~170~ And also what your brother will do in the brothels even if he is in Egypt, didn't you say that you are from the sons of Isaac son of Abraham and what will the sons of Jacob do in the brothels. And they said to him, because we heard that the Ishmaelites stole it from us, and it was told to us that they sold it from Egypt. And your servant our brother is handsome and very handsome and it is said that he is only in the houses of the prostitutes, therefore your servants went there to seek him and redeem him. And Yosef answered them further by saying, "You shall not lie, and you shall speak a lie in your hearts, as it is said, You are Abraham's sons, Pharaoh lives, for you are spies, therefore you have come to the houses of the prostitutes, for none of you has any sense." And they said to him again, No, my lord, because you are going. All your servants went there to seek our brother and redeem him when we spoke to my lord. And Joseph said to them, behold, if you have found him, and his master asked of you a great price, bargain with him, and they said, We will give it. And he said to them, and if his master does not wish to give him at a great price, what will you do to them about him? And they tortured him to say, and if they didn't give him up, we killed him and took our brother and left. And Joseph said to them, This is what I spoke to you as spies, because you have come to kill the inhabitants of the land. For we have heard that two of your brothers have beaten all the inhabitants of Nablus in the land of Canaan for the sake of your sisters, and you will come to do the same thing to your brothers in Egypt. But by this I will know that you are sincere, if you send one of you to take your little brother from your father and bring him here to me. And it was in your doing this thing, and I knew that you were sincere. And Joseph called seventy of his heroes and said to them, take these men and bring them to Mishmar. And the heroes took the ten men and held them and put them on guard, and they were on guard for three days. And it came to pass on the third day, that Joseph brought them out of the guard, and said to them, Do this to you, if you are honest and live. One of your brothers will be imprisoned by the guards, and you go and bring the remnants of your houses to the land of Canaan. And you took your little brother and brought him here to me, and I knew that you were sincere when you did this thing. And Yosef came out from above them and came into the room and wept bitterly, because his mercy was great for them. And he washed his face and went out to them, and took Shimon from them and said to his prisoner. And Shimon refused to do so because he was a very brave hero, and Joseph could not imprison him.
~171~ And Joseph called his heroes, and there came before him seventy mighty men of valor with their swords drawn in their hands, and all the sons of Jacob were afraid of them. And Joseph said to them, seize this man and shut him up in the prison until his brother comes to him. And Joseph's heroes hastened, and held Shimon to forbid him. And Shimon shouted at them a very loud and bitter shout, and the shout was heard far away. And all Joseph's heroes were startled at the sound of the shout, and they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid and they were tempted. And all the people who were with Yosef tried, because they would be very careful for their souls, and only Yosef and Manasseh, his son, would remain there. And Manasseh ben Yosef saw Shimon's prowess, and his nose was very angry. And Manasseh ben Yosef stood up and went to Shimon, and Manasseh struck Shimon with his fist a great blow on the back of the head, and Shimon was relieved of his anger. And Manasseh took hold of Shimon and strengthened him and forbade him and threw him into the prison house, and all the sons of Jacob were amazed at what the boy did. And Simeon said to his brothers, let none of you say that this plague of Egypt is none other than the plague of my father's house. And Joseph commanded after that and called to approve the treasurer to fill their vessels with bar as they could and to give each man his money in his sack and to give them a side dish for the journey, and he did so for them. And Joseph commanded them, saying, Take heed unto you, lest you pervert my mouth, and bring your brethren when I have spoken unto you. And it was when you brought your brothers here to me, and I knew that you were honest and that you would trade the land. And I restored your brothers to you, and you returned in peace to your father. And they all answered and said, When my Lord has spoken, so will we do, and they will bow to him to the ground. And they carried a broken man on his donkey, and left to go to the land of Canaan to their father. And they came to the hotel and Levi opened his line to give fodder to his donkey, and he looked and there was his money by weight still in his saddle. And the man was very afraid and said to his brother, My money has been restored and here it is in my basket and the people were very afraid and said, "What has God done to us?" And they all said, O God's mercy to our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob our father, so God has given us today into the hand of the king of Egypt to do us wrong. And Yehuda said to them, Are we not guilty and sinning before the Lord our God in selling our brothers in our flesh and why do you say, What is the mercy of the Lord to our fathers? And Reuben said to them, "Didn't you say I told you not to sin in a child and you didn't listen to me?" Because God demanded his blood from him, and how can you say, "What is God's mercy to our ancestors and you have sinned against him?"
~172~ They mourned in that place and slept in the morning, and they carried their sheaf on their donkeys and drove them and they went and came to the land of Canaan, the home of their fathers. And Jacob and his house went out to meet his sons, and Jacob saw, and behold, their brother Simon was not with them. And Jacob said to his sons, where is your brother Shimon, whom I did not see with you, and his sons told him all that happened to them in Egypt. And they came to their homes and each one opened his bag, and they saw, and behold, a man had a bundle of money in his bag, and they and their father were very afraid of this. And Jacob said to them, What is it that you have done to me that I have sent your brother Joseph to you to demand your peace and you will tell me that an evil animal has eaten him. And Shimon went with you to break food, and you said, the king of Egypt put him in prison. And you will tell Benjamin to take him to death as well, and you have brought down my return with the grief that is poured out on Benjamin and Joseph his brother. Now my son will not go down with you because his brother is dead and he is left alone, and calamity will befall him on the road you are going on when it happened to his brother. And Reuben said to his father, You will kill my two sons if I do not bring your son before you and present him before you. And Jacob said to his sons, Go back to you and do not go down from Egypt because my son will not go down from Egypt with you and will not die like his brother. And Yehuda said to them, please stop him from him until he has finished the break and he will say take your brother down because he will find his soul in hunger and the soul of his household. And the famine was severe throughout the land in those days, and all the people of the land were going back and forth to Egypt to break food because the famine was very strong on them. And the sons of Jacob dwelt in the land of Canaan for days and two months, until the break was over for them. And it came to pass when they had finished eating the scrap, and their souls were very hungry, all the house of Jacob. And the children of the sons of Jacob came together and approached Jacob and they all surrounded him and said to him, Give us bread and why should we all die of hunger against you.
~173~ And Jacob heard the words of his sons' children, and he wept bitterly, and his mercy overflowed with them. And Jacob called his sons, and they all came and sat before him. And Jacob said to them, have you not seen that your sons are crying for me today, give us bread, and there is none. Now he came back and broke us some food. And Yehuda answered and said to his father, If you send my brother and we will go down and break food for you. And if you are not a messenger, we will not go down, they will answer that the king of Egypt, the witness, testified about us, you will not see my face unless your brothers are with you. Because the king of Egypt is a mighty and strong king, and it would have been if we went to him without our brothers and we would all die. Didn't you know if you hadn't heard that that king is a hero and very wise, and there is no one like him in all the land. Here we saw all the kings of the land, and we did not see like that king the king of Egypt. For there is none greater than Abimelech, king of the Philistines, of all the kings of the land, and the king of Egypt, greater and greater than him, and he will not have Abimelech as one of his servants. If my father saw his temple and his throne, and all his servants standing before him. If you saw that king sitting on his throne in his beauty and title, dressed in royal clothes and a large gold crown on his head. You have seen the majesty and splendor that God has given him, for there is none like him in all the land. You have seen the father of wisdom and understanding and knowledge, which God gave in his heart. You pointed to his pleasant voice when he spoke to us. We did not know, my father, who informed us of our names and everything that had happened to us, and he also asked about you to say more about your father, peace be upon him. Had you seen all the words of the kingdom of Egypt, by his mouth he went out and by his mouth he will come and there is no question in Pharaoh his lord. If you had seen his fear and terror over all Egypt. And we, too, when we went out from before him and were told to make Egypt a crown of the cities of the Amorites and Jehar, were very angry about all his words that he spoke, to give us spies. And when we came he was still before him and his terror fell upon us together, and no one could speak to him a small or great thing. And now our father please send the boy with us and go down and break food for us for our sustenance, and we will not die of hunger. And Jacob said, Why did you insult me to tell the king that you have a brother, what is the thing that you have done? And Yehuda said to Jacob his father, Give the boy into my hand, and we shall rise and go down from Egypt, and we shall eat, and we shall come. And when we came, the boy was not with us, and I sinned against you all the days.
~174~ You showed all our little children crying because of hunger and there is no God in your hands, now please have mercy on them and send our brothers with us and we went. And how gracious God is to our ancestors with you, that you will say that the king of Egypt will take your son. As God lives, I will die on him until he comes and presents himself before you. But please pray for us to the Lord our God, and He will do us favor for our grace and mercy before the king of Egypt and his people, because if I didn't delay, because now our son is twice to you with your sons. And Jacob said to his sons, I trust in the Lord my God, who will save you and give you bread in the sight of the king of Egypt and in the sight of all his people. Now get up and go to the man and take in your hands an offering for him from what is in this land, and bring it before him. And may God grant you mercy before him, and send you Benjamin and your brother Shimon. And all the people stood up and took Benjamin their brother and a large offering from the singer of the land of Canaan they took in their hands, and they also took a change of silver. And Jacob charged his sons very much against Benjamin, keep him in the way you will go and do not separate from his people either on the way or in Egypt. And Jacob stood up from his sons and spread out his hands and prayed to God on behalf of his sons, saying, God of heaven and earth, remember your covenant with our father Abraham, and remember my father Isaac, and be kind to my children, and do not give them into the hand of the king of Egypt. Please, my God, act for your mercy and redeem all my sons and deliver them from the hand of Egypt, and send them their two brothers. And all the women of the sons of Jacob and their children all raised their eyes to heaven, and they all wept to God and cried out to save their fathers from the hand of the king of Egypt. And Jacob wrote a book to the king of Egypt and gave it in the hand of Judah and in the hand of his sons, to the king of Egypt as mentioned. From your servant Jacob son of Isaac son of Abraham the Hebrew President of God to the mighty and wise king Zephanat Panach King of Egypt Peace be known to my lord the king of Egypt that the famine is strong on us in the land of Canaan and I have sent my sons to you to break us some food from you for our sustenance. Because I am round in my seventy souls, my sons, and I am very old, I do not see with my eyes that his liver is very bearded. And she weeps every day always for the sons of Joseph, who will perish before me, and I will command my sons who will not come together at the gates of the city when they come from Egypt before the inhabitants of the land. And also because you are commanded to go around Egypt and ask for the sons of Joseph, perhaps they will find him there, and they will do so. And you will give them as spies the land.
~175~ We haven't heard about you because you are very wise and intelligent, don't you see their faces, how they will be spies. Because you heard and that you solved Pharaoh's dream and informed him of this famine before he came and spoke to him correctly, and how could you not know in your wisdom who the sons of the spies are if not. And now, my lord the king, behold, I have sent my sons before you when you spoke to my sons, I pray that your face will be beautiful, that you will set your eyes on him until he returns to me in peace with his brothers. And wouldn't you know if you hadn't heard what our God did to Pharaoh when he took Sarah my mother, and what he did to Abimelech king of the Philistines on her. And also what our father Abraham did to the nine kings of Elam, who killed them all when he killed a number of people who were with him. And also what Shimon and Levi, my two sons, did to the eight cities of the Amorites that they destroyed, because of their sister Dinah. And even for the sake of Benjamin, their brothers who consoled him for his brother Yosef, what will they do to him when they see that the hand of one nation will prevail against them for his sake. Did you not know, King of Egypt, that the might of our God is with us, and also that our God hears our prayers always because they will not leave us forever. As the Lord lives, for by saying build me your deeds with them, if I had called to the Lord about you because then you would perish with your people before Benjamin my son came before you. But I said that Shimon my son in your house might do a favor with him, therefore I did not do this thing to you. And now here is the son of Benjamin coming to you with my sons, keep him safe for you and keep your eye on him and our God will keep his eyes on you in all your kingdom. And now here I have told you what is with my heart and here my sons are coming to you with their brothers, please see for them the face of the whole earth and send them away with their brothers in peace. And Jacob gave the book to his sons in Judah's hand, to give it to the king of Egypt. And the sons of Jacob arose and took Benjamin and all the offering, and they went and came from Egypt and stood before Joseph. And Joseph saw Benjamin his brother with them, and Joseph gave them peace, and those men came to Joseph's house. And Joseph ordered those in his house to slaughter for them a slaughter to eat, and he did so for them. And it was at noon, and Joseph sent to the people to come before him with Benjamin.
~176~ And the people told the man who was on Joseph's house the word of the silver that was in their bags, and he said to them peace be with you, do not be afraid and he brought out their brother Shimon to them. And Simeon said to his brothers, Lord of Egypt, you have done me a great favor, and you did not imprison me when you saw it with your eyes. Because when you left the city, he took me out, and did me a favor in his house. And Judah took Benjamin by the hand and they came before Joseph, and they bowed down to him to the ground. And the people gave the offering to Joseph, and they all sat before him. And Joseph said to them, Peace to you, peace to your sons, peace to your old father, and they said peace. And Judah took the book that Jacob had sent, and put it in Joseph's hand. And Yosef read the book and recognized his father's letter and wanted to cry, and he could not hold back, so he went inside and cried a lot and came out. And he lifted up his eyes and saw Benjamin his brother and said, This is your brother of whom you told me. And Benjamin came before Joseph, and Joseph put his hand on his head and said to him, God will educate my son. And when Joseph saw his brother, the son of his mother, he asked to cry again, and he came into the room and wept there, and washed his face, and went out and restrained himself, and said, Put bread. And there was in Joseph's hand a goblet in which he would drink, and it was of silver studded with pearls and a very fine crystal. And Joseph took that cup in front of his brothers, on the Sabbath they ate with him. And Joseph said to the people, I knew by this cup that Reuben the firstborn. And Shimon and Levi and Yehuda and Yishshachar and Zebulun, sons of one mother, return to you to eat when you are born. And also sits the others as their history. And he said, I knew that this little brother of yours has no brother and I, like him, have no brother, please sit with me to eat. And Benjamin went up before Yosef and sat on the chair, and the people saw what Yosef had done and were amazed at this. And the people ate and drank with Joseph at that time, and he gave them gifts and portions at that time. And Joseph and Joseph gave one portion to Benjamin, and Manasseh and Ephraim saw what their father had done and they also gave him their portions. Osnath also gave him one portion, and Binyamin's hand gave him five portions of wine. And Joseph brought out wine for them to drink, and they did not want to drink, and they said, "Since the day that Joseph, our brother, was lost from us, we have neither drunk wine nor eaten good food." And Joseph swore to them and begged them very much, and they drank and got drunk with him that day.
~177~ And it happened after that that Joseph turned to his brother Benjamin to speak with him, and Benjamin was still sitting on the chair in front of Joseph. And Joseph said to him, child, you have sons. And Benjamin said, Your servant has ten sons. And those whose names are dead, Bela and Becher and Ashbel Gera and Naaman my brother and Rosh Mofim and Hufim and Arad. And I will read their names for everything that happened to Joseph, my brother, whom I did not see. And Joseph commanded, and they brought before him the regime of the stars that belonged to him, in which Joseph knows all the times. And Joseph said to Benjamin, I have heard that the Hebrews know all wisdom; you can know nothing about it, and Benjamin said, your servant also knew all wisdom when my father taught me. And Joseph said to Benjamin, Please look at this vessel and understand where is your brother Joseph in Egypt that you told the Egyptians to go down. And Benjamin took that tool, the ruler of the stars of the sky, and became wise and looked at it to know where his brother was. And Benjamin divided the whole land of Egypt into four parts and found Joseph his brother because he was sitting before him on the throne, and Benjamin became very orphaned. And Joseph saw Benjamin because he was very surprised, and he said to Benjamin what did you see and what did you wonder about. And Benjamin said to Yosef, I see this because Yosef my brother is sitting here with me on the chair. And Joseph said to him, I am Joseph your brother, but do not reveal this thing to your brother. I am sending you with them and they will go, and I was ordered to return you to the city and take you from them. And if they gave their lives and fought against you, then I knew that they were sorry for what they did to me, and I was known to them. And if Azvuch and I took you and you sat with me, and I sent them and they will go to them and I will not tell them. At that time Yosef commanded his servant to fill their vessels with food and to put each man's money in his sack, and to put the cup in Benjamin's sack and to give them a side dish for the journey, and he did so for them. And it came to pass the next day, that the people arose in the morning, and carried their spoils on their donkeys, and they set out with Benjamin to go to the land of Canaan with their brother Shimon. They left Egypt and did not go far, and Yosef commanded to approve his house saying, get up and chase the people before they go away from Egypt and you said to them why did you steal the cup of my Lord. And Joseph's official stood up and pursued them and overtook them, and spoke to them all the words of Joseph. it came to pass. They heard this thing and their noses were very angry and said, whoever finds the cup of your lord with him will be put to death and we will also become slaves.
~178~ And they hastened and each took his line off his donkey and searched in their sacks, and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. And they all tore their clothes, and returned to the city and beat Benjamin on the way and beat him until they came to the city, and stood before Joseph. And Judah was also angry and said, As God lives, we have not returned this man except to destroy Egypt today. And the people came to Yosef's house, and found Yosef sitting on his throne and all his heroes standing on his right and left. And Joseph said to them, What is this deed that you have done, that you have taken the silver cup that is mine and gone away. But I knew that for the sake of knowing where your brothers are in all the land, you took the cup that belongs to me. And Yehuda said, What shall we say to my Lord, what shall we speak and what shall we justify? God found the iniquity of your servants today, therefore do this thing to us today. And Joseph stood up and strengthened Benjamin, and they took him from his brother firmly, and he came home and locked the door in their face. And Joseph ordered to confirm his house and went out and said to them, Thus said the king, go in peace to your father. Here I have taken the man in whose hand I found my cup. And it came to pass when Judah saw what Joseph had done with them.