Book of Jasher, Chapter 42 — Joseph Drawn from the Pit and Sold to the Midianites, and by Them to the Ishmaelites; He Weeps upon His Mother's Grave
1And they went and sat on the opposite side, about the distance of a bow-shot, and they sat there to eat bread, and while they were eating, they held counsel together what was to be done with him, whether to slay him or to bring him back to his father.
2They were holding the counsel, when they lifted up their eyes, and saw, and behold there was a company of Ishmaelites coming at a distance by the road of Gilead, going down to Egypt.
3And Judah said to them, What gain will it be to us if we slay our brother? Perhaps God will require him from us; this then is the counsel proposed concerning him, which you shall do to him: Behold this company of Ishmaelites going down to Egypt,
4Now therefore, come let us dispose of him to them, and let our hand not be upon him, and they will lead him along with them, and he will be lost among the people of the land, and we will not put him to death with our own hands. And the proposal pleased his brothers and they did according to the word of Judah.
5And while they were talking about this matter, and before the company of Ishmaelites had come up to them, seven trading men of Midian passed by them, and as they passed they were thirsty, and they lifted up their eyes and saw the pit in which Joseph was confined, and they looked, and behold every species of bird was upon him.
6And these Midianites ran to the pit to drink water, for they thought that it contained water, and on coming before the pit they heard the voice of Joseph crying and weeping in the pit, and they looked down into the pit, and they saw and behold there was a youth of handsome appearance and well favored.
7And they called to him and said, Who are you and who brought you here, and who placed you in this pit, in the wilderness? And they all assisted to raise up Joseph and they drew him out, and brought him up from the pit, and took him and went away on their journey and passed by his brothers.
8And these said to them, Why do you do this, to take our servant from us and to go away? Surely we placed this youth in the pit because he rebelled against us, and you come and bring him up and lead him away; now then give us back our servant.
9And the Midianites answered and said to the sons of Jacob, Is this your servant, or does this man attend you? Perhaps you are all his servants, for he is more handsome and well favored than any of you, and why do you all speak falsely to us?
10Now therefore we will not listen to your words, nor attend to you, for we found the youth in the pit in the wilderness, and we took him; we will therefore go on.
11And all the sons of Jacob approached them and rose up to them and said to them, Give us back our servant, and why will you all die by the edge of the sword? And the Midianites cried out against them, and they drew their swords, and approached to fight with the sons of Jacob.
12And behold Simeon rose up from his seat against them, and sprang upon the ground and drew his sword and approached the Midianites and he gave a terrible shout before them, so that his shouting was heard at a distance, and the earth shook at Simeon's shouting.
13And the Midianites were terrified on account of Simeon and the noise of his shouting, and they fell upon their faces, and were excessively alarmed.
14And Simeon said to them, Truly I am Simeon, the son of Jacob the Hebrew, who have, only with my brother, destroyed the city of Shechem and the cities of the Amorites; so shall God moreover do to me, that if all your brothers the people of Midian, and also the kings of Canaan, were to come with you, they could not fight against me.
15Now therefore give us back the youth whom you have taken, lest I give your flesh to the birds of the skies and the beasts of the earth.
16And the Midianites were more afraid of Simeon, and they approached the sons of Jacob with terror and fright, and with pleading words, saying,
17Surely you have said that the young man is your servant, and that he rebelled against you, and therefore you placed him in the pit; what then will you do with a servant who rebels against his master? Now therefore sell him to us, and we will give you all that you require for him; and the Lord was pleased to do this in order that the sons of Jacob should not slay their brother.
18And the Midianites saw that Joseph was of a handsome appearance and well-favored; they desired him in their hearts and were eager to purchase him from his brothers.
19And the sons of Jacob listened to the Midianites and they sold their brother Joseph to them for twenty pieces of silver, and Reuben their brother was not with them, and the Midianites took Joseph and continued their journey to Gilead.
20They were going along the road, and the Midianites repented of what they had done, in having purchased the young man, and one said to the other, What is this thing that we have done, in taking this youth from the Hebrews, who is of handsome appearance and well favored.
21Perhaps this youth is stolen from the land of the Hebrews, and why then have we done this thing? And if he should be sought for and found in our hands we shall die through him.
22Now surely hardy and powerful men have sold him to us, the strength of one of whom you saw this day; perhaps they stole him from his land with their might and with their powerful arm, and have therefore sold him to us for the small value which we gave to them.
23And while they were thus talking together, they looked, and behold the company of Ishmaelites which was coming at first, and which the sons of Jacob saw, was advancing toward the Midianites, and the Midianites said to each other, Come let us sell this youth to the company of Ishmaelites who are coming toward us, and we will take for him the little that we gave for him, and we will be delivered from his evil.
24And they did so, and they reached the Ishmaelites, and the Midianites sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver which they had given for him to his brothers.
25And the Midianites went on their road to Gilead, and the Ishmaelites took Joseph and they let him ride upon one of the camels, and they were leading him to Egypt.
26And Joseph heard that the Ishmaelites were proceeding to Egypt, and Joseph lamented and wept at this thing that he was to be so far removed from the land of Canaan, from his father, and he wept bitterly while he was riding upon the camel, and one of their men observed him, and made him go down from the camel and walk on foot, and notwithstanding this Joseph continued to cry and weep, and he said, O my father, my father.
27And one of the Ishmaelites rose up and struck Joseph upon the cheek, and still he continued to weep; and Joseph was fatigued in the road, and was unable to proceed on account of the bitterness of his soul, and they all struck him and afflicted him in the road, and they terrified him in order that he might cease from weeping.
28And the Lord saw the ambition of Joseph and his trouble, and the Lord brought down upon those men darkness and confusion, and the hand of every one that struck him became withered.
29And they said to each other, What is this thing that God has done to us in the road? And they did not know that this befell them on account of Joseph. And the men proceeded on the road, and they passed along the road of Ephrath where Rachel was buried.
30And Joseph reached his mother's grave, and Joseph hastened and ran to his mother's grave, and fell upon the grave and wept.
31And Joseph cried aloud upon his mother's grave, and he said, O my mother, my mother, O you who gave me birth, awake now, and rise and see your son, how he has been sold for a slave, and no one to pity him.
32O rise and see your son, weep with me on account of my troubles, and see the heart of my brothers.
33Arouse my mother, arouse, awake from your sleep for me, and direct your battles against my brothers. O how they have stripped me of my coat, and sold me already twice for a slave, and separated me from my father, and there is no one to pity me.
34Arouse and lay your cause against them before God, and see whom God will justify in the judgment, and whom he will condemn.
35Rise, O my mother, rise, awake from your sleep and see my father how his soul is with me this day, and comfort him and ease his heart.
36And Joseph continued to speak these words, and Joseph cried aloud and wept bitterly upon his mother's grave; and he ceased speaking, and from bitterness of heart he became still as a stone upon the grave.
37And Joseph heard a voice speaking to him from beneath the ground, which answered him with bitterness of heart, and with a voice of weeping and praying in these words:
38My son, my son Joseph, I have heard the voice of your weeping and the voice of your lamentation; I have seen your tears; I know your troubles, my son, and it grieves me for your sake, and abundant grief is added to my grief.
39Now therefore my son, Joseph my son, hope in the Lord, and wait for him and do not fear, for the Lord is with you, he will deliver you from all trouble.
40Rise my son, go down to Egypt with your masters, and do not fear, for the Lord is with you, my son. And she continued to speak words like these to Joseph, and she was still.
41And Joseph heard this, and he wondered greatly at this, and he continued to weep; and after this one of the Ishmaelites observed him crying and weeping upon the grave, and his anger was kindled against him, and he drove him from there, and he struck him and cursed him.
42And Joseph said to the men, May I find grace in your sight to take me back to my father's house, and he will give you abundance of riches.
43And they answered him, saying, Are you not a slave, and where is your father? And if you had a father you would not already twice have been sold for a slave for so little value; and their anger was still roused against him, and they continued to strike him and to chastise him, and Joseph wept bitterly.
44And the Lord saw Joseph's affliction, and the Lord again struck these men, and chastised them, and the Lord caused darkness to envelop them upon the earth, and the lightning flashed and the thunder roared, and the earth shook at the voice of the thunder and of the mighty wind, and the men were terrified and did not know where they should go.
45And the beasts and camels stood still, and they led them, but they would not go, they struck them, and they crouched upon the ground; and the men said to each other, What is this that God has done to us? What are our transgressions, and what are our sins that this thing has thus befallen us?
46And one of them answered and said to them, Perhaps on account of the sin of afflicting this slave this thing has happened this day to us; now therefore implore him strongly to forgive us, and then we shall know on whose account this evil befalls us, and if God shall have compassion on us, then we shall know that all this comes to us on account of the sin of afflicting this slave.
47And the men did so, and they pleaded with Joseph and pressed him to forgive them; and they said, We have sinned against the Lord and against you, now therefore consent to ask your God to put away this death from among us, for we have sinned against him.
48And Joseph did according to their words, and the Lord listened to Joseph, and the Lord put away the plague which he had inflicted upon those men on account of Joseph, and the beasts rose up from the ground and they conducted them, and they went on, and the raging storm abated and the earth became tranquil, and the men proceeded on their journey to go down to Egypt, and the men knew that this evil had befallen them on account of Joseph.
49And they said to each other, Behold we know that it was on account of his affliction that this evil befell us; now therefore why shall we bring this death upon our souls? Let us hold counsel what to do to this slave.
50And one answered and said, Surely he told us to bring him back to his father; now therefore come, let us take him back and we will go to the place that he will tell us, and take from his family the price that we gave for him and we will then go away.
51And one answered again and said, Behold this counsel is very good, but we cannot do so for the way is very far from us, and we cannot go out of our road.
52And one more answered and said to them, This is the counsel to be adopted, we will not swerve from it; behold we are this day going to Egypt, and when we shall have come to Egypt, we will sell him there at a high price, and we will be delivered from his evil.
53And this thing pleased the men and they did so, and they continued their journey to Egypt with Joseph.