Book of Jasher 53
Chapter 53
1.
And the sons of Jacob rose up and
took Benjamin and the whole of the presents, and they went and came to
stood before Joseph.
2.
And Joseph beheld his brother
Benjamin with them and he saluted them, and these men came to Joseph’s house.
3.
And Joseph commanded the
superintendent of his house to give to his brethren to eat, and he did so unto
them.
4.
And at time Joseph
sent for the men to come before him with Benjamin, and the men told the
superintendent of Joseph’s house concerning the silver that was returned in
their sacks, and he said unto them, It will be well with you, fear not, and he
brought their brother Simeon unto them.
5.
And Simeon said unto his brethren,
The lord of the Egyptians has acted very kindly unto me, he did not keep me
bound, as you saw with your eyes, for when you went out from the city he let me
free and dealt kindly with me in his house.
6.
And
Benjamin by the hand, and they came before Joseph, and they bowed down to him
to the ground.
7.
And the men gave the present unto
Joseph and they all sat before him, and Joseph said unto them, Is it well with
you, is it well with your children, is it well with your aged father? and they
said, It is well, and
record which Jacob had sent and gave it into the hand of Joseph.
8.
And Joseph read the letter and knew
his father’s writing, and he wished to weep and he went into an inner room and
he wept a great weeping; and he went out.
9.
And he lifted up his eyes and beheld
his brother Benjamin, and he said, Is this your brother of whom you spoke unto
me? And Benjamin approached Joseph, and Joseph placed his hand upon his head
and he said unto him, May God be gracious unto thee my son.
10.
And when Joseph saw his brother, the
son of his mother, he again wished to weep, and he entered the chamber, and he
wept there, and he washed his face, and went out and refrained from weeping,
and he said, Prepare food.
11.
And Joseph had a cup from which he
drank, and it was of silver beautifully inlaid with onyx stones and bdellium,
and Joseph struck the cup in the sight of his brethren whilst they were sitting
to eat with him.
12.
And Joseph said unto the men, I know
by this cup that Reuben the first born, Simeon and Levi and Judah, Issachar and Zebulun are children
from one mother, seat yourselves to eat according to your births.
13.
And he also placed the others
according to their births, and he said, I know that this your youngest brother
has no brother, and I, like him, have no brother, he shall therefore sit down
to eat with me.
14.
And Benjamin went up before Joseph
and sat upon the throne, and the men beheld the acts of Joseph, and they were
astonished at them; and the men ate and drank at that time with Joseph, and he
then gave presents unto them, and Joseph gave one gift unto Benjamin, and
Manasseh and Ephraim saw the acts of their father, and they also gave presents
unto him, and Osnath gave him one present, and they
were five presents in the hand of Benjamin.
15.
And Joseph brought them out wine to
drink, and they would not drink, and they said, From the day on which Joseph
was lost we have not drunk wine, nor eaten any delicacies.
16.
And Joseph swore unto them, and he
pressed them hard, and they drank plentifully with him on that day, and Joseph
afterward turned to his brother Benjamin to speak with him, and Benjamin was
still sitting upon the throne before Joseph.
17.
And Joseph said unto him, Hast thou
begotten any children? and he said, Thy servant has ten sons, and these are
their names, Bela, Becher, Ashbal,
not seen.
18.
And he ordered them to bring before
him his map of the stars, whereby Joseph knew all the times, and Joseph said
unto Benjamin, I have heard that the Hebrews are acquainted with all wisdom,
dost thou know anything of this?
19.
And Benjamin said, Thy servant is
knowing also in all the wisdom which my father taught me, and Joseph said unto
Benjamin, Look now at this instrument and understand where thy brother Joseph
is in Egypt, who you said went down to Egypt.
20.
And Benjamin beheld that instrument
with the map of the stars of heaven, and he was wise and looked therein to know
where his brother was, and Benjamin divided the whole land of Egypt into four
divisions, and he found that he who was sitting upon the throne before him was
his brother Joseph, and Benjamin wondered greatly, and when Joseph saw that his
brother Benjamin was so much astonished, he said unto Benjamin, What hast thou
seen, and why art thou astonished?
21.
And Benjamin said unto Joseph, I can
see by this that Joseph my brother sitteth here with
me upon the throne, and Joseph said unto him, I am Joseph thy brother, reveal
not this thing unto thy brethren; behold I will send thee with them when they
go away, and I will command them to be brought back again into the city, and I
will take thee away from them.
22.
And if they dare their lives and
fight for thee, then shall I know that they have repented of what they did unto
me, and I will make myself known to them, and if they forsake thee when I take
thee, then shalt thou remain with me, and I will
wrangle with them, and they shall go away, and I will not become known to them.
23.
At that time Joseph commanded his
officer to fill their sacks with food, and to put each man’s money into his
sack, and to put the cup in the sack of Benjamin, and to give them provision
for the road, and they did so unto them.
24.
And on the next day the men rose up
early in the morning, and they loaded their asses with their corn, and they
went forth with Benjamin, and they went to the
brother Benjamin.
25.
They had not gone far from
commanded him that was set over his house, saying, Rise, pursue these men
before they get too far from
unto them, Why have you stolen my master’s cup?
26.
And Joseph’s officer rose up and he
reached them, and he spoke unto them all the words of Joseph; and when they
heard this thing they became exceedingly wroth, and they said, He with whom thy
master’s cup shall be found shall die, and we will also become slaves.
27.
And they hastened and each man
brought down his sack from his ass, and they looked in their bags and the cup
was found in Benjamin’s bag, and they all tore their garments and they returned
to the city, and they smote Benjamin in the road, continually smiting him until
he came into the city, and they stood before Joseph.
28.
And
kindled, and he said, This man has only brought me back to destroy
29.
And the men came to Joseph’s house,
and they found Joseph sitting upon his throne, and all the mighty men standing
at his right and left.
30.
And Joseph said unto them, What is
this act that you have done, that you took away my silver cup and went away?
but I know that you took my cup in order to know thereby in what part of the
land your brother was.
31.
And
shall we say to our lord, what shall we speak and how shall we justify
ourselves, God has this day found the iniquity of all thy servants, therefore
has he done this thing to us this day.
32.
And Joseph rose up and caught hold of
Benjamin and took him from his brethren with violence, and he came to the house
and locked the door at them, and Joseph commanded him that was set over his
house that he should say unto them, Thus saith the
king, Go in peace to your father, behold I have taken the man in whose hand my
cup was found.
