1 Hunger remained severe in the land.
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2 So, when all the wheat that Jacob's sons had brought from Egypt ran out, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us some more food.”
3 But Judah said to him, “The man warned us sternly, 'Do not come before me unless you bring your brother.'
4 If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy food for you.
5 But if you do not send him with us, we will not go, because this is how the man said: 'Do not return before me unless you bring your brother' “.
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6 Israel asked: “Why did they harm me by telling that man that they had another brother? “
7 And they answered: “He questioned us about ourselves and our family. And he also asked us: 'Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother? ' We simply responded to what he asked us. How could we have known that he would demand that we take our brother? “
8 Then Judah said to his father Israel, “Let the young man go with me, and we will leave immediately, so that you and we and our children may survive and not die.
9 I personally pledge myself for his safety; You can hold me responsible for him. If I don't bring him back and place him right here in your presence, I will be guilty before you for the rest of my life.
10 As you can see, if we hadn’t taken so long, we would have already gone back and forth twice.”
11 Then Israel, their father, said to them: “If it has to be this way, so be it! Put some of the best products from our land in your luggage and take them as a gift to that man: a little balm, a little honey, some spices and myrrh, some pistachio nuts and almonds.
12 Take double the amount of silver, and return the silver that was put back into your baggage. Maybe this happened by mistake.
13 Take your brother too and go back to that man.
14 May Almighty God grant you mercy before that man, so that he will allow your other brother and Benjamin to return with you. As for me, if I remain childless, I will remain childless.”
15 Then the men went down to Egypt, taking the gift, double silver and Benjamin, and went before Joseph.
16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the manager of his house: “Take these men to my house, kill an animal and prepare it; they will have lunch with me at noon.”
17 He did as he was told and took them to Joseph's house.
18 They were afraid when they were taken to Joseph's house, and they thought: “They brought us here because of the silver that was returned to our luggage the first time. He wants to attack us, subjugate us, make us slaves and take away our donkeys.”
19 Therefore, they went to the administrator of José's house and said to him at the entrance of the house:
20 “Listen, sir! The first time we came here was actually to buy food.
21 But at the place where we stopped for the night, we opened our luggage and each of us found our silver, in the exact amount. That's why we brought her back with us,
22 plus more silver to buy food. We don’t know who put the silver in our luggage.”
23 “Rest assured,” said the administrator. "Do not be afraid. It is your God, the God of your father, who gave you treasure in your luggage, for I received your silver. ” Then he released Simeon and brought him before them.
24 Then he took them to Joseph's house, gave them water to wash their feet and food for their donkeys.
25 They then prepared the gift for Joseph's arrival at noon, because they knew they were going to have lunch there.
26 When Joseph arrived, they presented him with what they had brought and bowed down to the ground before him.
27 He then asked them how they were doing and then said: “How is your father, the elderly man you told me about, doing? Are you still alive? “
28 They replied, “Your servant, our father, is still alive and well.” And they bowed down to do him honor.
29 Looking around and seeing his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, Joseph asked, “Is this the youngest brother I was told about? ” And he added: “God grant you grace, my son.”
30 Deeply moved for his brother's sake, Joseph hurried out to look for a place to cry, and entering his room, he wept.
31 After washing his face, he came out and, controlling himself, said: “Serve the food.”
32 They served him separately from their brothers and also from the Egyptians who ate with him, because the Egyptians could not eat with the Hebrews, as this was sacrilege for them.
33 His brothers were placed at the table before him in order of age, from oldest to youngest, and they looked at each other in perplexity.
34 Then they were served food from Joseph's table, and Benjamin's portion was five times as large as the rest's. And they feasted and drank freely.
