11 Then they speedily took down their] sacks to the ground, and every man opened his sack.

12 Which when he had searched, beginning at the eldest and ending at the youngest, he found the cup in Benjamin's sack.

13 Then they rent their garments, and loading their asses again, returned into the town.

14 And Juda at the head of his brethren went in to Joseph (for he was not yet gone out of the place) and they altogether fell down before him on the ground.

15 And he said to them: Why would you do so? know you not that there is no one like me in the science of divining.

16 And Juda said to him: What shall we answer my lord? or what shall we say, or be able justly to allege? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants: behold, we are all bondmen to my lord, both we, and he with whom the cup was found.

17 Joseph answered: God forbid that I'

should do so: he that stole the cup, he shall be my bondman: and go you away free to your father.

18 Then Juda coming nearer, said boldly: I beseech thee, my lord, let thy servant speak a word in thy ears, and be not angry with thy servant for after Pharao thou art,

28 One went out, and you said: ‡ A beast devoured him: and hitherto he appeareth not.

29 If you take this also, and any thing befall him in the way, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow unto hell.

30 Therefore if I shall go to thy servant our father, and the boy be wanting, (whereas his life dependeth upon the life of him),

31 And he shall see that he is not with us, he will die, and thy servants shall bring down his gray hairs with sorrow unto hell."

32 Let me be thy proper servant, who took him into my trust, and promised, saying: If I bring him not again, I will be guilty of sin against my father for ever.

33 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.

34 For I cannot return to my father without the boy, lest I be a witness of the calamity that will oppress my father.

CHAP. XLV.

Joseph maketh himself known to his brethren: and sendeth for his father.

JOSEPH could no longer refrain himself before many that stood by: whereupon he commanded that all should go out, and no stranger be present at their knowing one another.

2 And he lifted up his voice with weeping, which the Egyptians and all the house of

19 My lord. Thou didst ask thy ser-Pharao heard. vants the first time: Have you a father or a brother?

20 And we answered thee, my lord: We have a father an old man, and a young boy, that was born in his old age; whose brother by the mother is dead: and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loveth him tenderly.

21 And thou saidst to thy servants: Bring him hither to me, and I will set my eyes on him.

22 We suggested to my lord: The boy cannot leave his father: for if he leave him, he will die.

:

3 And he said to his brethren: I am Joseph is my father yet living? His brethren could not answer him, being struck with exceeding great fear.

4 And he said mildly to them: Come nearer to me. And when they were come near him, he said: || I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.

5 Be not afraid, and let it not seem to you a hard case that you sold me into these countries: ¶ for God sent me before you into Egypt for your preservation.

6 For it is two years since the famine began to be upon the land, and five years more Ex-remain, wherein there can be neither ploughing nor reaping.

23 † And thou saidst to thy servants: cept your youngest brother come with you, you shall see my face no more.

24 Therefore when we were gone up to thy servant our father, we told him all that my lord had said.

25 And our father said: Go again, and buy us a little wheat.

:

26 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 dare not see the man's face.

27 Whereunto he answered: You know that my wife bore me two.

Supra, 42. 13.† Supra, 43. 3. and 5.
Supra, 37. 20. and 33.

7 And God sent me before, that you may be preserved upon the earth, and may have food to live.

8 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 whole house, and governor in all the land of Egypt.

9 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.

Supra, 43. 9.- Acts, 7. 13.
Infra, 50. 20.

CHAP. XLIV. Ver. 15. The science of divining.now far advanced in years. With sorrow unto hell: He speaks of himself according to what he was esteemed in that kingdom. And indeed, he being truly a prophet, knew more without comparison than any o the Egyptian sorcerers,

Ver. 31. His gray hairs. That is, his person,

the Hebrew word for hell is here sheol, the Greek hades: it is not taken for the hell of the damned; but for that place of souls below where the servants of God were kept before the coming of Christ. Which place, both in the Scripture and in the creed, is named hell.

39

10 And thou shalt dwell in the land of order of the thing. And when he saw the Gessen: and thou shalt be near me, thou and wagons and all that he had sent, his spirit thy sons, and thy sons' sons, thy sheep, and thy herds, and all things that thou hast. 11 And there I will feed thee, (for there are yet five years of famine remaining,) lest both thou perish, and thy house, and all things that thou hast.

17 The sons of Aser: Jamne and Je 26 And they told him, saying: Joseph sua and Jessuri and Beria, and Sara their thy son is living: and he is ruler in all the sister. The sons of Beria: Heber and Melland of Egypt. Which when Jacob heard, chiel. he awaked as it were out of a deep sleep, yet did not believe them.

A. M. 2298. Ante C. 1706.-† Acts, 7. 15. + Jos. 24. 4. Ps. 101. 23. Isai. 52. 4- Exod. 1. 2. and 6. 14. Numb. 26. 5. 1 Par. 5. I. and 3. CHAP. XLVI. Ver. 1. The Well of the oath. Bersabee.

19 The sons of Rachel Jacob's wife: Jo-[ seph and Benjamin.

And sons were born to Joseph, in 3 And he asked them: What is your octhe land of Egypt, whom Aseneth the daugh-cupation? They answered: We thy servants ter of Putiphare priest of Heliopolis bore are shepherds, both we, and our fathers. him: Manasses and Ephrain.

5 The king therefore said to Joseph: Thy father and thy brethren are come to thee. 6 The land of Egypt is before thee: make them dwell in the best place, and give them 25 These are the sons of Bala, whom the land of Gessen. And if thou knowest Laban gave to Rachel his daughter: and that there are industrious men among them, these she bore to Jacob: all the souls, seven. make them rulers over my cattle. 26 All the souls, that went with Jacob into Egypt, and that came out of his thigh, besides his son's wives, sixty-six.

ΤΗ HEN Joseph went in and told Pharao, 19 Why therefore shall we die before thy

saying: My father and brethren, their eyes? we will be thine, both we and our sheep and their herds, and all that they pos- lands: buy us to be the king's servants, and sess, are come out of the land of Chanaan: give us seed, lest for want of tillers the land and behold they stay in the land of Gessen. be turned into a wilderness.

* Supra, 41. 50- 1 Par. 7. 6. and 8. 1. Deut. 10, 22.-§ A. M. 2300. Ante. C. 1704. CHAP. XLVII. Ver. 2. The last. Extremos.such as had the meanest appearance, that Pharao Some interpret this word of the chiefest, and most might not think of employing them at court, with ghtly but Joseph seems rather to have chosen out danger of their morals and religion,

20 So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt, he said: || God almighty appeared to me at every man selling his possessions, because of Luza, which is in the land of Chanaan: and the greatness of the famine. And he brought he blessed me, it into Pharao's hands:

4 And he said: I will cause thee to increase and multiply, and I will make of thee multitude of people: and I will give this land to thee, and to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.

22 Except the land of the priests, which had been given them by the king: to whom 5 So thy two sons who were born to thee also a certain allowance of food was given in the land of Egypt before I came hither to out of the public stores, and therefore they thee, shall be mine:** Ephraim and Manasses were not forced to sell their possessions. shall be reputed to me as Ruben and Si23 Then Joseph said to the people: Be-meon.

hold as you see, both you and your lands 6 But the rest whom thou shalt have after belong to Pharao: take seed and sow the them, shall be thine, and shall be called by the fields, name of their brethren in their possessions. 24 That you may have corn. The fifth 7 For, when I came out of Mesopotamia, part you shall give to the king: the other++ Rachel died from me in the land of Chafour you shall have for seed, and for food for naan in the very journey, and it was spring your families and children. time: and I was going to Ephrata, and I buried her near the way of Ephrata, which by another name is called Bethlehem.

25 And they answered: Our life is in thy hand: only let my lord look favourably upon us, and we will gladly serve the king.

26 From that time unto this day, in the whole land of Egypt, the fifth part is paid to the king, and it is become as a law, except the land of the priests, which was free from

this covenant.

27 So Israel dwelt in Egypt, that is, in the land of Gessen, and possessed it: and grew, and was multiplied exceedingly.

28 And he lived in it seventeen years:

8 Then seeing his sous, he said to him: Who are these?

9 He answered: They are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he said: Bring them to me that I may bless them.

10 For Israel's eyes were dim by reason of his great age, and he could not see clearly. And when they were brought to him, he kissed and embraced them.

11 And said to his son: I am not deprived and all the days of his life came to a hun-of seeing thee; moreover God hath shewed dred and forty-seven years.

me thy seed.

29 * And when he saw that the day of 12 And when Joseph had taken them from his death drew nigh, he called his son Joseph, his father's lap, he bowed down with his face and said to him: If I have found favour in to the ground. thy sight, put thy hand under my thigh; 13 And he set Ephraim on his right hand, and thou shalt show me this kindness and that is, towards the left hand of Israel; but truth, not to bury me in Egypt: Manasses on his left hand, to wit, towards his father's right hand, and brought them near to him.

30 But I will sleep with my fathers, and thou shalt take me away out of this land, and bury me in the burying place of my ancestors. And Joseph answered him: I will do what thou hast commanded.

31 And he said: Swear then to me. And as he was swearing, Israel adored God, turning to the bed's head.

CHAP. XLVIII.

Joseph visiteth his father in his sickness, who adopted his two sons Manasses and Ephraim, and blesseth them, preferring the younger before the elder.

FTER these things, it was told Joseph that his father was sick; and he set out to go to him, taking his two sons Manasses and Ephraim.

2 And it was told the old man: Behold thy son Joseph cometh to thee. And being strengthened he sat on his bed.

14 But he stretching forth his right hand, put it upon the head of Ephraim the younger brother; and the left upon the head of Manasses who was the elder, changing his hands.

15 And Jacob blessed the sons of Joseph, and said: God, in whose sight my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, God that feedeth me from my youth until this day;

166 The angel that delivereth me from all evils, bless these boys: and let my name be called upon them, and the names of my fathers Abraham, and Isaac, and may they grow into a multitude upon the earth.

17 And Joseph seeing that his father had put his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, was much displeased: and taking his father's hand he tried to lift it from Ephraim's head, and to remove it to the head of Manasses.

3 And when Joseph was come in to him, A. M. 2315. Ante C. 1689.-+ Supra, 21. 2. Supra, 41. 50.-** Jos. 13. 7. and 29.-++ Supra, Supra, 23. 17.-§ A. M. 2315.—|| Supra, 28. 13.-35. 19.-‡‡ Heb. 11. 21.-§§ Supra, 31. 29. and 32. Ver. 31. To the bed's head. St. Paul, Heb. xi. turning towards the head of his bed: which 21., following the Greek translation of the Septua-adoration, inasmuch as it was referred to God, gint, reads adored the top of his rod. Where note, was an absolute and sovereign worship: but inthat the same word in the Hebrew, according to the asmuch as it was referred to the rod of Joseph, different pointing of it, signifies both a bed and a rod. as a figure of the sceptre, that is, of the royal digAnd to verify both these sentences, we must under-nity of Christ, was only an inferier and relative tand that Jacob leaning on Joseph's rod adored, honour,

18 And he said to his father: It should not] 8 Juda, thee shall thy brethren praise: thy be so, my father: for this is the first-born, hands shall be on the necks of thy enemies: put thy right hand upon his head. the sons of thy father shall bow down to thee. 9 Juda is a lion's whelp: to the prey, my son, thou art gone up: resting thou hast couched as a lion, and as a lioness, who shall rouse him?

Ver. 4. Grow thou not. This was not meant by way of a curse or imprecation: but by way of a prophecy foretelling that the tribe of Ruben should Ver. 19. Gad being girded, &c. It seems to allude not inherit the pre-eminences usually annexed to the to the tribe of Gad; when after they had received first birth-right, viz., the double portion, the being for their lot the land of Galaad, they marched in prince or lord over the other brethren, and the priest-arms before the rest of the Israelites, to the conquest bood: of which the double portion was given to of the land of Chanaan: from whence they afterJoseph, the princely office to Juda, and the priest-wards returned loaded with spoils. See Josue, iv. hood to Levi. and xii.