Study Desk

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!"

But at camp that night, as one of them opened his pack to give fodder to his donkey, he noticed his money — there it was, just inside his pack.

But the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘Here is how I will know that you are upright men: leave one of your brothers with me, take grain to relieve the famine in your homes, and go on your way;

but bring your youngest brother to me. By this I will know that you aren't spies, but are upright men; then I will return your brother to you; and you will do business in the land.'"

But he replied, "My son will not go down with you. His brother is dead, and he alone is left. If anything were to happen to him while traveling with you, you would bring my gray hair down to Sh'ol with grief."

But the famine was severe in the land;

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.'"

but when we got to camp, we opened our packs, and there inside our packs was each man's money, the full amount. We have brought it back with us;

Then he washed his face and came out, but he controlled himself as he gave the order to serve the meal.

Each was given his serving there in front of him, but Binyamin's portion was five times as large as any of theirs. So they drank and enjoyed themselves with him.

but before they were far from the city Yosef said to his manager, "Up, go after the men; and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil?

He replied, "Fine; let it be as you have said: whichever one it is found with will be my slave. But the rest of you will be blameless."

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.

But you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, so that I can see him.'

but when our father said, ‘Go again, and buy us some food,'

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.

(iii) So it was not you who sent me here, but God; and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his household and ruler over the whole land of Egypt.

To each of them he gave a set of new clothes; but to Binyamin he gave seven-and-a-half pounds of silver and five sets of new clothes.

So they reported to him everything Yosef had said to them; but it was only when he saw the wagons which Yosef had sent to carry him that the spirit of Ya‘akov their father began to revive.