Study Desk

They served him by himself, the brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians included at the meal by themselves — Egyptians don't eat with Hebrews, because that is abhorrent to them.

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."

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.'

But don't be sad that you sold me into slavery here or angry at yourselves, because it was God who sent me ahead of you to preserve life.

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."'

Don't worry about your stuff, because everything good in the land of Egypt is yours.'"

Then Isra'el said to Yosef, "Now I can die, because I have seen your face and seen that you are still alive."

and added, "We have come to live in the land, because in the land of Kena‘an there is no place to pasture your servant's flocks, the famine is so severe there. Therefore, please, let your servants live in the land of Goshen."

So Yosef acquired all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh, as one by one the Egyptians sold their fields, because the famine weighed on them so severely. Thus the land became the property of Pharaoh.

Only the priests' land did he not acquire, because the priests were entitled to provisions from Pharaoh, and they ate from what Pharaoh provided them; therefore they did not sell their land.

Though superior in vigor and power you are unstable as water, so your superiority will end, because you climbed into your father's bed and defiled it — he climbed onto my concubine's couch!

The midwives answered Pharaoh, "It's because the Hebrew women aren't like the Egyptian women — they go into labor and give birth before the midwife arrives."

Indeed, because the midwives feared God, he made them founders of families.

Then, when the child had grown some, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter; and she began to raise him as her son. She called him Moshe [pull out], explaining, "Because I pulled him out of the water."

He said, "Don't come any closer! Take your sandals off your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy ground.

I am the God of your father," he continued, "the God of Avraham, the God of Yitz'chak and the God of Ya‘akov." Moshe covered his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

Adonai said, "I have seen how my people are being oppressed in Egypt and heard their cry for release from their slavemasters, because I know their pain.

Moshe replied, "But I'm certain they won't believe me, and they won't listen to what I say, because they'll say, ‘ Adonai did not appear to you.'"

Now take this staff in your hand, because you need it to perform the signs."

Adonai said to Moshe in Midyan, "Go on back to Egypt, because all the men who wanted to kill you are dead."