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except for Binyamin, Yosef's brother. Ya‘akov did not send him with his brothers, because he was afraid something might happen to him.

Then he put all of them together in prison for three days.

On the third day, Yosef said to them, "Do what I say, and stay alive, for I fear God.

Re'uven answered them, "Didn't I tell you, ‘Don't wrong the boy'? But you wouldn't hear of it. Now comes the reckoning for his blood!"

They had no idea that Yosef understood them, since an interpreter was translating for them.

Next he ordered that their containers be filled with grain, that every man's money be put back in his pack and that they be given provisions for the journey. When these things had been done for them,

"The man, the lord of the land, spoke harshly with us. He took us for spies in his country.

but if you will not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.'"

Except for our lengthy delay, we would have been there again by now."

May El Shaddai give you favor in the man's sight, so that he will release to you your other brother as well as Binyamin. As for me, if I must lose my children, lose them I will."

"Stop worrying," he replied, "don't be afraid. Your God and the God of your father put treasure in your packs. As for your money — I was the one who received it." Then he brought Shim‘on out to them.

The man brought the men into Yosef's house and gave them water, and they washed their feet, and he provided fodder for their donkeys.

Then they got their gift ready for Yosef's arrival at noon, for they had heard that they were going to eat a meal there.

Isn't this the goblet my lord drinks from, indeed the one he uses for divination? What you have done is evil!'"

But he replied, "Heaven forbid that I should act in such a way. The man in whose possession the goblet was found will be my slave; but as for you, go in peace to your father." Haftarah Mikketz: M'lakhim Alef (1 Kings) 3:15–4:1 B'rit Hadashah suggested reading for Parashah Mikketz: Acts 7:9–16 (specifically vv. 11–12) Then Y'hudah approached Yosef and said, "Please, my lord! Let your servant say something to you privately; and don't be angry with your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself. My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father? or a brother?' We answered my lord, ‘We have a father who is an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one whose brother is dead; so that of his mother's children he alone is left; and his father loves him.' But you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, so that I can see him.' We answered my lord, ‘The boy can't leave his father; if he were to leave his father, his father would die.' You said to your servants, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.' We went up to your servant my father and told him what my lord had said; but when our father said, ‘Go again, and buy us some food,' we answered, ‘We can't go down. Only if our youngest brother is with us will we go down, because we can't see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.' Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons: the one went out from me, and I said, "Surely he has been torn to pieces," and I haven't seen him since. Now if you take this one away from me too, and something happens to him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sh'ol with grief.' So now if I go to your servant my father, and the boy isn't with us — seeing how his heart is bound up with the boy's heart — (ii) when he sees that the boy isn't with us, he will die; and your servants will bring the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sh'ol with grief. For your servant himself guaranteed his safety; I said, ‘If I fail to bring him to you, then I will bear the blame before my father forever.' Therefore, I beg you, let your servant stay as a slave to my lord instead of the boy, and let the boy go up with his brothers. For how can I go up to my father if the boy isn't with me? I couldn't bear to see my father so overwhelmed by anguish."

But he replied, "Heaven forbid that I should act in such a way. The man in whose possession the goblet was found will be my slave; but as for you, go in peace to your father." Haftarah Mikketz: M'lakhim Alef (1 Kings) 3:15–4:1 B'rit Hadashah suggested reading for Parashah Mikketz: Acts 7:9–16 (specifically vv. 11–12) Then Y'hudah approached Yosef and said, "Please, my lord! Let your servant say something to you privately; and don't be angry with your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself.

For your servant himself guaranteed his safety; I said, ‘If I fail to bring him to you, then I will bear the blame before my father forever.'

For how can I go up to my father if the boy isn't with me? I couldn't bear to see my father so overwhelmed by anguish."

The famine has been over the land for the last two years, and for yet another five years there will be neither plowing nor harvest.

I will provide for you there, so that you won't become poverty-stricken, you, your household and all that you have; because five years of famine are yet to come."'