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hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck; and he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, "Bow the knee:" and he set him over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt." And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphenath-paneah;1 and he gave him to wife Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera priest of On.2 And Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

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And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls. And he gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities: the food of the field, which was round about every city, laid he in the same. And Joseph laid up grain as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left off numbering; for it was without number. And unto Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera priest of On, bare unto him. And Joseph called the name of the first-born Manasseh: "For," said he, "God hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house." And the name of the second called he Ephraim: "For God hath made me fruitful in the land of my affliction." And the seven years of plenty, that was in the land of Egypt, came to an end. And the seven

1. "Prince of the life of the age."

2. One of the names of the sun god.

3. "Making to forget."

4. Although Joseph was but a young boy when he was brought to Egypt he had never adopted the worship of the Egyptians.

5. "Fruitful."

years of famine began to come, according as Joseph had said: and there was famine in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread: and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, "Go unto Joseph; what he saith to you, do." And the famine was over all the face of the earth: and Joseph opened all the store-houses, and sold unto the Egyptians; and the famine was sore in the land of Egypt. And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was sore in all the earth.

XXI

JOSEPH'S STRANGE REVENGE

(Genesis xlii: 1-xlvi: 7; xlvi: 26-xlvii: 31)

Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said unto his sons, "Why do ye look one upon another?" And he said, "Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt: get you down thither, and buy for us from thence; that we may live and not die." And Joseph's ten brethren went down to buy grain from Egypt. But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said, "Lest peradventure harm befall him." And the sons of Israel came to buy among those that came: for the famine was in the land of Canaan. And Joseph was the governor over the land. And Joseph's brethren came, and bowed down themselves to him with their faces to the earth. And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly with them; and he said unto them, "Whence come ye?" And they said, "From the land of Canaan to buy food."

And Joseph knew his

brethren, but they knew him not. And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, "Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come." And they said unto him, "Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come. We are all one man's sons; we are true men, thy servants are no spies." And he said unto them, "Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come." And they said, "We thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not." And Joseph said unto them, "That is it that I spake unto you, saying, 'Ye are spies:' hereby ye shall be proved: by the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither. Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be bound, that your words may be proved, whether there be truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies." And he put them all together into ward three days.

And Joseph said unto them the third day, "This do, and live; for I fear God: if ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in your prison-house; but go ye, carry grain for the famine of your houses: and bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die." And they did so. And they said one to another, "We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us." And Reuben answered them, saying, "Spake I not unto you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the child;' and ye would not hear? therefore also, behold, his blood is required." And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for there was an interpreter between them. And he turned himself about from

them, and wept; and he returned to them, and spake to them, and took Simeon from among them, and bound him before their eyes. Then Joseph commanded to fill their vessels with grain, and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way: and thus was it done unto them.

And they laded their asses with their grain, and departed thence. And as one of them opened his sack to give his ass provender in the lodging-place, he espied his money; and, behold, it was in the mouth of his sack. And he said unto his brethren, "My money is restored; and, lo, it is even in my sack:" and their heart failed them, and they turned trembling one to another, saying, "What is this that God hath done unto us?" And they came unto Jacob their father unto the land of Canaan, and told him all that had befallen them, saying, “The man, the lord of the land, spake roughly with us, and took us for spies of the country. And we said unto him, 'We are true men; we are no spies: we are twelve brethren, sons of our father; one is not, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.' And the man, the lord of the land, said unto us, 'Hereby shall I know that ye are true men: leave one of your brethren with me, and take grain for the famine of your houses, and go your way; and bring your youngest brother unto me: then shall I know that ye are no spies, but that ye are true men: so will I deliver you your brother, and ye shall traffic in the land.”

And it came to pass as they emptied their sacks, that, behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack: and when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid. And Jacob their father said unto them, "Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin

away: all these things are against me." And Reuben spake unto his father, saying, "Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee: deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to thee again." And he said, "My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he only is left: if harm befall him by the way in which ye go, then will ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol."

And the famine was sore in the land. And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the grain which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said unto them, “Go again, buy us a little food." And Judah spake unto him, saying, "The man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, 'Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you.' If thou wilt send our brother with us, we will go down and buy thee food: but if thou wilt not send him, we will not go down; for the man said unto us, ‘Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you."" And Israel said, "Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me, as to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother?" And they said, “The man asked straitly concerning ourselves, and concerning our kindred, saying, 'Is your father yet alive? have ye another brother?' and we told him according to the tenor of these words: could we in any wise. know that he would say, 'Bring your brother down?"" And Judah said unto Israel his father, "Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go; that we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, and also our little ones. I will be surety for him; of my hand shalt thou require him: if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever: for except we had lingered, surely we had now returned a second time." And their father Israel said unto them, "If it be so now, do this: take of the choice fruits of the land in your

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