JOSEPH MAKES HIMSELF KNOWN. 111 you shall see my face no more. Therefore, when we were gone up to thy servant our father, we told him all my lord lord had said. And our father said, Go up our again, and buy us a little wheat. And we said to him, We cannot go; if our youngest brother go down with us, we will set out together; otherwise without him we should not see the man's face. Whereunto he answered, You know that my wife bore me two. wife bore me two. One went out, and you told me a beast devoured him, and up to this day he cometh not back; if you take this one also, and any evil befalleth him by the way, you shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. Therefore, if I shall go to thy servant my father, and the boy be wanting, and he shall see that he is not with us, he will die, and thy servants shall bring down his gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. Let me be thy bondsman, seeing that I took him into my trust, promising my father, saying, If I bring him not again, I will be guilty of sin against my father for ever. Therefore I, thy servant, will stay instead of the boy in the service of my lord, and let the boy go up with his brethren; for I cannot return to my father without the boy, lest I witness the evil calamity that shall come upon my father." $31. Joseph makes himself known to his Brethren. Joseph could no longer refrain himself before those who stood by, and he commanded that all should go out, and no stranger be present at his making himself known to them. And he lifted up his voice, and wept so loud, that the Egyptians, and all who were in the house of Pharao, heard. And he said to his brethren : "I am Joseph; is my father yet living?" His brethren could not answer him for fear. And he said mildly to them: "Come nearer to me." And when they were come nearer to him, he said: "I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Be not afraid; let it not seem to you a hard thing that you sold me into these countries; for God sent me before you into Egypt for your preservation. It is two years since the famine began to be upon the land, and five years more remain, in which there can be neither ploughing nor reaping; and God sent me before that you might be preserved, and might have food to live. Not by your counsel was I sent hither, but by the will of God, who hath made me, as it were, a father to Pharao, and lord of his house, and governor over the whole land of Egypt. Make haste and go ye up to my father, and say to him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of the whole land of Egypt; come down to me; linger not. And thou shalt dwell in the land of Gessen, and thou shalt be near me, thou and thy sons, and thy son's sons, thy sheep and thy herds, and all things that thou hast. And there I will feed thee; for there are yet five years of famine remaining; lest both thou perish, and thy house, and all that thou hast. Behold your eyes, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, see that it is my mouth that speaketh to you. You shall tell my father of all my glory, and all things that you have seen in Egypt: make haste and bring him to me." And falling upon his brother JOSEPH'S BRETHREN RETURN HOME. 113 Benjamin's neck, he kissed him, and wept; and Benjamín, in like manner, wept upon his neck. And Joseph, in like manner, kissed all his brethren, and wept upon every one of them; after which they were emboldened to speak with him. § 32. Jacob comes down into Egypt. (B.C. 1982.) The news spread, and it came to the ears of Pharao, that Joseph's brethren were come; and the king with all his household were rejoiced. And the king spoke to Joseph, that he should give orders to his brethren to load their beasts, and to go into the land of Canaan, saying: "Bring away from thence your father and kindred, and come to me, and I will give you all the good things of the land of Egypt, that you may eat the marrow of the land. Give orders also that they take waggons out of the land of Egypt for the carriage of their children and their wives, and say, Make haste and come with all speed, and leave nothing of your household stuff; for all the riches of the land of Egypt shall be yours." Jacob's sons did as they were bid. And Joseph gave them waggons, according to Pharao's commandment, and provisions for the way. He ordered also to be brought out for them two changes of robes; but to Benjamin he gave 300 pieces of silver, with five changes of robes of the best. And he sent to his father the same amount in money and in changes of raiment, adding, besides, asses to carry of all the rich things of Egypt, and wheat and bread for the journey. So Joseph sent away his brethren, I and at their departing he said to them: "Take care that ye be not angry and fall out by the way." When they had arrived safe home, they came to their father, and told him: "Joseph, thy son, is living, and he is ruler in all the land of Egypt." When Jacob heard this, he awoke as it were out of a deep sleep, and did not believe them. They, on the other hand, repeated all that had come to pass; and when Jacob saw the waggons, and all that Joseph had sent, his spirit revived, and he said: "It is enough for me if Joseph, my son, be yet living. I will go and see him before I die." And Jacob began his journey down into the land of Egypt. And as he came to a certain well called Bersabee (the well of the oath), he offered sacrifice to the God of his father Isaac. And he heard Him by a vision in the night calling him, saying: "Jacob, Jacob." And he answered Him: "Lo, here I am." And God said to him: "I am the most mighty God of thy father; fear not; go down into Egypt; for I will make a great nation of thee there. And I will go down with thee thither, and will bring thee back again from thence. Joseph, also, shall put his hands upon thine eyes." And Jacob rose up from the well Bersabee; and his sons took him up, with their children and wives, in the waggons which Pharao had sent to carry the old man; and he came into Egypt with all his children, viz. his first-born Ruben, Simeon, Levi, Juda, Issachar, Zabulon, children of Lia; Gad, Aser, the sons of Zelpha; Joseph and Benjamin, children of Rachel; Dan, Nephthali, children of Bala, with their |