10. But they said: It is not so, my lord; but thy servants are come
to buy food.
42:11. We are all the sons of one man: we are come as peaceable men,
neither do thy servants go about any evil.
42:12. And he answered them: It is otherwise: you are come to consider
the unfenced parts of this land.
42:13. But they said: We thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of
one man in the land of Chanaan: the youngest is with our father, the
other is not living.
42:14. He saith, This is it that I said: You are spies.
42:15. I shall now presently try what you are: by the health of Pharao,
you shall not depart hence, until your youngest brother come.
42:16. Send one of you to fetch him: and you shall be in prison, till
what you have said be proved, whether it be true or false: or else by
the health of Pharao you are spies.
Or else by the health of Pharao you are spies.... That is, if these
things you say be proved false, you are to be held for spies for your
lying, and shall be treated as such. Joseph dealt in this manner with
his brethren, to bring them by the means of affliction to a sense of
their former sin, and a sincere repentance for it.
42:17. So he put them in prison three days.
42:18. And the third day he brought them out of prison, and said: Do as
I have said, and you shall live: for I fear God.
42:19. If you be peaceable men, let one of your brethren be bound in
prison: and go ye your ways, and carry the corn that you have bought,
unto your houses.
42:20. And bring your youngest brother to me, that I may find your
words to be true, and you may not die. They did as he had said.
42:21. And they talked one to another: We deserve to suffer these
things, because we have sinned against our brother, seeing the anguish
of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear: therefore is
this affliction come upon us.
42:22. And Ruben, one of them, said: Did not I say to you: Do not sin
against the boy; and you would not hear me? Behold his blood is
required.
42:23. And they knew not that Joseph understood, because he spoke to
them by an interpreter.
42:24. And he turned himself away a little while, and wept: and
returning, he spoke to them.
42:25. And taking Simeon, and binding him in their presence, he
commanded his servants to fill their sacks with wheat, and to put every
man’s money again in their sacks, and to give them besides provisions
for the way: and they did so.
42:26. But they having loaded their asses with the corn went their way.
42:27. And one of them opening his sack, to give his beast provender in
the inn, saw the money in the sack’s mouth,
42:28. And said to his brethren: My money is given me again; behold it
is in the sack. And they were astonished, and troubled, and said to one
another: What is this that God hath done unto us?
42:29. And they came to Jacob their father in the land of Chanaan, and
they told him all things that had befallen them, saying:
42:30. The lord of the land spoke roughly to us, and took us to be
spies of the country.
42:31. And we answered him: We are peaceable men, and we mean no plot.
42:32. We are twelve brethren born of one father: one is not living,
the youngest is with our father in the land of Chanaan.
42:33. And he said to us: Hereby shall I know that you are peaceable
men: Leave one of your brethren with me, and take ye necessary
provision for your houses, and go your ways,
42:34. And bring your youngest brother to me, that I may know you are
not spies: and you may receive this man again, that is kept in prison:
and afterwards may have leave to buy what you will.
42:35. When they had told this, they poured out their corn, and every
man found his money tied in the mouth of his sack: and all being
astonished together,
42:36. Their father Jacob said: You have made me to be without
children: Joseph is not living, Simeon is kept in bonds, and Benjamin
you will take away: all these evils are fallen upon me.
42:37. And Ruben answered him: Kill my two sons, if I bring him not
again to thee: deliver him into my hand, and I will restore him to
thee.
42:38. But he said: My son shall not go down with you: his brother is
dead, and he is left alone: if any mischief befall him in the land to
which you go, you will bring down my grey hairs with sorrow to hell.
To hell.... That is, to that place, where the souls then remained, as
above, chapter 37. ver. 35.