Chapter 43
41b. And after this, one of the Ishmaelites observed him crying and weeping upon the grave, and his anger was kindled against him, and he drove him from there, and he smote and cursed him.
42. And Joseph said unto the men, may I find grace in your sight to take me back to my father's house, and he will give you abundance of riches.
43. And they answered him, saying, art thou not a slave, and where is thy father? And if thou hadst a father thou wouldst not already twice have been sold for a slave for so little value; and their anger was still roused against him, and they continued to smite him and to chastise him, and Joseph wept bitterly.
44. And the Lord saw Joseph's affliction, and the Lord again smote these men, and chastised them, and the Lord caused darkness to envelope them upon the earth, and the lightning flashed and the thunder roared, and the earth shook at the voice of the thunder and the mighty wind, and the men were terrified and knew not where they should go. 45a. And the beasts and camels stood still, and they led them, but they would not go, they smote them, and they crouched upon the ground. 45b. And 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 unto them, perhaps on account of the sin of afflicting this slave has this thing happened this day to us; now therefore implore him strongly to forgive us, and then we shall know on whose account this evil befalleth us. And if God shall have compassion over us, then we shall know that all this cometh 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 thee, now therefore vouchsafe to request of thy God that He shall put away this death from amongst us, for we have sinned to Him.
48. And Joseph did according to their words, and the Lord hearkened Joseph, and the Lord put away the plague which he had inflicted upon those men on account of Joseph, and the beasts rose up from the ground and they conducted them, and they went on, and the raging storm abated and the earth became tranquilized, and the men proceeded on their journey going down to Egypt, and the men knew that this evil had befallen them on account of Joseph.
49. And they said to each other, behold we know that it was on account of his affliction that this evil befel us; now therefore why shall we bring this death upon our souls? Let us hold counsel what to do to this slave.
50. And one answered and said, surely he told us to bring him back to his father. Now therefore 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. And 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 go out of our road.
52. And one more answered and said unto 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, and they continued their journey to Egypt with Joseph.
1. AND 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. And Reuben returned to the pit in which Joseph had been put, in order to lift him out, and restore him to his father, and Reuben stood by the pit, and he heard not a word, and he called out Joseph! Joseph! And no one answered nor uttered a word.
3. And Reuben said, Joseph has died through fright, or some serpent has caused his death; and Reuben descended into the pit, and he 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 be dead? And he went to his brethren and found them grieving on account of Joseph, and counselling together how to reconcile their father about him, and Reuben said unto his brethren: I came to the pit and behold Joseph was not there. What then shall we say unto our father, for my father will only seek the lad from me.
5. And his brethren answered him saying, thus and thus we did, and our hearts afterward smote us on 103 . account of this act, and we now sit to seek a pretext how we shall reconcile our father to it.
6. And Reuben said unto them, what is this you have done to bring down the grey hairs of our father in sorrow to the grave? The thing you have done is not good.
7. And Reuben sat with them, and they all rose up and swore to each other not to tell this thing unto 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 slay him with the sword.
8. And the sons of Jacob feared each other in this matter, from the youngest to the oldest, and no one spoke a word, and they concealed the thing in their hearts.
9. And they afterward sat down to determine and invent something to say unto their father Jacob concerning all these things.
10. And Issachar said unto them: Here is an advice for you if it seem good in your eyes to do this thing, take the coat which belongeth 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 seeth it, he will say an evil beast has devoured him. Therefore, tear ye his coat and behold, blood will be upon his coat. And by your doing, we shall be free of our father's murmurings.
12. And Issachar's advice pleased them, and they hearkened unto him and they did according to the word of Issachar which he had counselled them.
13. And they hastened 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 in the dust, and 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 upon the road in the wilderness dipped in blood and in dust; now therefore know whether it be thy son's coat or not.
15. And Naphtali went and he came unto his father and he gave him the coat, and he spoke unto him all the words which his brethren had commanded him.
16. And Jacob saw Joseph's coat and he recognized it, and he fell upon his face to the ground and became as still as a stone. He afterward rose up and cried out with a loud and weeping voice and said, it is the coat of my son Joseph!
17. And Jacob hastened and sent one of his servants to his sons, who went to them and found them coming along the road with the flock.
18. And the sons of Jacob came to their father about evening, and behold their garments were torn and dust was upon their heads, and they found their father crying out and weeping with a loud voice.
19. And Jacob said unto his sons, tell me truly what evil have you this day suddenly brought upon me? And 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, and we found this coat filled with blood upon the ground, and we knew it and we sent unto thee if thou couldst recognize it.
20. And 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, and he went as I commanded him, and this has happened to him this day whilst 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 thee until now.
22. And when Jacob heard their words he again cried out aloud and he rose up and tore his garments, and he put sackcloth upon his loins, and he wept bitterly and 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 thee this day after the welfare of thy brethren, and behold thou hast been torn in pieces; through my hand has this happened to my son.
24. It gieves me for thee Joseph my son, it grieves me for thee; how sweet wast thou to me during life, and now how exceedingly bitter is thy death to me.
25. O that I had died in thy stead Joseph my son, for it grieves me sadly for thee my son. O my son, my son, Joseph my son, where art thou, and where hast thou been drawn? Arouse, arouse from thy place, and come and see my grief for thee, 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. O Joseph my son how didst thou fall, by the hand of one by whom no one had fallen from the beginning of the world unto this day; for thou hast been put to death by the smiting of an enemy, inflicted with cruelty, but surely I know that this has happened to thee, on account of the multitude of my sins.
28. Arouse now and see how bitter is my trouble for thee my son, although I did not rear thee, nor fashion thee, nor give thee breath and soul, but it was God who formed thee and built thy bones and covered them with flesh, and breathed in thy nostrils the breath of life, and then He