The Lost Books of the Bible: The Great Rejected Texts Page 70

  26 Reuben heard the words of his brothers concerning Joseph and said to them, You should not do this thing, for how can we look up to our father Jacob? Cast him into this pit to die there, but do not put forth a hand on him to spill his blood. Reuben said this in order to deliver him from their hand, to bring him back to his father.

  27 When Joseph came to his brothers he sat before them, and they rose upon him and seized him and struck him to the earth, and stripped the coat of many colors which he had on.

  28 They took him and cast him into a pit and in the pit there was no water, but serpents and scorpions. And Joseph was afraid of the serpents and scorpions that were in the pit. Joseph cried out with a loud voice and the Lord hid the serpents and scorpions in the sides of the pit, and they did no harm to Joseph.

  29 And Joseph called out from the pit to his brothers, and said to them, What have I done to you, and in what have I sinned? Why do you not fear the Lord concerning me? Am I not of your bones and flesh, and is not Jacob your father, my father? Why do you do this thing to me this day, and how will you be able to look up to our father Jacob?

  30 And he continued to cry out and call to his brothers from the pit, and he said, O Judah, Simeon, and Levi, my brothers, lift me up from the place of darkness in which you have placed me, and come this day to have compassion on me, you children of the Lord and sons of Jacob my father. And if I have sinned to you, are you not the sons of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? If they saw an orphan they had compassion over him, or one that was hungry, they gave him bread to eat, or one that was thirsty, they gave him water to drink, or one that was naked, they covered him with garments!

  31 And how then can you withhold your pity from your brother, for I am of your flesh and bones, and if I have sinned to you, certainly you will do this on account of my father!

  32 Joseph spoke these words from the pit, and his brothers could not listen to him, nor incline their ears to the words of Joseph, and Joseph was crying and weeping in the pit.

  33 And Joseph said, O that my father knew this day, the act which my brothers have done to me and the words which they have this day spoken to me.

  34 All his brothers heard his cries and weeping in the pit, and his brothers went and removed themselves from the pit, so that they might not hear the cries of Joseph and his weeping in the pit.

  CHAPTER 42

  1 They went and sat on the opposite side, about the distance of a bow-shot, and they sat there to eat bread; while they were eating they held counsel together what was to be done with him, whether to kill him or to bring him back to his father.

  2 They were holding the counsel when they lifted up their eyes, and saw at once there was a company of Ishmaelites coming at a distance by the road of Gilead, going down to Egypt.

  3 And Judah said to them, What gain will it be to us if we kill our brother? Perhaps God will require him from us; this then is the counsel proposed concerning him, which you shall do to him: Look at this company of Ishmaelites going down to Egypt,

  4 So now let us dispose of him to them and let not our hand be on him; they will lead him along with them and he will be lost among the people of the land and we will not put him to death with our own hands. And the proposal pleased his brothers and they did according to the word of Judah.

  5 While they were discussing this matter and before the company of Ishmaelites had come up to them, seven trading men of Midian passed by them; as they passed they were thirsty and they lifted up their eyes and saw the same pit in which Joseph was held, and they looked and saw every species of bird was on him.

  6 These Midianites ran to the pit to drink water for they thought that it contained water, and on coming to the pit they heard the voice of Joseph crying and weeping in there, and they looked down into the pit, and they saw there was a youth of good-looking appearance and well-favored.

  7 They called to him and said, Who are you and who brought you here, and who placed you in this pit in the wilderness? And they all assisted to raise up Joseph and they drew him out and brought him up from the pit, and took him and went away on their journey and passed by his brothers.

  8 And these said to them, Why do you do this, to take our servant from us and to go away? Certainly we placed this youth in the pit because he rebelled against us, and you come and bring him up and lead him away; now then give us back our servant.

  9 And the Midianites answered and said to the sons of Jacob, Is this your servant, or does this man attend you? Perhaps you are all his servants, for he is more handsome and well-favored than any of you, and why do you all speak falsely to us?

  10 So we will not listen to your words nor give you our attention, for we found the youth in the pit in the wilderness and we took him; we will therefore go on.

  11 And all the sons of Jacob approached them and rose up to them and said to them, Give us back our servant, and why will you all die by the edge of the sword? And the Midianites cried out against them and they drew their swords and approached to fight with the sons of Jacob.

  12 Then Simeon rose up from his seat against them, and sprang on the ground and drew his sword and approached the Midianites and he gave a terrible shout before them, so that his shouting was heard at a distance, and the earth shook at Simeon's shouting.

  13 The Midianites were terrified on account of Simeon and the noise of his shouting, and they fell on their faces and were excessively alarmed.

  14 Simeon said to them, Surely I am Simeon, the son of Jacob the Hebrew, who have only with my brothers destroyed the city of Shechem and the cities of the Amorites; so shall God moreover do to me if all your brothers, the people of Midian, and also the kings of Canaan, were to come with you; they could not fight against me.

  15 Now therefore give us back the youth whom you have taken, or I’ll give your flesh to the birds of the skies and the beasts of the earth.

  16 The Midianites were more afraid of Simeon, and they approached the sons of Jacob with terror and fright, and with pathetic words, saying,

  17 Certainly you have said that the young man is your servant and that he rebelled against you, and therefore you placed him in the pit; what then will you do with a servant who rebels against his master? So now sell him to us, and we will give you all that you require for him. The Lord was pleased to do this in order that the sons of Jacob should not kill their brother.

  18 And the Midianites saw that Joseph was of a good-looking appearance and well-favored; they desired him in their hearts and were urgent to purchase him from his brothers.

  19 The sons of Jacob listened to the Midianites and they sold their brother Joseph to them for twenty pieces of silver. Reuben their brother was not with them, and the Midianites took Joseph and continued their journey to Gilead.

  20 They were going along the road, and the Midianites repented of what they had done, in having purchased the young man, and one said to the other, What is this thing that we have done, in taking this youth from the Hebrews who is of good-looking appearance and well-favored?

  21 Perhaps this youth is stolen from the land of the Hebrews, and why then have we done this thing? If he should be sought for and found in our hands we shall die through him.

  22 Now certainly hardy and powerful men have sold him to us, the strength of one of whom you saw this day; perhaps they stole him from his land with their might and with their powerful arm, and have therefore sold him to us for the small value which we gave to them.

  23 While they were thus discussing together, they looked and saw the company of Ishmaelites which was coming at first, and which the sons of Jacob saw, was advancing toward the Midianites; the Midianites said to each other, Come let us sell this youth to the company of Ishmaelites who are coming toward us. We will take for him the little that we gave for him, and we will be delivered from his evil.

  24 And they did so, and they reached the Ishmaelites, and the Midianites sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver which they had given for him to his brothers.

  25 And the
Midianites went on their road to Gilead, and the Ishmaelites took Joseph and they let him ride on one of the camels, and they were leading him to Egypt.

  26 When Joseph heard that the Ishmaelites were proceeding to Egypt, Joseph lamented and wept at this thing that he was to be so far removed from the land of Canaan, from his father, and he wept bitterly while he was riding on the camel. One of their men observed him, and made him go down from the camel and walk on foot, and still Joseph continued to cry and weep, and he said, O my father, my father.

  27 One of the Ishmaelites rose up and struck Joseph on the cheek, and still he continued to weep; and Joseph was fatigued in the road, and was unable to proceed on account of the bitterness of his soul; they all struck him and afflicted him in the road, and they terrified him in order that he might cease from weeping.

  28 And the Lord saw the condition of Joseph and his trouble, and the Lord brought down on those men darkness and confusion, and the hand of everyone that struck him became withered.

  29 And they said to each other, What is this thing that God has done to us in the road? And they knew not that this befell them on account of Joseph. And the men proceeded on the road, and they passed along the road of Ephrath where Rachel was buried.

  30 Joseph reached his mother's grave, and Joseph hurried and ran to his mother's grave, and fell on the grave and wept.

  31 Joseph cried aloud on his mother's grave and said, O my mother, my mother, O you who did give me birth, awake now, and rise and see your son, how he has been sold for a slave, and no one to pity him.

  32 O rise and see your son, weep with me on account of my troubles, and see the heart of my brothers.

  33 Arouse my mother, arouse, awake from your sleep for me, and direct your battles against my brothers. O how have they stripped me of my coat and sold me already twice for a slave, and separated me from my father, and there is no one to pity me.

  34 Arouse and lay your cause against them before God, and see whom God will justify in the judgment, and whom he will condemn.

  35 Rise, O my mother, rise, awake from your sleep and see my father how his soul is with me this day, and comfort him and ease his heart.

  36 And Joseph continued to speak these words, and Joseph cried aloud and wept bitterly on his mother's grave; and he ceased speaking, and from bitterness of heart he became still as a stone on the grave.

  37 And Joseph heard a voice speaking to him from beneath the ground, which answered him with bitterness of heart, and with a voice of weeping and praying in these words:

  38 My son, my son Joseph, I have heard the voice of your weeping and the voice of your lamentation; I have seen your tears; I know your troubles, my son, and it grieves me for your sake, and abundant grief is added to my grief.

  39 Now therefore my son, Joseph my son, hope in the Lord, and wait for him and do not fear, for the Lord is with you, he will deliver you from all trouble.

  40 Rise my son, go down to Egypt with your masters and do not fear, for the Lord is with you, my son. And she continued to speak like these words to Joseph, and she was still.

  41 And Joseph heard this, and he wondered greatly at this, and he continued to weep. After this one of the Ishmaelites observed him crying and weeping on the grave, and his anger was set ablaze against him, and he drove him from there, and he struck him and cursed him.

  42 And Joseph said to the men, May I find grace in your sight to take me back to my father's house, and he will give you abundance of riches.

  43 And they answered him, saying, Are you not a slave, and where is your father? And if you had a father you would not already twice have been sold for a slave for so little value; their anger was still roused against him, and they continued to strike him and to chastise him, and Joseph wept bitterly.

  44 The Lord saw Joseph's affliction, and the Lord again struck these men, and chastised them, and the Lord caused darkness to envelope them on the earth, and the lightning flashed and the thunder roared, and the earth shook at the voice of the thunder and of the mighty wind; the men were terrified and knew not where they should go.

  45 The beasts and camels stood still, and they led them, but they would not go, they struck them, and they crouched on the ground; the men said to each other, What is this that God has done to us? What are our transgressions and what are our sins that this thing has thus befallen us?

  46 One of them answered and said to them, Perhaps on account of the sin of afflicting this slave has this thing happened this day to us; now we should implore him strongly to forgive us and then we shall know on whose account this evil befalls us; if God willl have compassion over us, then we shall know that all this comes to us on account of the sin of afflicting this slave.

  47 And the men did so, and they supplicated Joseph and pressed him to forgive them; and they said, We have sinned to the Lord and to you, now therefore vouchsafe to request of your God that he shall put away this death from among us, for we have sinned to him.

  48 Joseph did according to their words and the Lord listened to Joseph, and the Lord put away the plague which he had inflicted on those men on account of Joseph; the beasts rose up from the ground and they conducted them, and they went on; the raging storm abated and the earth became tranquilized and the men proceeded on their journey to go down to Egypt. The men knew that this evil had befallen them on account of Joseph.

  49 And they said to each other, We now know that it was on account of his affliction that this evil befell us; now why shall we bring this death on our souls? Let us hold counsel what to do to this slave.

  50 And one answered and said, Certainly he told us to bring him back to his father; so come, let us take him back and we will go to the place that he will tell us, and take from his family the price that we gave for him and we will then go away.

  51 One answered again and said, Behold this counsel is very good, but we cannot do so for the way is very far from us, and we cannot leave our road.

  52 One more answered and said to them, This is the counsel to be adopted, we will not swerve from it; behold we are this day going to Egypt and when we shall have come to Egypt, we will sell him there at a high price, and we will be delivered from his evil.

  53 And this thing pleased the men and they did so; they continued their journey to Egypt with Joseph.

  CHAPTER 43

  1 When the sons of Jacob had sold their brother Joseph to the Midianites, their hearts were smitten on account of him and they repented of their acts, and they sought for him to bring him back but could not find him.

  2 Reuben returned to the pit in which Joseph had been put in order to lift him out and restore him to his father; Reuben stood by the pit and heard not a word. He called out Joseph! Joseph! and no one answered or uttered a word.

  3 And Reuben said, Joseph has died through fright, or some serpent has caused his death. Reuben descended into the pit, searched for Joseph and could not find him in the pit, and he came out again.

  4 And Reuben tore his garments and he said, The child is not there, and how shall I reconcile my father about him if he is dead? He went to his brothers and found them grieving on account of Joseph, and counseling together how to appease their father about him. Reuben said to his brothers, I came to the pit and behold Joseph was not there, what then shall we say to our father, for my father will only seek the lad from me.

  5 His brothers answered him saying, Thus and thus we did, and our hearts afterward struck us on account of this act, and we now sit to seek a pretext how we shall appease our father to it.

  6 And Reuben said to them, What is this you have done to bring down the grey hairs of our father in sorrow to the grave? This thing is not good that you have done.

  7 And Reuben sat with them, and they all rose up and swore to each other not to tell this thing to Jacob. They all said, The man who will tell this to our father or his household, or who will report this to any of the children of the land, we will all rise up against him and kill him with the sword.

  8 And the sons of Ja
cob feared each other in this matter, from the youngest to the oldest; no one spoke a word, and they concealed the thing in their hearts.

  9 Afterward they sat down to determine and invent something to say to their father Jacob concerning all these things.

  10 Issachar said to them, Here is advice for you if it seems good in your eyes to do this thing. Take the coat which belongs to Joseph and tear it, and kill a kid of the goats and dip it in its blood.

  11 And send it to our father and when he sees it he will say an evil beast has devoured him, therefore tear his coat and behold his blood will be on his coat, and by your doing this we shall be free of our father's murmurings.

  12 Issachar's advice pleased them and they listened to him, and they did according to the word of Issachar which he had counselled them.

  13 They hurried and took Joseph's coat and tore it, and they killed a kid of the goats and dipped the coat in the blood of the kid, and then trampled it into the dust. They sent the coat to their father Jacob by the hand of Naphtali, and they commanded him to say these words:

  14 We had gathered in the cattle and had come as far as the road to Shechem and farther, when we found this coat on the road in the wilderness dipped in blood and in dust; now therefore know whether it is your son's coat or not.

  15 And Naphtali went and he came to his father and he gave him the coat, and he spoke to him all the words which his brothers had commanded him.

  16 Jacob saw Joseph's coat and he knew it and he fell on his face to the ground, and became as still as a stone Afterward he rose up and cried out with a loud and weeping voice and said, It is the coat of my son Joseph!

  17 Jacob hurried and sent one of his servants to his sons, who went to them and found them coming along the road with the flock.

  18 The sons of Jacob came to their father about evening, and behold their garments were torn and dust was on their heads, and they found their father crying out and weeping with a loud voice.