¹ And an angel of the Lord went up from Galgal to the place of weepers, and said: I made you go out of Egypt, and have brought you into the land for which I swore to your fathers: and I promised that I would not make void my covenant with you for ever:

² On condition that you should not make a league with the inhabitants of this land, but should throw down their altars: and you would not hear my voice: why have you done this?

³ Wherefore I would not destroy them from before your face: that you may have enemies, and their gods may be your ruin.

⁴ And when the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the children of Israel, they lifted up their voice, and wept.

⁵ And the name of that place was called, The place of weepers, or of tears: and there they offered sacrifices to the Lord.

⁶ And Josue sent away the people, and the children of Israel went every one to his own possession to hold it:

⁷ And they served the Lord all his days, and the days of the ancients, that lived a long time after him, and who knew all the works of the Lord, which he had done for Israel.

⁸ And Josue the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being a hundred and ten years old,

⁹ And they buried him in the borders of his possession in Thamnathsare in mount Ephraim, on the north side of mount Gaas.

¹⁰ And all that generation was gathered to their fathers: and there arose others that knew not the Lord, and the works which he had done for Israel.

¹¹ And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they served Baalim.

¹² And they left the Lord the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt: and they followed strange gods, and the gods of the people that dwelt round about them, and they adored them: and they provoked the Lord to anger.

¹³ Forsaking him, and serving Baal and Astaroth.

¹⁴ And the Lord being angry against Israel, delivered them into the hands of plunderers: who took them and sold them to their enemies, that dwelt round about: neither could they stand against their enemies:

¹⁵ But whithersoever they meant to go, the hand of the Lord was upon them, as he had said, and as he had sworn to them: and they were greatly distressed.

¹⁶ And the Lord raised up judges, to deliver them from the hands of those that oppressed them: but they would not hearken to them,

¹⁷ Committing fornication with strange gods, and adoring them. They quickly forsook the way, in which their fathers had walked: and hearing the commandments of the Lord, they did all things contrary.

¹⁸ And when the Lord raised them up judges, in their days he was moved to mercy, and heard the groanings of the afflicted, and delivered them from the slaughter of the oppressors.

¹⁹ But after the judge was dead, they returned, and did much worse things than their fathers had done, following strange gods, serving them and adoring them. They left not their own inventions, and the stubborn way, by which they were accustomed to walk.

²⁰ And the wrath of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said: Behold this nation hath made void my covenant, which I had made with their fathers, and hath despised to hearken to my voice:

²¹ I also will not destroy the nations which Josue left, when he died:

²² That through them I may try Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord, and walk in it, as their fathers kept it, or not.

²³ The Lord therefore left all these nations, and would not quickly destroy them, neither did he deliver them into the hands of Josue.

¹ The famine was severe in the land.

² It happened, when they had eaten up the grain which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said to them, "Go again, buy us a little more food."

³ Judah spoke to him, saying, "The man solemnly warned us, saying, 'You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.'

⁴ If you'll send our brother with us, we'll go down and buy you food,

⁵ but if you'll not send him, we'll not go down, for the man said to us, 'You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.'"

⁶ Israel said, "Why did you treat me so badly, telling the man that you had another brother?"

⁷ They said, "The man asked directly concerning ourselves, and concerning our relatives, saying, 'Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?' We just answered his questions. Is there any way we could know that he would say, 'Bring your brother down?'"

⁸ Judah said to Israel, his father, "Send the boy with me, and we'll get up and go, so that we may live, and not die, both we, and you, and also our little ones.

⁹ I'll be collateral for him. From my hand will you require him. If I don't bring him to you, and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever,

¹⁰ for if we hadn't delayed, surely we would have returned a second time by now."

¹¹ Their father, Israel, said to them, "If it must be so, then do this. Take from the choice fruits of the land in your bags, and carry down a present for the man, a little balm, a little honey, spices and myrrh, nuts, and almonds;

¹² and take double money in your hand, and take back the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was an oversight.

¹³ Take your brother also, get up, and return to the man.

¹⁴ May God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release to you your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved."

¹⁵ The men took that present, and they took double money in their hand, and Benjamin; and got up, went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph.

¹⁶ When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, "Bring the men into the house, and butcher an animal, and prepare; for the men will dine with me at noon."

¹⁷ The man did as Joseph commanded, and the man brought the men to Joseph's house.

¹⁸ The men were afraid, because they were brought to Joseph's house; and they said, "Because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time, we're brought in; that he may seek occasion against us, attack us, and seize us as slaves, along with our donkeys."

¹⁹ They came near to the steward of Joseph's house, and they spoke to him at the door of the house,

²⁰ and said, "Oh, my lord, we indeed came down the first time to buy food.

²¹ When we came to the lodging place, we opened our sacks, and behold, each man's money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight. We have brought it back in our hand.

²² We have brought down other money in our hand to buy food. We don't know who put our money in our sacks."

²³ He said, "Peace be to you. Don't be afraid. Your God, and the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks. I received your money." He brought Simeon out to them.

²⁴ The man brought the men into Joseph's house, and gave them water, and they washed their feet. He gave their donkeys fodder.

²⁵ They prepared the present for Joseph's coming at noon, for they heard that they should eat bread there.

²⁶ When Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed themselves down to him to the earth.

²⁷ He asked them of their welfare, and said, "Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he yet alive?"

²⁸ They said, "Your servant, our father, is well. He is still alive." They bowed the head, and did homage.

²⁹ He lifted up his eyes, and saw Benjamin, his brother, his mother's son, and said, "Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me?" He said, "God be gracious to you, my son."

³⁰ Joseph hurried, for his heart yearned over his brother; and he sought a place to weep. He entered into his room, and wept there.

³¹ He washed his face, and came out. He controlled himself, and said, "Serve the meal."

³² They served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians, that ate with him, by themselves, because the Egyptians don't eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians.

³³ They sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth, and the men marveled one with another.

³⁴ He sent portions to them from before him, but Benjamin's portion was five times as much as any of theirs. They drank, and were merry with him.