¹ And Jacob hearing that food was sold in Egypt, said to his sons: Why are ye careless?

² I have heard that wheat is sold in Egypt: go ye down, and buy us necessaries, that we may live, and not be consumed with want.

³ So the ten brethren of Joseph went down, to buy corn in Egypt:

⁴ Whilst Benjamin was kept at home by Jacob, who said to his brethren: Lest perhaps he take any harm in the journey.

⁵ And they entered into the land of Egypt with others that went to buy. For the famine was in the land of Chanaan.

⁶ And Joseph was governor in the land of Egypt, and corn was sold by his direction to the people. And when his brethren had bowed down to him,

⁷ And he knew them, he spoke as it were to strangers somewhat roughly, asking them: Whence came you? They answered: From the land of Chanaan, to buy necessaries of life.

⁸ And though he knew his brethren, he was not known by them.

⁹ And remembering the dreams, which formerly he had dreamed, he said to them: You are spies. You are come to view the weaker parts of the land.

¹⁰ But they said: It is not so, my lord, but thy servants are come to buy food.

¹¹ We are all the sons of one man: we are come as peaceable men, neither do thy servants go about any evil.

¹² And he answered them: It is otherwise: you are come to consider the unfenced parts of this land.

¹³ But they said: We thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Chanaan: the youngest is with our father, the other is not living.

¹⁴ He saith: This is it that I said: You are spies.

¹⁵ I shall now presently try what you are: by the health of Pharao you shall not depart hence, until your youngest brother come.

¹⁶ Send one of you to fetch him: and you shall be in prison, till what you have said be proved, whether it be true or false: or else by the health of Pharao you are spies.

¹⁷ So he put them in prison three days.

¹⁸ And the third day he brought them out of prison, and said: Do as I have said, and you shall live: for I fear God.

¹⁹ If you be peaceable men, let one of your brethren be bound in prison: and go ye your ways and carry the corn that you have bought, unto your houses.

²⁰ And bring your youngest brother to me, that I may find your words to be true, and you may not die. They did as he had said.

²¹ And they talked one to another: We deserve to suffer these things, because we have sinned against our brother, seeing the anguished of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear: therefore is this affliction come upon us.

²² And Ruben one of them, said: Did not I say to you: Do not sin against the boy: and you would not hear me? Behold his blood is required.

²³ And they knew not that Joseph understood, because he spoke to them by an interpreter.

²⁴ And he turned himself away a little while, and wept: and returning he spoke to them.

²⁵ And taking Simeon, and binking him in their presence, he commanded his servants to fill their sacks with wheat, and to put every man's money again in their sacks, and to give them besides provisions for the way: and they did so.

²⁶ But they having loaded their asses with the corn, went their way.

²⁷ And one of them opening his sack, to give his beast provender in the inn, saw the money in the sack's mouth;

²⁸ And said to his brethren: My money is given me again, hehold it is in the sack. And thye were astonished, and troubled, and said to one another: What is this that God hath done unto us?

²⁹ And they came to Jacob their father in the land of Chanaan, and they told him all things that had befallen them, saying:

³⁰ The lord of the land spoke roughly to us, and took us to be spies of the country.

³¹ And we answered him: We are peaceable men, and we mean no plot.

³² We are twelve brethren born of one father: one is not living, the youngest is with our father in the land of Chanaan.

³³ And he said to us: Hereby shall I know that you are peaceable men: Leave one of your brethren with me, and take ye necessary provision for your houses, and go your ways.

³⁴ And bring your youngest brother to me, that I may know you are not spies: and you may receive this man again, that is kept in prison: and afterwards may have leave to buy what you will.

³⁵ When they had told this, they poured out their corn and every man found his money tied in the mouth of his sack: and all being astonished together,

³⁶ Their father Jacob said: You have made me to be without children: Joseph is not living, Simeon is kept in bonds, and Benjamin you will take away: all these evils are fallen upon me.

³⁷ And Ruben answered him: Kill my two sons if I bring him not again to thee: deliver him unto my hand, and I will restore him to thee.

³⁸ But he said: My son shall not go down with you: his brother is dead, and he is left alone: if any mischief befall him in the land to which you go, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to hell.

¹ And the Lord appeared to him in the vale of Mambre as he was sitting at the door of his tent, in the very heat of the day.

² And when he had lifted up his eyes, there appeared to him three men standing near him: and as soon as he saw them he ran to meet them from the door of his tent, and adored down to the ground.

³ And he said: Lord, if I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away from thy servant:

⁴ But I will fetch a little water, and wash ye your feet, and rest ye under the tree.

⁵ And I will set a morsel of bread, and strengthen ye your heart, afterwards you shall pass on: for therefore are you come aside to your servant. And they said: Do as thou hast spoken.

⁶ Abraham made haste into the tent to Sera, and said to her: Make haste, temper together three measures of flour, and make cakes upon the hearth.

⁷ And he himself ran to the herd, and took from thence a calf very tender and very good, and gave it to a young man: who made haste and boiled it.

⁸ He took also butter and milk, and the calf which he had boiled, and set before them: but he stood by them under the tree.

⁹ And when they had eaten, they said to him: Where is Sara thy wife? He answered: Lo, she is in the tent.

¹⁰ And he said to him: I will return and come to thee at this time, life accompanying and Sara thy wife shall have a son. Which when Sara heard, she laughed behind the door of the tent.

¹¹ Now they were both old, and far advanced in years, and it had ceased to be with Sara after the manner of women.

¹² And she laughed secretly, saying: After I am grown old, and my lord is an old man, shall I give myself to pleasure?

¹³ And the Lord said to Abraham: Why did Sera laugh, saying: Shall I who am an old woman bear a child indeed ?

¹⁴ Is there any thing hard to God? according to appointment I will return to thee at this same time, life accompanying, and Sara shall have a son.

¹⁵ Sara denied, saying: I did not laugh: for she was afraid. But the Lord said, Nay: but thou didst laugh:

¹⁶ And when the men rose up from thence, they turned their eyes towards Sodom: and Abraham walked with them, bringing them on the way.

¹⁷ And the Lord said: Can I hide from Abraham what I am about to do:

¹⁸ "Seeing he shall become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth shall be blessed?

¹⁹ For I know that he will command his children, and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord, and do judgment and justice: that for Abraham's sake the Lord may bring to effect all the things he hath spoken unto him.

²⁰ And the Lord said: The cry of Sodom and Gomorrha is multiplied, and their sin is become exceedingly grievous.

²¹ I will go down and see whether they have done according to the cry that is come to me: or whether it be not so, that I may know.

²² And they turned themselves from thence, and went their way to Sodom: but Abraham as yet stood before the Lord.

²³ And drawing nigh he said: Wilt thou destroy the just with the wicked?

²⁴ If there be fifty just men in the city, shall they perish withal? and wilt thou not spare that place for the sake of the fifty just, if they be therein?

²⁵ Far be it from thee to do this thing, and to slay the just with the wicked, and for the just to be in like case as the wicked, this is not beseeming thee: thou who judgest all the earth, wilt not make this judgment.

²⁶ And the Lord said to him: If I And in Sodom fifty just within the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.

²⁷ And Abraham answered, and said: Seeing I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord, whereas I am dust and ashes.

²⁸ What if there be Ave less than fifty just persons? wilt thou for five and forty destroy the whole city? And he said: I will not destroy it, if I find five and forty.

²⁹ And again he said to him: But if forty be found there, what wilt thou do? He said: I will not destroy it for the sake of forty.

³⁰ Lord, saith he, be not angry, I beseech thee, if I speak: What if thirty shall be found there? He answered: I will not do it, if I And thirty there.

³¹ Seeing, saith he, I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord. What if twenty be found there? He said: I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty.

³² I beseech thee, saith he, be not angry, Lord, if I speak yet once more: What if tell should be found there ? And he said: I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.

³³ And the Lord departed, after he had left speaking to Abraham: and Abraham returned to his place.