Chapter 8

38:14. And she put off the garments of her widowhood, and took a veil: and changing her dress, sat in the cross way, that leadeth to Thamnas: because Sela was grown up, and she had not been married to him.

38:15. When Juda saw her, he thought she was a harlot: for she had covered her face, lest she should be known.

38:16. And going to her, he said: Suffer me to lie with thee: for he knew her not to be his daughter-in-law. And she answered: What wilt thou give me to enjoy my company?

38:17. He said: I will send thee a kid out of the flock. And when she said again: I will suffer what thou wilt, if thou give me a pledge, till thou send what thou promisest.

38:18. Juda said: What wilt thou have for a pledge? She answered: Thy ring and bracelet, and the staff which thou holdest in thy hand. The woman therefore at one copulation conceived.

38:19. And she arose and went her way: and putting off the apparel which she had taken, put on the garments of her widowhood.

38:20. And Juda sent a kid by his shepherd, the Odollamite, that he might receive the pledge again, which he had given to the woman: but he, not finding her,

38:21. Asked the men of that place: Where is the woman that sat in the cross way? And when they all made answer: There was no harlot in this place,

38:22. He returned to Juda, and said to him: I have not found her; moreover, the men of that place said to me, that there never sat a harlot there.

38:23. Juda said: Let her take it to herself, surely she cannot charge us with a lie, I sent the kid which I promised: and thou didst not find her.

38:24. And behold, after three months, they told Juda, saying: Thamar, thy daughter-in-law, hath played the harlot, and she appeareth to have a big belly. And Juda said: Bring her out that she may be burnt.

38:25. But when she was led to execution, she sent to her father in law, saying: By the man, to whom these things belong, I am with child. See whose ring, and bracelet, and staff this is.

38:26. But he acknowledging the gifts, said: She is juster than I: because I did not give her to Sela, my son. However he knew her no more.

38:27. And when she was ready to be brought to bed, there appeared twins in her womb: and in the very delivery of the infants, one put forth a hand, whereon the midwife tied a scarlet thread, saying:

38:28. This shall come forth the first.

38:29. But he drawing back his hand, the other came forth: and the woman said: Why is the partition divided for thee? and therefore called his name Phares.

Phares.... That is, a breach or division.

38:30. Afterwards his brother came out, on whose hand was the scarlet thread: and she called his name Zara.

Genesis Chapter 39

Joseph hath charge of his master’s house: rejecteth his mistress’s solicitations: is falsely accused by her, and cast into prison, where he hath the charge of all the prisoners.

39:1. And Joseph was brought into Egypt, and Putiphar, an eunuch of Pharao, chief captain of the army, an Egyptian, bought him of the Ismaelites, by whom he was brought.

39:2. And the Lord was with him, and he was a prosperous man in all things: and he dwelt in his master’s house:

39:3. Who knew very well that the Lord was with him, and made all that he did to prosper in his hand.

39:4. And Joseph found favour in the sight of his master, and ministered to him: and being set over all by him, he governed the house committed to him, and all things that were delivered to him:

39:5. And the Lord blessed the house of the Egyptian for Joseph’s sake, and multiplied all his substance, both at home and in the fields.

39:6. Neither knew he any other thing, but the bread which he ate. And Joseph was of a beautiful countenance, and comely to behold.

39:7. And after many days, his mistress cast her eyes on Joseph, and said: Lie with me.

39:8. But he in no wise consenting to that wicked act said to her: Behold, my master hath delivered all things to me, and knoweth not what he hath in his own house:

39:9. Neither is there any thing which is not in my power, or that he hath not delivered to me, but thee, who art his wife; how then can I do this wicked thing, and sin against my God?

39:10. With such words as these day by day, both the woman was importunate with the young man, and he refused the adultery.

39:11. Now it happened on a certain day, that Joseph went into the house, and was doing some business, without any man with him:

39:12. And she catching the skirt of his garment, said: Lie with me. But he leaving the garment in her hand, fled, and went out.

39:13. And when the woman saw the garment in her hands, and herself disregarded,

39:14. She called to her the men of her house, and said to them: See, he hath brought in a Hebrew, to abuse us: he came in to me, to lie with me; and when I cried out,

39:15. And he heard my voice, he left the garment that I held, and got him out.

39:16. For a proof therefore of her fidelity, she kept the garment, and shewed it to her husband when he returned home:

A proof of her fidelity.... or an argument to gain credit, argumentum fidei.

39:17. And said: The Hebrew servant, whom thou hast brought, came to me to abuse me.

39:18. And when he heard me cry, he left the garment which I held, and fled out.

39:19. His master hearing these things, and giving too much credit to his wife’s words, was very angry,

39:20. And cast Joseph into the prison, where the king’s prisoners were kept, and he was there shut up.

39:21. But the Lord was with Joseph, and having mercy upon him gave him favour in the sight of the chief keeper of the prison:

39:22. Who delivered into his hand all the prisoners that were kept in custody: and whatsoever was done, was under him.

39:23. Neither did he himself know any thing, having committed all things to him: for the Lord was with him, and made all that he did to prosper.

Genesis Chapter 40

Joseph interpreteth the dreams of two of Pharao’s servants in prison: the event declareth the interpretations to be true, but Joseph is forgotten.

40:1. After this, it came to pass, that two eunuchs, the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, offended their lord.

40:2. And Pharao being angry with them, (now the one was chief butler, the other chief baker,)

40:3. He sent them to the prison of the commander of the soldiers, in which Joseph also was prisoner.

40:4. But the keeper of the prison delivered them to Joseph, and he served them. Some little time passed, and they were kept in custody.

40:5. And they both dreamed a dream the same night, according to the interpretation agreeing to themselves:

40:6. And when Joseph was come into them in the morning, and saw them sad,

40:7. He asked them, saying: Why is your countenance sadder today than usual?

40:8. They answered: We have dreamed a dream, and there is nobody to interpret it to us. And Joseph said to them: Doth not interpretation belong to God? Tell me what you have dreamed:

Doth not interpretation belong to God?.... When dreams are from God, as these were, the interpretation of them is a gift of God. But the generality of dreams are not of this sort; but either proceed from the natural complexions and dispositions of persons, or the roving of their imaginations in the day on such objects as they are much affected with, or from their mind being disturbed with cares and troubles, and oppressed with bodily infirmities: or they are suggested by evil spirits, to flatter, or to terrify weak minds, in order to gain belief, and so draw them into error or superstition; or at least to trouble them in their sleep, whom they cannot move when they are awake: so that the general rule, with regard to dreams, is not to observe them, nor to give any credit to them.

40:9. The chief butler first told his dream: I saw before me a vine,

40:10. On which were three branches, which by little and little sent out buds, and after the blossoms brought forth ripe grapes:

40:11. And the cup of Pharao was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into the cup which I held, and I gave the cup to Pharao.

40:12. Joseph answered: This is the interpretation of the dream: The three branches, are yet three days:

40:13. After which Pharao will remember thy service, and will restore thee to thy former place: and thou shalt present him the cup according to thy office, as before thou was wont to do.

40:14. Only remember me when it shall be well with thee, and do me this kindness: to put Pharao in mind to take me out of this prison:

40:15. For I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews, and here without any fault was cast into the dungeon.

40:16. The chief baker seeing that he had wisely interpreted the dream, said: I also dreamed a dream, That I had three baskets of meal upon my head:

40:17. And that in one basket which was uppermost, I carried all meats that are made by the art of baking, and that the birds ate out of it.

40:18. Joseph answered: This is the interpretation of the dream: The three baskets, are yet three days:

40:19. After which Pharao will take thy head from thee, and hang thee on a cross, and the birds shall tear thy flesh.

40:20. The third day after this was the birthday of Pharao: and he made a great feast for his servants, and at the banquet remembered the chief butler, and the chief baker.

40:21. And he restored the one to his place, to present him the cup:

40:22. The other he hanged on a gibbet, that the truth of the interpreter might be shewn.

40:23. But the chief butler, when things prospered with him, forgot his interpreter.

Genesis Chapter 41

Joseph interpreteth the two dreams of Pharao: he is made ruler over all Egypt.

41:1. After two years Pharao had a dream. He thought he stood by the river,

41:2. Out of which came up seven kine, very beautiful and fat: and they fed in marshy places.

41:3. Other seven also came up out of the river, ill-favoured, and lean fleshed: and they fed on the very bank of the river, in green places:

41:4. And they devoured them, whose bodies were very beautiful and well conditioned. So Pharao awoke.

41:5. He slept again, and dreamed another dream: Seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk full and fair:

41:6. Then seven other ears sprung up thin and blasted,

41:7. And devoured all the beauty of the former. Pharao awaked after his rest:

41:8. And when morning was come, being struck with fear, he sent to all the interpreters of Egypt, and to all the wise men: and they being called for, he told them his dream, and there was not any one that could interpret it.

41:9. Then at length the chief butler remembering, said: I confess my sin:

41:10. The king being angry with his servants, commanded me and the chief baker to be cast into the prison of the captain of the soldiers.

41:11. Where in one night both of us dreamed a dream foreboding things to come.

41:12. There was there a young man a Hebrew, servant to the same captain of the soldiers: to whom we told our dreams,

41:13. And we heard what afterwards the event of the thing proved to be so. For I was restored to my office: and he was hanged upon a gibbet.

41:14. Forthwith at the king’s command Joseph was brought out of the prison, and they shaved him: and changing his apparel brought him in to him.

41:15. And he said to him: I have dreamed dreams, and there is no one that can expound them: Now I have heard that thou art very wise at interpreting them:

41:16. Joseph answered: Without me, God shall give Pharao a prosperous answer.

41:17. So Pharao told what he had dreamed: Methought I stood upon the bank of the river,

41:18. And seven kine came up out of the river, exceeding beautiful and full of flesh: and they grazed on green places in a marshy pasture.

41:19. And behold, there followed these, other seven kine, so very ill-favoured and lean, that I never saw the like in the land of Egypt:

41:20. And they devoured and consumed the former,

41:21. And yet gave no mark of their being full: but were as lean and ill-favoured as before. I awoke, and then fell asleep again,

41:22. And dreamed a dream: Seven ears of corn grew up upon one stalk, full and very fair.

41:23. Other seven also thin and blasted, sprung of the stalk:

41:24. And they devoured the beauty of the former: I told this dream to the conjecturers, and there is no man that can expound it.

41:25. Joseph answered: The king’s dream is one: God hath shewn to Pharao what he is about to do.

41:26. The seven beautiful kine, and the seven full ears, are seven years of plenty: and both contain the same meaning of the dream.

41:27. And the seven lean and thin kine that came up after them, and the seven thin ears that were blasted with the burning wind, are seven years of famine to come:

41:28. Which shall be fulfilled in this order.

41:29. Behold, there shall come seven years of great plenty in the whole land of Egypt:

41:30. After which shall follow other seven years of so great scarcity, that all the abundance before shall be forgotten: for the famine shall consume all the land,

41:31. And the greatness of the scarcity shall destroy the greatness of the plenty.

41:32. And for that thou didst see the second time a dream pertaining to the same thing: it is a token of the certainty, and that the word of God cometh to pass, and is fulfilled speedily.

41:33. Now therefore let the king provide a wise and industrious man, and make him ruler over the land of Egypt:

41:34. That he may appoint overseers over all the countries: and gather into barns the fifth part of the fruits, during the seven fruitful years,

41:35. That shall now presently ensue: and let all the corn be laid up, under Pharao’s hands, and be reserved in the cities.

41:36. And let it be in readiness, against the famine of seven years to come, which shall oppress Egypt, and the land shall not be consumed with scarcity.

41:37. The counsel pleased Pharao, and all his servants.

41:38. And he said to them: Can we find such another man, that is full of the spirit of God?

41:39. He said therefore to Joseph: Seeing God hath shewn thee all that thou hast said, can I find one wiser and one like unto thee?

41:40. Thou shalt be over my house, and at the commandment of thy mouth all the people shall obey: only in the kingly throne will I be above thee.

41:41. And again Pharao said to Joseph: Behold, I have appointed thee over the whole land of Egypt.

41:42. And he took his ring from his own hand, and gave it into his hand: and he put upon him a robe of silk, and put a chain of gold about his neck.

41:43. And he made him go up into his second chariot, the crier proclaiming that all should bow their knee before him, and that they should know he was made governor over the whole land of Egypt.

41:44. And the king said to Joseph: I am Pharao: without thy commandment no man shall move hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.

41:45. And he turned his name, and called him in the Egyptian tongue the saviour of the world. And he gave him to wife Aseneth, the daughter of Putiphare, priest of Heliopolis. Then Joseph went out to the land of Egypt.

The saviour of the world.... Zaphnah paaneah.

41:46. (Now he was thirty years old when he stood before king Pharao), and he went round all the countries of Egypt.

41:47. And the fruitfulness of the seven years came: and the corn being bound up into sheaves, was gathered together into the barns of Egypt.

41:48. And all the abundance of grain was laid up in every city.

41:49. And there was so great abundance of wheat, that it was equal to the sand of the sea, and the plenty exceeded measure.

41:50. And before the famine came, Joseph had two sons born: whom Aseneth, the daughter of Putiphare, priest of Heliopolis, bore unto him.

41:51. And he called the name of the firstborn Manasses, saying: God hath made me to forget all my labours, and my father’s house.

Manasses.... That is, oblivion, or forgetting.

41:52. And he named the second Ephraim, saying: God hath made me to grow in the land of my poverty.

Ephraim.... That is, fruitful, or growing.

41:53. Now when the seven years of plenty that had been in Egypt were passed:

41:54. The seven years of scarcity, which Joseph had foretold, began to come: and the famine prevailed in the whole world, but there was bread in all the land of Egypt.

41:55. And when there also they began to be famished, the people cried to Pharao, for food. And he said to them: Go to Joseph: and do all that he shall say to you.

41:56. And the famine increased daily in all the land: and Joseph opened all the barns, and sold to the Egyptians: for the famine had oppressed them also.

41:57. And all provinces came into Egypt, to buy food, and to seek some relief of their want.

Genesis Chapter 42

Jacob sendeth his ten sons to buy corn in Egypt. Their treatment by Joseph.

42:1. And Jacob hearing that food was sold in Egypt, said to his sons: Why are ye careless?

42:2. 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.

42:3. So the ten brethren of Joseph went down, to buy corn in Egypt:

42:4. Whilst Benjamin was kept at home by Jacob, who said to his brethren: Lest perhaps he take any harm in the journey.

42:5. And they entered into the land of Egypt with others that went to buy. For the famine was in the land of Chanaan.

42:6. 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,

42:7. 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.

42:8. And though he knew his brethren, he was not known by them.

42:9. 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.

You are spies.... This he said by way of examining them, to see what they would answer.

42:10. But they said: It is not so, my lord; but thy servants are come to buy food.

42:11. We are all the sons of one man: we are come as peaceable men, neither do thy servants go about any evil.

42:12. And he answered them: It is otherwise: you are come to consider the unfenced parts of this land.

42:13. 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.

42:14. He saith, This is it that I said: You are spies.

42:15. I shall now presently try what you are: by the health of Pharao, you shall not depart hence, until your youngest brother come.

42:16. 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.

Or else by the health of Pharao you are spies.... That is, if these things you say be proved false, you are to be held for spies for your lying, and shall be treated as such. Joseph dealt in this manner with his brethren, to bring them by the means of affliction to a sense of their former sin, and a sincere repentance for it.

42:17. So he put them in prison three days.

42:18. 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.

42:19. 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.

42:20. 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.

42:21. And they talked one to another: We deserve to suffer these things, because we have sinned against our brother, seeing the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear: therefore is this affliction come upon us.

42:22. 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.

42:23. And they knew not that Joseph understood, because he spoke to them by an interpreter.

42:24. And he turned himself away a little while, and wept: and returning, he spoke to them.

42:25. And taking Simeon, and binding 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.

42:26. But they having loaded their asses with the corn went their way.

42:27. And one of them opening his sack, to give his beast provender in the inn, saw the money in the sack’s mouth,

42:28. And said to his brethren: My money is given me again; behold it is in the sack. And they were astonished, and troubled, and said to one another: What is this that God hath done unto us?

42:29. And they came to Jacob their father in the land of Chanaan, and they told him all things that had befallen them, saying:

42:30. The lord of the land spoke roughly to us, and took us to be spies of the country.

42:31. And we answered him: We are peaceable men, and we mean no plot.

42:32. We are twelve brethren born of one father: one is not living, the youngest is with our father in the land of Chanaan.

42:33. 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,

42:34. 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.

42:35. 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,

42:36. 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.

42:37. And Ruben answered him: Kill my two sons, if I bring him not again to thee: deliver him into my hand, and I will restore him to thee.

42:38. 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 grey hairs with sorrow to hell.

To hell.... That is, to that place, where the souls then remained, as above, chapter 37. ver. 35.

Genesis Chapter 43

The sons of Jacob go again into Egypt with Benjamin. They are entertained by Joseph.

43:1. In the mean time the famine was heavy upon all the land.

43:2. And when they had eaten up all the corn, which they had brought out of Egypt, Jacob said to his sons: Go again, and buy us a little food.

43:3. Juda answered: The man declared unto us with the attestation of an oath, saying: You shall not see my face, unless you bring your youngest brother with you.

43:4. If therefore thou wilt send him with us, we will set out together, and will buy necessaries for thee.

43:5. But if thou wilt not, we will not go: for the man, as we have often said, declared unto us, saying: You shall not see my face without your youngest brother.

43:6. Israel said to them: You have done this for my misery, in that you told him you had also another brother.

43:7. But they answered: The man asked us in order concerning our kindred: if our father lived: if we had a brother: and we answered him regularly, according to what he demanded: could we know that he would say: Bring hither your brother with you?

43:8. And Juda said to his father: Send the boy with me, that we may set forward, and may live: lest both we and our children perish.

43:9. I take the boy upon me, require him at my hand: unless I bring him again, and restore him to thee, I will be guilty of sin against thee for ever.

43:10. If delay had not been made, we had been here again the second time.