על יוסף ל״בOn Joseph 32
א׳
1[187] Their father gave a deep groan, and said: “Whom should I lament for first? My youngest but one, who was not the last but the first to be placed on the list of unfortunates, or the second eldest who won the second prize of evils, bonds in place of death, or the youngest who, if he does go, will go on a journey of truly evil omen, unlessoned by the misfortunes of his brothers? While I, divided limb by limb and part by part, since the child is part of its parent, am like to survive childless, I who but lately was held to be the father of a fine and numerous family.”
ב׳
2[188] His eldest son then said: “I give you my two sons, my only children, as hostages. Slay them if I do not restore to you in safety the brother whom you will entrust to my hand, whose coming to Egypt will procure us two very great gains, first the clear proof that we are not spies or enemies, secondly the power to recover our brother from bondage.”
ג׳
3[189] The father was much distressed, and said that he knew not what to do, since of the two full brothers one was already dead and the other left desolate and alone would dread the journey and suffer a living death through fright recalling the horrors which had befallen his precursor. When he thus spoke, they put forward the fourth in age, the most courageous of them all, a man princely in nature and powerful of speech, and persuaded him to act as spokesman of what they all thought.
ד׳
4[190] This was, that, since the necessaries of life were running short, as the first stock of corn which they had brought was exhausted and the stress of the famine pressed hard upon them, they should set out to buy more corn but would not do so if their youngest brother stayed behind, since the ruler of the land had forbidden them to appear without him.
ה׳
5[191] Their father, reckoning in his wisdom that it was better to surrender one to the mercy of an obscure and dubious future than that many should suffer the undoubted destruction which the stress of famine, that fatal scourge, would inflict upon the whole household,
ו׳
6[192] said: “Nay, if the call of necessity is stronger than my wishes, I must yield, for haply it may be that nature has some better gift in store, which as yet she refuses to reveal to our mind.
ז׳
7[193] Take, then, the youngest as you propose, and depart, but not in the same fashion as before, for on the former occasion when you were unknown and had not met with any fatal disaster you only needed money to pay for the corn, but now you must take presents also for three reasons, to propitiate the governor and chief victualler to whom you say you are known, to hasten the delivery of the prisoner with a considerable ransom, and to remedy the suspicion that you are spies as much as you can.
ח׳
8[194] Take, then, samples of all the products of our land, firstfruits, as it were, and a double sum of money, to make good what was restored to you on your former visit, perhaps through someone’s oversight, and also enough for purchasing the corn.
ט׳
9[195] Carry with you, further, my own prayers which I offer to the God of our salvation that you, as strangers in the land, may be well-pleasing to the inhabitants, and also may return in safety and restore to your father the sureties which he has been forced to pledge, even his sons, both him who before was left behind in bondage and the one whom you now take with you, the youngest so inexperienced in life.”