THE WORD OF ELOHIM
GENESIS
Chapter 42
When Ya’akov saw that there were food rations to be had in Mitzramah, he said to his sons, “Why do you keep looking at one another? Now I hear,” he went on, “that there are rations to be had in Mitzramah. Go down and procure rations for us there, that we may live and not die.” So ten of Yehoseph’s brothers went down to get grain rations in Mitzramah; for Ya’akov did not send Yehoseph’s brother Binyamin with his brothers, since he feared that he might meet with disaster. Thus the sons of Yisrael were among those who came to procure rations, for the famine extended to the land of Kenaan.
Now Yehoseph was the vizier of the land; it was he who dispensed rations to all the people of the land. And Yehoseph’s brothers came and bowed low to him, with their faces to the ground. When Yehoseph saw his brothers, he recognized them; but he acted like a stranger toward them and spoke harshly to them. He asked them, “Where do you come from?” And they said, “From the land of Kenaan, to procure food.” For though Yehoseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. Recalling the dreams that he had dreamed about them, Yehoseph said to them, “You are spies; you have come to see the land in its nakedness.” But they said to him, “No, my lord! Truly, your servants have come to procure food. We are all of us sons of the same man; we are honest men; your servants have never been spies!” And he said to them, “No, you have come to see the land in its nakedness!” And they replied, “We your servants were twelve brothers, sons of a certain man in the land of Kenaan; the youngest, however, is now with our father, and one is no more.” But Yehoseph said to them, “It is just as I have told you: You are spies! By this you shall be put to the test: Unless your youngest brother comes here, by Paroh, you shall not depart from this place! Let one of you go and bring your brother, while the rest of you remain confined, that your words may be put to the test whether there is truth in you. Else, by Paroh, you are nothing but spies!” And he confined them in the guardhouse for three days.
On the third day Yehoseph said to them, “Do this and you shall live, for I am a man who fears Elohim. If you are honest men, let one of you brothers be held in your place of detention, while the rest of you go and take home rations for your starving households; but you must bring me your youngest brother that your words may be verified and that you may not die.” And they did accordingly. They said to one another, “Alas, we are being punished on account of our brother, because we looked on at his anguish, yet paid no heed as he pleaded with us. That is why this distress has come upon us.” Then Reuben spoke up and said to them, “Did I not tell you ‘Do no wrong to the boy?’ But you paid no heed. Now comes the reckoning for his blood.” They did not know that Yehoseph understood, for there was an interpreter between him and them. He turned away from them and wept. But he came back to them and spoke to them and he took Simeon from among them and had him bound before their eyes. Then Yehoseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, return each one’s money to his sack and give them provisions for the journey, and this was done for them. So they loaded their asses with the rations and departed from there.
As one of them was opening his sack to give feed to his ass at the night encampment, he saw his money right there at the mouth of his bag, and he said to his brothers, “My money has been returned! It is here in my bag!” Their hearts sank, and, trembling, they turned to one another, saying, “What is this that Elohim has done to us?”
When they came to their father Ya’akov, in the land of Kenaan, they told him all that had befallen them, saying, “The man who is lord of the land spoke harshly to us and accused us of spying on the land. We said to him, ‘We are honest men; we have never been spies! There were twelve of us brothers, sons by the same father; but one is no more, and the youngest is now with our father in the land of Kenaan.’ But the man who is lord of the land said to us, ‘by this I shall know that you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers with me, and take something for your starving households and be off. And bring your youngest brother to me that I may know that you are not spies, but honest men. I will then restore your brother to you, and you shall be free to move about in the land.’”
As they were emptying their sacks; there, in each one’s sack, was his money-