Then Judah, rising, approached near to Joseph and said bravely, "I beseech you, my lord, that you will hear me speak, and that you will not be angry at your servant. You, I know, are next to Pharaoh. Now, my lord, when you asked first of us, your servants, 'Have you a father or brother?' we told you, my lord, that our father is an old man, and that we have a brother, a young child, who was born to him in his old age, whose brother of the same mother is dead, and he the only son whom the father loveth tenderly.

"Then you said to us, your servants, 'Bring the boy hither to me, that I may see him.' We told you, my lord, the truth, 'Our father will not let the child go; if he lose him he will certainly die,' and you said to us, your servants, 'If you do not bring him with you, never again shall you see my face.'

"Then when we had come to our father and told him all these things, he told us to return and buy more corn. We answered him, 'We may not go thither again unless our youngest brother go with us, for unless he accompany us we dare not go into the presence of the prince.'

"Our father answered us, 'You know well that my beloved wife gave me but two sons; the one went out and you said that wild beasts had devoured him, and I heard no more of him and he never appeared. If now you take this, my son, and anything happens to him on the way, you will bring my gray hairs in sorrow to the grave.'

"Therefore, if I now go home to my father, and bring not Benjamin, his best-loved son, with me, our father shall die, and we your servants shall be the cause of his death. Now I took Benjamin upon my

own promise and said to my father, 'If I bring him not again to you, I shall be guilty.'

"So now I shall abide and continue your servant in place of the child, and shall minister and serve you honestly, my lord. I may not go back without the child, for I cannot endure the sorrow of my father. Wherefore, I beseech you humbly to receive me into your service and to suffer this child to go to his father."

When this request had been made, Joseph could no longer control himself, but commanded that all who stood by should withdraw, leaving only him and his brothers together. No sooner were they alone than he said to them, weeping, "I am Joseph, your brother. Does my father yet indeed live?"

The brethren were so afraid that they could not speak nor answer him.

Then he said lovingly to them, "Come hither to me."

And when they were come round about him, he said, "I am Joseph your brother, that you sold into Egypt. Be not afraid, nor think it a sin that you sold me into this country. God hath sent me into Egypt before you for your safety. It is now two years since the famine began, and there are five years yet to come in which men will reap no harvests. God sent me here that you might be preserved on earth and have food for your need. It was not by your counsel that I was sent hither, but by the will of God, who placed me next to Pharaoh, the lord of his house and prince in all the land of Egypt.

"Go you now to my father and say to him, "These words your son Joseph sends you: "God has made me lord of the land of Egypt. Come to me now lest

you die, and you shall dwell in the land of Goshen. You shall be next to me, you and your sons and the sons of your sons, and I shall feed your sheep, your beasts and all that you have. Come, rest here through the five years of famine that are yet before us. Come! lest you perish with your house and all that

you own.

"Lo! your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that I speak these words to you. Show you my father all my glory and all that you have seen in Egypt. Go quickly and bring him to me."

When he had finished speaking, Joseph embraced his brother Benjamin and each of the others, weeping with them, but none dared speak to him again.

Soon it became known all about in the king's hall that Joseph's brothers were come, and Pharaoh was glad, as was all his household.

And Pharaoh told Joseph to say to his brethren, "Load your beasts, and go into the land of Canaan and bring thence your father and kindred, and come to me, and I shall give you all the goods of Egypt, that you may eat the very best that the earth produces. Take with you carriages from this land of Egypt to bring with you your children and your wives. Bring your father and come as soon as you may, and leave nothing behind you, for all the best things shall be yours."

The sons of Jacob did as they were commanded, and Joseph gave them carriages, and meat to eat by the way. Besides, he gave to every brother two garments, but to Benjamin he gave five of the best garments and three hundred pieces of silver. Moreover, he sent clothing to his father and ten asses laden

with all the riches of Egypt, and as many laden with victuals to eat by the way.

As Joseph sent them from him he said, "Be you not quarrelsome on the way."

When they were come into the land of Canaan they met their father and said, “Joseph, your son, is alive, and he is the greatest prince in all the land of Egypt."

When Jacob heard this he awoke as a man that had been startled suddenly out of his sleep. Nevertheless, he believed them not until they told him all in the order in which it had occurred.

When he saw the carriages and all that Joseph had sent, his spirit came back, and he believed.

"It is sufficient for me," he said, "if Joseph, my son, yet lives. I shall go now to see him before I die."

Then Jacob went forth with all his followers and slew beasts and made sacrifices to the God of Isaac, his father. And that same night God appeared to him in a vision, saying, "Jacob, Jacob!"

Jacob answered, “I am here."

God spoke again to him, saying, "I am the God of thy father Isaac; dread not, but go down into Egypt. There shall I make thee grow into a great people. Thither will I go with thee, and back will I come with thee when thou returnest. Joseph, indeed, shall put his hands upon thine eyes."

Early in the morning Jacob and his sons took their wives and children and placed them on the carriages that Pharaoh had sent, and gathering all that they possessed, they went down into the land of Egypt. And Jacob sent Judah before him to tell Joseph of his coming.

When Joseph heard that Jacob was in Goshen he

ascended his chariot and drove forth to meet his father, and when he saw him he embraced him meekly and wept. And Jacob received his son and embraced him also.

"Now shall I die joyously, because I have seen your face," he said; and Joseph spoke to his brothers and to all the house of his father as follows:

"I shall go before you to Pharaoh and shall say to him, 'My brothers and all the house of my father that were in the land of Canaan have come to me. They are men accustomed to keeping sheep, and they know well how to tend their flocks. They have brought with them all their beasts of every kind that they had.'

"When Pharaoh shall ask you of what occupation you are, say to him, 'We, your servants, are shepherds from our childhood until now, even as our fathers have been.' This shall you say so that you may dwell in this land of Goshen, for the Egyptians have enmity against shepherds."

So Joseph came before Pharaoh and said, "My father, my brethren, their sheep and all their beasts have come from the land of Canaan, and are in the land of Goshen."

And Pharaoh asked of the five brothers whom Joseph had brought with him, "What is your occupation?"

"We, your servants, are keepers of sheep, we and our father. We have come to dwell in your land, for there is no grass for our sheep, so great is the famine in the land of Canaan. We beseech you to let us. your servants, dwell in the land of Goshen."

"Your father and your brethren," said the king to Joseph, "have come to you. The land of Egypt is