Gênesis 43

¹ And theThis was a great temptation to Jacob to suffer such a great famine in the land where God had promised to bless him.famine [was] sore in the land.

² And when they had eaten vp the vitaile, which they had brought from Egypt, their father sayd vnto them, Turne againe, and bye vs a little foode.

³ And Iudah answered him, saying, The man charged vs by an othe, saying, Neuer see my face, except your brother be with you.

⁴ If thou wilt sende our brother with vs, we will goe downe, and bye thee foode:

⁵ But if thou wilt not send him, we wil not go downe: for the man said vnto vs, Looke me not in the face, except your brother be with you.

⁶ And Israel sayd, Wherefore delt ye so euill with me, as to tell the man, whether ye had yet a brother or no?

⁷ And they answered, The man asked straitly of our selues and of our kinred, saying, Is your father yet aliue? haue ye any brother? And wee tolde him according to these wordes: could we knowe certainely that he would say, Bring your brother downe?

⁸ Then sayde Iudah to Israel his father, Send the boy with mee, that we may rise and goe, and that we may liue and not dye, both we, and thou, and our children.

⁹ I wil be suertie for him: of mine hand shalt thou require him. If I bring him not to thee, and set him before thee, then let me beare the blame for euer.

¹⁰ For except we had made this tarying, doutlesse by this we had returned the second time.

¹¹ Then their father Israel sayd vnto them, If it must needes be so now, do thus: take of the best fruites of the lande in your vessels, and bring the man a present, a little rosen, & a little hony, spices and myrrhe, nuttes, and almondes:

¹² And takeWhen we are in need or danger, God does not forbid us to use honest means to better our estate and condition.double money in your hand; and the money that was brought again in the mouth of your sacks, carry [it] again in your hand; peradventure it [was] an oversight:

¹³ Take also your brother and arise, and go againe to the man.

¹⁴ AndOur main trust should be in God, not in worldly means.God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your other brother, and Benjamin. If I beHe speaks these words not so much in despair, but to make his sons more careful to return with their brother.bereaved [of my children], I am bereaved.

¹⁵ Thus the men tooke this present, & tooke twise so much money in their hande with Beniamin, and rose vp, and went downe to Egypt and stoode before Ioseph.

¹⁶ And whe Ioseph saw Beniamin with them, he sayde to his stewarde, Bring these men home and kill meate, and make ready: for the men shal eate with me at noone.

¹⁷ And the man did as Ioseph bad, & brought the men vnto Iosephs house.

¹⁸ And the men wereSo the judgment of God weighed on their consciences.afraid, because they were brought into Joseph's house; and they said, Because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time are we brought in; that he may seek occasion against us, and fall upon us, and take us for bondmen, and our asses.

¹⁹ Therefore came they to Iosephs stewarde, & communed with him at the doore of ye house.

²⁰ And said, Oh syr, we came in deede down hither at the first time to bye foode,

²¹ And as wee came to an ynne and opened our sackes, behold, euery mans money was in his sackes mouth, euen our money in full weight, but we haue brought it againe in our handes.

²² Also other money haue we brought in our handes to bye foode, but we cannot tell, who put our money in our sackes.

²³ And he said, Peace [be] to you, fear not:Despite the corruption of Egypt, Joseph taught his family to fear God.your God, and the God of your father, hath given you treasure in your sacks: I had your money. And he brought Simeon out unto them.

²⁴ So the man led them into Iosephs house, & gaue them water to wash their feete, and gaue their asses prouender.

²⁵ And they made ready their present against Ioseph came at noone, (for they heard say, that they should eate bread there)

²⁶ When Ioseph came home, they brought the present into the house to him, which was in their handes, and bowed downe to the grounde before him.

²⁷ And he asked them of their prosperitie, and sayd, Is your father the olde man, of whome ye tolde me, in good health? is he yet aliue?

²⁸ Who answered, Thy seruant our father is in good health, he is yet aliue: and they bowed downe, and made obeysance.

²⁹ And he lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, hisFor only these two were born of Rachel.mother's son, and said, [Is] this your younger brother, of whom ye spake unto me? And he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son.

³⁰ And Ioseph made haste (for his affection was inflamed towarde his brother, and sought where to weepe) and entred into his chamber, and wept there.

³¹ Afterward he washed his face, & came out, and refrained himselfe, and sayd, Set on meate.

³² And theyTo signify his dignity.set on for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, which did eat with him, by themselves: because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews; for that [is] anThe nature of the superstitions is to condemn all others in respect to themselves.abomination unto the Egyptians.

³³ So they sate before him: the eldest according vnto his age, and the yongest according vnto his youth; the men marueiled among themselues.

³⁴ And he took [and sent] messes unto them from before him: but Benjamin's mess was five times so much as any of theirs. And they drank,Sometimes this word means «to be drunken», but here it means that they had enough, and drank of the best wine.and were merry with him.