- And the sons of Jacob rose up and took Benjamin and the whole of the presents, and they
went and came to Egypt and they stood before Joseph.
- And Joseph beheld his brother Benjamin with them and he saluted them, and these men
came to Joseph's house.
- And Joseph commanded the superintendent of his house to give to his brethren to eat, and
he did so unto them.
- And at noon 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.
- 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.
- And Judah took Benjamin by the hand, and they came before Joseph, and they bowed
down to him to the ground.
- 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 Judah took the record which Jacob had sent and gave it into the hand
of Joseph.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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, Gera, Naaman, Achi, Rosh,
Mupim, Chupim, and Ord, and I called their names after my brother whom I have not seen.
- 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?
- 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.
- 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?
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 land of Canaan with
their brother Benjamin.
- They had not gone far from Egypt when Joseph commanded him that was set over his
house, saying, Rise, pursue these men before they get too far from Egypt, and say unto them,
Why have you stolen my master's cup?
- 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.
- 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.
- And Judah's anger was kindled, and he said, This man has only brought me back to
destroy Egypt this day.
- 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.
- 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.
- And Judah said, What 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.
- 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.
[Book of Jasher
Referred to in Joshua and Second Samuel.
faithfully translated (1840)
from the Original Hebrew into English.
A Reprint of Photo Lithographic Reprint of Exact Edition
Published by J.H. Parry & Co., Salt Lake City: 1887]