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

Audiens autem Jacob quod alimenta venderentur in Ægypto, dixit filiis suis: Quare negligitis?

The news that there was corn to be bought in Egypt reached Jacob among the rest; and he said to his sons, What means this lethargy?

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.

audivi quod triticum venundetur in Ægypto: descendite, et emite nobis necessaria, ut possimus vivere, et non consumamur inopia.

They tell me there is corn for sale in Egypt; why do you not go down there, and buy enough for us to live on, instead of waiting till we starve?

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

Descendentes igitur fratres Joseph decem, ut emerent frumenta in Ægypto,

So ten of Joseph’s brethren went down into Egypt to buy corn there;

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

Benjamin domi retento a Jacob, qui dixerat fratribus ejus: Ne forte in itinere quidquam patiatur mali:

only Benjamin his father kept at home, saying to the others, Some harm might befall him on the way.

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

ingressi sunt terram Ægypti cum aliis qui pergebant ad emendum. Erat autem fames in terra Chanaan.

So they made their way into Egypt with others who were going there to buy; the whole of Chanaan was by now famine-stricken.

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,

Et Joseph erat princeps in terra Ægypti, atque ad ejus nutum frumenta populis vendebantur. Cumque adorassent eum fratres sui,

Egypt was under the control of Joseph: it was at his discretion that corn was sold to foreign nations. And when his brethren came and did him reverence,

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.

et agnovisset eos, quasi ad alienos durius loquebatur, interrogans eos: Unde venistis? Qui responderunt: De terra Chanaan, ut emamus victui necessaria.

he recognized them; but he treated them as strangers, and talked roughly to them. Whence come you? he asked. From the land of Chanaan, they said, to buy food.

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

Et tamen fratres ipse cognoscens, non est cognitus ab eis.

Well as he knew them, his brethren did not know him again,

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.

Recordatusque somniorum, quæ aliquando viderat, ait ad eos: Exploratores estis: ut videatis infirmiora terræ venistis.

and his mind went back to the dreams he had had, long ago. You are spies, he told them; you have come to find out where our country’s defences are weak.

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

Qui dixerunt: Non est ita, domine, sed servi tui venerunt ut emerent cibos.

No, my lord, they said, we are thy servants, come here to buy food,

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

Omnes filii unius viri sumus: pacifici venimus, nec quidquam famuli tui machinantur mali.

sons of one father, all of us, sent on an errand of peace; thy servants know nothing of any evil intent.

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

Quibus ille respondit: Aliter est: immunita terræ hujus considerare venistis.

I know better, he answered; you have come to spy out where our country is ill defended.

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.

At illi: Duodecim, inquiunt, servi tui, fratres sumus, filii viri unius in terra Chanaan: minimus cum patre nostro est, alius non est super.

We are all brethren, they said; our father, in the land of Chanaan, is the father of twelve sons; the youngest is still with him, and one of us no longer lives.

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

Hoc est, ait, quod locutus sum: exploratores estis.

I was sure of it, said he; you are spies, all of you.

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

Jam nunc experimentum vestri capiam: per salutem Pharaonis non egrediemini hinc, donec veniat frater vester minimus.

I will put you to the test; your youngest brother must come here, or, by the life of Pharao, none of you shall leave this land.

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.

Mittite ex vobis unum, et adducat eum: vos autem eritis in vinculis, donec probentur quæ dixistis utrum vera an falsa sint: alioquin per salutem Pharaonis exploratores estis.

One of you must go and fetch him, the rest shall be my prisoners, until you give me proof whether your story is true or not. If you refuse this, as sure as Pharao lives, you are spies.

So he put them in prison three days.

Tradidit ergo illos custodiæ tribus diebus.

So he committed them to prison, and kept them there for three days.

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.

Die autem tertio eductis de carcere, ait: Facite quæ dixi, et vivetis: Deum enim timeo.

When the third day came, they were released, and now he said to them, Do what I bade you, and I will spare your lives; I am a man that fears God.

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.

Si pacifici estis, frater vester unus ligetur in carcere: vos autem abite, et ferte frumenta quæ emistis, in domos vestras,

To prove whether your errand is peaceful, one of you must be kept here in prison; the rest shall go home, taking with them the corn they have bought.

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.

et fratrem vestrum minimum ad me adducite, ut possim vestros probare sermones, et non moriamini. Fecerunt ut dixerat,

Then you must bring your youngest brother here into my presence; when you have done that, I shall know that your story is true, and your lives shall be spared.

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.

et locuti sunt ad invicem: Merito hæc patimur, quia peccavimus in fratrem nostrum, videntes angustiam animæ illius, dum deprecaretur nos, et non audivimus: idcirco venit super nos ista tribulatio.

And they bowed to his will, saying to one another, It is no more than we deserve, we, who so wronged our brother, and looked on without pity when he pleaded, in anguish, for his life. That is what has brought all this trouble upon us.

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.

E quibus unus Ruben, ait: Numquid non dixi vobis: Nolite peccare in puerum: et non audistis me? en sanguis ejus exquiritur.

And Ruben said to the rest, I pleaded with you not to do the boy such wrong, and you would not listen to me; we are being punished, now, for his murder.

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

Nesciebant autem quod intelligeret Joseph, eo quod per interpretem loqueretur ad eos.

All this Joseph understood, although they did not suspect it (he always spoke to them through an interpreter);

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

Avertitque se parumper, et flevit: et reversus locutus est ad eos.

so that he withdrew from them for a little, and gave himself up to tears. Then he went back and spoke to them,

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.

Tollensque Simeon, et ligans illis præsentibus, jussit ministris ut implerent eorum saccos tritico, et reponerent pecunias singulorum in sacculis suis, datis supra cibariis in viam: qui fecerunt ita.

taking Simeon, and fastening chains upon him, there in their presence. Meanwhile, he had bidden his servants fill their sacks with corn, enclosing in each sack the money its owner had paid, and providing them with victuals for their journey as well. All this was done,

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

At illi portantes frumenta in asinis suis, profecti sunt.

and now they loaded their asses with the corn, and were on their homeward journey,

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

Apertoque unus sacco, ut daret jumento pabulum in diversorio, contemplatus pecuniam in ore sacculi,

when one of them opened his sack, to feed his beast at a halting-place. And there, in the mouth of the sack, he found his money.

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?

dixit fratribus suis: Reddita est mihi pecunia, en habetur in sacco. Et obstupefacti, turbatique, mutuo dixerunt: Quidnam est hoc quod fecit nobis Deus?

Look, he said to his brethren, my money has been restored to me; here it is, in the sack. And their minds misgave them; they said to one another in bewilderment, What is this God has done to us?

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

Veneruntque ad Jacob patrem suum in terram Chanaan, et narraverunt ei omnia quæ accidissent sibi, dicentes:

When they came back to their father Jacob, in Chanaan, they told him of all that had happened;

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

Locutus est nobis dominus terræ dure, et putavit nos exploratores esse provinciæ.

how the regent of the country had spoken to them roughly, taking them for spies,

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

Cui respondimus: Pacifici sumus, nec ullas molimur insidias.

and how they had answered, Ours is an errand of peace, we have no mischievous intent;

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

Duodecim fratres uno patre geniti sumus: unus non est super, minimus cum patre nostro est in terra Chanaan.

there were twelve of us, all born of one father; one is no longer alive, and the youngest is with our father in Chanaan.

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.

Qui ait nobis: Sic probabo quod pacifici sitis: fratrem vestrum unum dimittite apud me, et cibaria domibus vestris necessaria sumite, et abite,

And then, the test of their honesty he had proposed; that they should go home with what they needed, leaving one of them behind; that he should remain a prisoner,

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.

fratremque vestrum minimum adducite ad me, ut sciam quod non sitis exploratores: et istum, qui tenetur in vinculis, recipere possitis: ac deinceps quæ vultis, emendi habeatis licentiam.

until they cleared themselves of suspicion by coming back with their youngest brother; then they should be restored, and they should be free to buy as they would.

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,

His dictis, cum frumenta effunderent, singuli repererunt in ore saccorum ligatas pecunias, exterritisque simul omnibus,

When they had finished their story, they began unloading the corn, and were filled with dismay at finding the money each had paid enclosed there in his sack.

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.

dixit pater Jacob: Absque liberis me esse fecistis: Joseph non est super, Simeon tenetur in vinculis, et Benjamin auferetis: in me hæc omnia mala reciderunt.

As for their father Jacob, he told them, You have made a childless man of me; Joseph is dead, Simeon a prisoner, and you would rob me of Benjamin too; it is I who have to bear all this trouble.

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.

Cui respondit Ruben: Duos filios meos interfice, si non reduxero illum tibi: trade illum in manu mea, et ego eum tibi restituam.

Whereupon Ruben answered, Kill my own two sons in requital of it, if I do not restore Benjamin to thee in safety; give me charge of him, and I will bring him back.

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.

At ille: Non descendet, inquit, filius meus vobiscum: frater ejus mortuus est, et ipse solus remansit: si quid ei adversi acciderit in terra ad quam pergitis, deducetis canos meos cum dolore ad inferos.

No, said he, I will not let this son of mine go with you; his brother is dead, and he is all I have left; if any harm should befall him in the country of your travels, you would send an old man sorrowing to the grave.