על יוסף ל״גOn Joseph 33
א׳
1[196] They set off, and hastened to Egypt. On their arrival a few days afterwards the governor saw them and was greatly pleased. He bade the steward of his household prepare a sumptuous meal and bring them in to partake of his salt and board. Conducted thus,
ב׳
2[197] with no knowledge of what was intended, they were scared and perturbed, guessing that they were to be libelled as thieves for having filched the price of the corn which they had found in the sacks on the first occasion. Then they approached the steward and made their defence, clearing their consciences of a matter on which no one was venturing to charge them, and at the same time they produced and shewed him the money which they had brought for repayment.
ג׳
3[198] But he raised their courage with kind and friendly words. “No one,” he said, “is so impious as to libel the bounties of God Whose mercy I invoke. For He has poured treasure into your sacks, thereby providing not only sustenance but wealth to spend as you need it.”
ד׳
4[199] Thus encouraged, they proceeded to set out in order the gifts they had brought from home, and when the master of the house arrived they offered them to him. He asked them how they were, and whether the father of whom they spoke before still lived, in answer to which they said nothing about themselves but told him that their father was alive and well.
ה׳
5[200] Joseph invoked a blessing on him and pronounced him most favoured by God, and then, when, looking round, he saw Benjamin, his own mother’s son, he could not contain himself, but, overcome by emotion, turned aside before he could be observed, and hastened, nominally on some pressing business, as the time for disclosure had not come, into a corner of the house and there burst into weeping and let the tears stream forth.