Lost Books of the Bible (109 page)

43 And they answered him, saying, Are you not a slave, and where is your father? And if you had a father you would not already twice have been sold for a slave for so little value;  their anger was still roused against him, and they continued to strike him and to chastise him, and Joseph wept bitterly.

44 The Lord saw Joseph's affliction, and the Lord again struck these men, and chastised them, and the Lord caused darkness to envelope them on the earth, and the lightning flashed and the thunder roared, and the earth shook at the voice of the thunder and of the mighty wind; the men were terrified and knew not where they should go.

45 The beasts and camels stood still, and they led them, but they would not go, they struck them, and they crouched on the ground; the men said to each other, What is this that God has done to us? What are our transgressions and what are our sins that this thing has thus befallen us?

46 One of them answered and said to them, Perhaps on account of the sin of afflicting this slave has this thing happened this day to us; now we should implore him strongly to forgive us and then we shall know on whose account this evil befalls us; if God willl have compassion over us, then we shall know that all this comes to us on account of the sin of afflicting this slave.

47 And the men did so, and they supplicated Joseph and pressed him to forgive them; and they said, We have sinned to the Lord and to you, now therefore vouchsafe to request of your God that he shall put away this death from among us, for we have sinned to him.

48 Joseph did according to their words and the Lord listened to Joseph, and the Lord put away the plague which he had inflicted on those men on account of Joseph; the beasts rose up from the ground and they conducted them, and they went on;  the raging storm abated and the earth became tranquilized and the men proceeded on their journey to go down to Egypt.  The men knew that this evil had befallen them on account of Joseph.

49 And they said to each other, We now know that it was on account of his affliction that this evil befell us; now why shall we bring this death on our souls? Let us hold counsel what to do to this slave.

50 And one answered and said, Certainly he told us to bring him back to his father; so come, let us take him back and we will go to the place that he will tell us, and take from his family the price that we gave for him and we will then go away.

51 One answered again and said, Behold this counsel is very good, but we cannot do so for the way is very far from us, and we cannot leave our road.

52 One more answered and said to them, This is the counsel to be adopted, we will not swerve from it; behold we are this day going to Egypt and when we shall have come to Egypt, we will sell him there at a high price, and we will be delivered from his evil.

53 And this thing pleased the men and they did so; they continued their journey to Egypt with Joseph.

CHAPTER 43

1 When the sons of Jacob had sold their brother Joseph to the Midianites, their hearts were smitten on account of him and they repented of their acts, and they sought for him to bring him back but could not find him.

2 Reuben returned to the pit in which Joseph had been put in order to lift him out and restore him to his father; Reuben stood by the pit
and heard not a word.   He called out Joseph! Joseph! and no one answered or uttered a word.

3 And Reuben said, Joseph has died through fright, or some serpent has caused his death.  Reuben descended into the pit, searched for Joseph and could not find him in the pit, and he came out again.

4 And Reuben tore his garments and he said, The child is not there, and how shall I reconcile my father about him if he is dead? He went to his brothers and found them grieving on account of Joseph, and counseling together how to appease their father about him. Reuben said to his brothers, I came to the pit and behold Joseph was not there, what then shall we say to our father, for my father will only seek the lad from me.

5 His brothers answered him saying, Thus and thus we did, and our hearts afterward struck us on account of this act, and we now sit to seek a pretext how we shall appease our father to it.

6 And Reuben said to them, What is this you have done to bring down the grey hairs of our father in sorrow to the grave?   This thing is not good that you have done.

7 And Reuben sat with them, and they all rose up and swore to each other not to tell this thing to Jacob.  They all said, The man who will tell this to our father or his household, or who will report this to any of the children of the land, we will all rise up against him and kill him with the sword.

8 And the sons of Jacob feared each other in this matter, from the youngest to the oldest; no one spoke a word, and they concealed the thing in their hearts.

9 Afterward they sat down to determine and invent something to say to their father Jacob concerning all these things.

10 Issachar said to them, Here is advice for you if it seems good in your eyes to do this thing.  Take the coat which belongs to Joseph and tear it, and kill a kid of the goats and dip it in its blood.

11 And send it to our father and when he sees it he will say an evil beast has devoured him, therefore tear his coat and behold his blood will be on his coat, and by your doing this we shall be free of our father's murmurings.

12 Issachar's advice pleased them and they listened to him, and they did according to the word of Issachar which he had counselled them.

13 They hurried and took Joseph's coat and tore it, and they killed a kid of the goats and dipped the coat in the blood of the kid, and then trampled it into the dust.  They sent the coat to their father Jacob by the hand of Naphtali, and they commanded him to say these words:

14 We had gathered in the cattle and had come as far as the road to Shechem and farther, when we found this coat on the road in the wilderness dipped in blood and in dust; now therefore know whether it is your son's coat or not.

15 And Naphtali went and he came to his father and he gave him the coat, and he spoke to him all the words which his brothers had commanded him.

16 Jacob saw Joseph's coat and he knew it and he fell on his face to the ground, and became as still as a stone  Afterward he rose up and cried out with a loud and weeping voice and said, It is the coat of my son Joseph!

17 Jacob hurried and sent one of his servants to his sons, who went to them and found them coming along the road with the flock.

18 The sons of Jacob came to their father about evening, and behold their garments were torn and dust was on their heads, and they found their father crying out and weeping with a loud voice.

19 Jacob said to his sons, Tell me truly what evil have you this day suddenly brought on me?  They answered their father Jacob, saying, We were coming along this day after the flock had been gathered in, and we came as far as the city of Shechem by the road in the wilderness; we found this coat filled with blood on the ground, and we knew it and we sent it to you so you could know it.

20 Jacob heard the words of his sons and he cried out with a loud voice, and he said, It is the coat of my son; an evil beast has devoured him.  Joseph is rent in pieces, for I sent him this day to see whether it was well with you and well with the flocks and to bring me word again from you; he went as I commanded him, and this has happened to him today while I thought my son was with you.

21 And the sons of Jacob answered and said, He did not come to us, neither have we seen him from the time of our going out from you until now.

22 When Jacob heard their words he again cried out aloud, and he rose up and tore his garments;  he put sackcloth on his loins and he wept bitterly; he mourned and lifted up his voice in weeping and exclaimed and said these words,

23 Joseph my son, O my son Joseph, I sent you this day after the welfare of your brothers, and behold you have been torn in pieces; through my hand has this happened to my son.

24 It grieves me for you Joseph my son, it grieves me for you;  how sweet you were to me during life, and now how greatly bitter is your death to me.

25 0 that I had died in your stead Joseph my son, for it grieves me sadly for you my son, O my son, my son. Joseph my son, where are you, and where have you been drawn? Arouse, arouse from your place, and come and see my grief for you, O my son Joseph.

26 Come now and number the tears gushing from my eyes down my cheeks, and bring them up before the Lord, that his anger may turn from me.

27 0 Joseph my son, how did you fall, by the hand of one by whom no one had fallen from the beginning of the world to this day; for you have been put to death by the smiting of an enemy, inflicted with cruelty, but certainly I know that this has happened to you on account of the multitude of my sins.

28 Arise now and see how bitter is my trouble for you my son, although I did not rear you nor fashion you nor give you breath and soul, but it was God who formed you and built your bones and covered them with flesh and breathed in your nostrils the breath of life, and then he gave you to me.

29 Now truly God who gave you to me, he has taken you from me; such then has happened to you.

30 And Jacob continued to speak like these words concerning Joseph, and he wept bitterly; he fell to the ground and became still.

31 All the sons of Jacob seeing their father's trouble repented of what they had done, and they also wept bitterly.

32 And Judah rose up and lifted his father's head from the ground, and placed it on his lap;  he wiped his father's tears from his cheeks, and Judah wept a very great weeping while his father's head was reclining on his lap, still as a stone.

33 The sons of Jacob saw their father's trouble, and they lifted up their voices and continued to weep;  Jacob was yet lying on the ground still as a stone.

34 And all his sons and his servants and his servant's children rose up and stood round him to comfort him, and he refused to be comforted.

35 The whole household of Jacob rose up and mourned a great mourning on account of Joseph and their father's trouble, and the sad news reached Isaac, the son of Abraham, the father of Jacob, and he wept bitterly on account of Joseph, he and all his household.  He went from the place where he lived in Hebron, and his men with him, and he comforted Jacob his son but he refused to be comforted.

36 And after this, Jacob rose up from the ground, and his tears were running down his cheeks, and he said to his sons, Rise up and take your swords and your bows, and go forth into the field, and seek whether you can find my son's body and bring it to me that I may bury it.

37 Seek also, I pray you, among the beasts and hunt them, and that which shall come the first before you seize and bring it to me;  perhaps the Lord will this day pity my affliction, and prepare before you that which tore my son in pieces; bring it to me, and I will avenge the cause of my son.

38 And his sons did as their father had commanded them, and they rose up early in the morning, and each took his sword and his bow in his hand, and they went forth into the field to hunt the beasts.

39 And Jacob was still crying aloud and weeping and walking to and fro in the house, and smiting his hands together, saying, Joseph my son, Joseph my son.

40 The sons of Jacob went into the wilderness to seize the beasts, and there a wolf came toward them; they seized him and brought him to their father and  said to him, This is the first we have found, and we have brought him to you as you did command us, and your son's body we could not find.

41 And Jacob took the beast from the hands of his sons, and he cried out with a loud and weeping voice, holding the beast in his hand, and he spoke with a bitter heart to the beast, Why did you devour my son Joseph, and how did you have no fear of the God of the earth, or of my trouble for my son Joseph?

42 You did devour my son for nothing. He committed no violence. I was responsible for him. God will require him that is persecuted.

43 And the Lord opened the mouth of the beast in order to comfort Jacob with its words, and it answered Jacob and spoke these words to him,