Chapter 43
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And the famine was heavy in the land.
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And when they had finished eating the grain that they had brought from Egypt, he said to them, "Go back, buy us a little food."
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And Judah said to him, "The man testified to us, he testified, saying, 'You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.'"
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If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy food for you.
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But if you will not send him, we will not go down, for the man said to us, 'You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.'"
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And Israel said, "Why did you do evil to me by telling the man that you still have another brother?"
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And they said, "The man asked us about ourselves and about our birthplace, saying, 'Is your father still alive? Do you have a brother?' And we answered him on the basis of these words. We did not know that he would say, 'Bring down your brother.'"
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Judah said to Israel his father, "Send the boy with me, and let us arise and go and live, and let us not die—both we and you and our little ones."
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I will pledge him from my hand; you will seek him from me—if you do not bring him to you and set him before you, then I have sinned against you all the days.
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For if we had not delayed, by now we would have returned twice.
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And their father Israel said to them, "If it must be so, then do this: take some of the choice fruits of the land in your vessels and carry down to the man a little balm, a little honey, gum, myrrh, pistachio nuts, and almonds."
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Take double the silver in your hand, and return the silver that was placed in the mouth of your bags—it may have been an oversight.
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Take your brother and arise, return to the man.
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May the LORD God grant you mercy before the man, and may he send your brother back to you along with Benjamin. And as for me, as I have been bereft, I will be bereft.
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And the men took this offering and double silver in their hand, and Benjamin. And they arose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.
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When Joseph saw them with Benjamin, he said to the steward of his house, "Bring the men into the house, slaughter an animal, and prepare it, for the men will eat with me at noon."
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The man did as Joseph had said, and he brought the men into Joseph's house.
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And the men were afraid because they had been brought to Joseph's house. And they said, "Because of the silver that was returned in our bags the first time, he is bringing us in so he can roll upon us and pounce upon us and take us as slaves along with our donkeys."
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And they approached the man who was over Joseph's house and spoke to him at the entrance of the house.
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And they said, "He came down to us, my lord; we came down at first to buy food."
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When we came to the inn and opened our sacks, we saw that the silver of each man was in the mouth of his sack, our silver by its weight, and we brought it back with us.
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And we brought down other silver in our hands for grain-provisions. We did not know who put our silver in our bags.
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And he said, "Peace be to you; do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has put treasure in your sacks. Your silver has come to me." And he brought Simeon out to them.
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And the man brought the men into Joseph's house and gave them water, and they washed their feet. And he gave fodder to their donkeys.
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And they prepared the offering until Joseph came at noon, for they had heard that they would eat bread there.
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And Joseph came to the house, and they brought him the offering that was in their hands in the house, and they bowed down to him to the earth.
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He asked them about their welfare and said, "Is your father, the old man of whom you spoke, still alive?"
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They said, "Peace to your servant our father; he is still alive." And they bowed low and prostrated themselves.
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And he lifted his eyes and saw Benjamin, his brother, son of his mother, and he said, "Is this your brother, the little one of whom you spoke to me?" And he said, "God favor you, my son."
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And Joseph hurried, for his compassion was stirred toward his brother, and he sought a place to weep. He entered his chamber and wept there.
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And he washed his face and went out and restrained himself and said, "Serve the bread."
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They set it before him alone, them alone, and the Egyptians who were eating with him alone, because the Egyptians could not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians.
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They sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth, and the men looked at one another in amazement.
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He took portions from before him and gave them to them, and Benjamin's portion was five times larger than the portions of all the others. And they drank and became drunk with him.