Book of Jasher, Chapter 54 — Judah breaks through the Door to get to Joseph and Benjamin
1And when Judah saw the dealings of Joseph with them, Judah approached him and broke open the door, and came with his brothers before Joseph.
2And Judah said to Joseph, Let it not seem grievous in the sight of my lord, may your servant I pray you speak a word before you? And Joseph said to him, Speak.
3And Judah spoke before Joseph, and his brothers were there standing before them; and Judah said to Joseph, Surely when we first came to our lord to buy food, you considered us as spies of the land, and we brought Benjamin before you, and you still make sport of us this day.
4Now therefore let the king hear my words, and send I pray you our brother that he may go along with us to our father, lest your soul perish this day with all the souls of the inhabitants of Egypt.
5Do you not know what two of my brothers, Simeon and Levi, did to the city of Shechem, and to seven cities of the Amorites, on account of our sister Dinah, and also what they would do for the sake of their brother Benjamin?
6And I with my strength, who am greater and mightier than both of them, come this day upon you and your land if you are unwilling to send our brother.
7Have you not heard what our God who made choice of us did to Pharaoh on account of Sarah our mother, whom he took away from our father, that he struck him and his household with heavy plagues, that even to this day the Egyptians relate this wonder to each other? So will our God do to you on account of Benjamin whom you have this day taken from his father, and on account of the evils which you this day heap over us in your land; for our God will remember his covenant with our father Abraham and bring evil upon you, because you have grieved the soul of our father this day.
8Now therefore hear my words that I have this day spoken to you, and send our brother that he may go away lest you and the people of your land die by the sword, for you cannot all prevail over me.
9And Joseph answered Judah, saying, Why have you opened wide your mouth and why do you boast over us, saying, Strength is with you? As Pharaoh lives, if I command all my valiant men to fight with you, surely you and these your brothers would sink in the mire.
10And Judah said to Joseph, Surely it becomes you and your people to fear me; as the Lord lives if I once draw my sword I shall not sheathe it again until I shall this day have slain all Egypt, and I will commence with you and finish with Pharaoh your master.
11And Joseph answered and said to him, Surely strength does not belong alone to you; I am stronger and mightier than you, surely if you draw your sword I will put it to your neck and the necks of all your brothers.
12And Judah said to him, Surely if I this day open my mouth against you I would swallow you up that you be destroyed from off the earth and perish this day from your kingdom. And Joseph said, Surely if you open your mouth I have power and might to close your mouth with a stone until you shall not be able to utter a word; see how many stones are before us, truly I can take a stone, and force it into your mouth and break your jaws.
13And Judah said, God is witness between us, that we have not hitherto desired to battle with you, only give us our brother and we will go from you; and Joseph answered and said, As Pharaoh lives, if all the kings of Canaan came together with you, you should not take him from my hand.
14Now therefore go your way to your father, and your brother shall be to me for a slave, for he has robbed the king's house. And Judah said, What is it to you or to the character of the king, surely the king sends forth from his house, throughout the land, silver and gold either in gifts or expenses, and you still talk about your cup which you placed in our brother's bag and say that he has stolen it from you?
15God forbid that our brother Benjamin or any of the seed of Abraham should do this thing to steal from you, or from any one else, whether king, prince, or any man.
16Now therefore cease this accusation lest the whole earth hear your words, saying, For a little silver the king of Egypt wrangled with the men, and he accused them and took their brother for a slave.
17And Joseph answered and said, Take to you this cup and go from me and leave your brother for a slave, for it is the judgment of a thief to be a slave.
18And Judah said, Why are you not ashamed of your words, to leave our brother and to take your cup? Surely if you give us your cup, or a thousand times as much, we will not leave our brother for the silver which is found in the hand of any man, that we will not die over him.
19And Joseph answered, And why did you forsake your brother and sell him for twenty pieces of silver to this day, and why then will you not do the same to this your brother?
20And Judah said, the Lord is witness between me and you that we desire not your battles; now therefore give us our brother and we will go from you without quarreling.
21And Joseph answered and said, If all the kings of the land should assemble they will not be able to take your brother from my hand; and Judah said, What shall we say to our father, when he sees that our brother does not come with us, and will grieve over him?
22And Joseph answered and said, This is the thing which you shall tell to your father, saying, The rope has gone after the bucket.
23And Judah said, Surely you are a king, and why speak you these things, giving a false judgment? Woe to the king who is like to you.
24And Joseph answered and said, There is no false judgment in the word that I spoke on account of your brother Joseph, for all of you sold him to the Midianites for twenty pieces of silver, and you all denied it to your father and said to him, An evil beast has devoured him, Joseph has been torn to pieces.
25And Judah said, Behold the fire of Shem burns in my heart, now I will burn all your land with fire; and Joseph answered and said, Surely your sister-in-law Tamar, who killed your sons, extinguished the fire of Shechem.
26And Judah said, If I pluck out a single hair from my flesh, I will fill all Egypt with its blood.
27And Joseph answered and said, Such is your custom to do as you did to your brother whom you sold, and you dipped his coat in blood and brought it to your father in order that he might say an evil beast devoured him and here is his blood.
28And when Judah heard this thing he was exceedingly angry and his anger burned within him, and there was before him in that place a stone, the weight of which was about four hundred shekels, and Judah's anger was kindled and he took the stone in one hand and cast it to the heavens and caught it with his left hand.
29And he placed it afterward under his legs, and he sat upon it with all his strength and the stone was turned into dust from the force of Judah.
30And Joseph saw the act of Judah and he was very much afraid, but he commanded Manassah his son and he also did with another stone like to the act of Judah, and Judah said to his brothers, Let none of you say, this man is an Egyptian, but by his doing this thing he is of our father's family.
31And Joseph said, Not to you only is strength given, for we are also powerful men, and why will you boast over us all? And Judah said to Joseph, Send I pray you our brother and ruin not your country this day.
32And Joseph answered and said to them, Go and tell your father, an evil beast has devoured him as you said concerning your brother Joseph.
33And Judah spoke to his brother Naphtali, and he said to him, Make haste, go now and number all the streets of Egypt and come and tell me; and Simeon said to him, Let this thing not be a trouble to you; now I will go to the mount and take up one large stone from the mount and level it at every one in Egypt, and kill all that are in it.
34And Joseph heard all these words that his brothers spoke before him, and they did not know that Joseph understood them, for they imagined that he did not know to speak Hebrew.
35And Joseph was greatly afraid at the words of his brothers lest they should destroy Egypt, and he commanded his son Manasseh, saying, Go now make haste and gather to me all the inhabitants of Egypt, and all the valiant men together, and let them come to me now upon horseback and on foot and with all sorts of musical instruments, and Manasseh went and did so.
36And Naphtali went as Judah had commanded him, for Naphtali was lightfooted as one of the swift stags, and he would go upon the ears of corn and they would not break under him.
37And he went and numbered all the streets of Egypt, and found them to be twelve, and he came hastily and told Judah, and Judah said to his brothers, Hasten you and put on every man his sword upon his loins and we will come over Egypt, and smite them all, and let no remnant remain.
38And Judah said, Behold, I will destroy three of the streets with my strength, and you shall each destroy one street; and when Judah was speaking this thing, behold the inhabitants of Egypt and all the mighty men came toward them with all sorts of musical instruments and with loud shouting.
39And their number was five hundred cavalry and ten thousand infantry, and four hundred men who could fight without sword or spear, only with their hands and strength.
40And all the mighty men came with great storming and shouting, and they all surrounded the sons of Jacob and terrified them, and the ground quaked at the sound of their shouting.
41And when the sons of Jacob saw these troops they were greatly afraid of their lives, and Joseph did so in order to terrify the sons of Jacob to become tranquilized.
42And Judah, seeing some of his brothers terrified, said to them, Why are you afraid while the grace of God is with us? And when Judah saw all the people of Egypt surrounding them at the command of Joseph to terrify them, only Joseph commanded them, saying, Do not touch any of them.
43Then Judah hastened and drew his sword, and uttered a loud and bitter scream, and he struck with his sword, and he sprang upon the ground and he still continued to shout against all the people.
44And when he did this thing the Lord caused the terror of Judah and his brothers to fall upon the valiant men and all the people that surrounded them.
45And they all fled at the sound of the shouting, and they were terrified and fell one upon the other, and many of them died as they fell, and they all fled from before Judah and his brothers and from before Joseph.
46And while they were fleeing, Judah and his brothers pursued them to the house of Pharaoh, and they all escaped, and Judah again sat before Joseph and roared at him like a lion, and gave a great and tremendous shriek at him.
47And the shriek was heard at a distance, and all the inhabitants of Succoth heard it, and all Egypt quaked at the sound of the shriek, and also the walls of Egypt and of the land of Goshen fell in from the shaking of the earth, and Pharaoh also fell from his throne upon the ground, and also all the pregnant women of Egypt and Goshen miscarried when they heard the noise of the shaking, for they were terribly afraid.
48And Pharaoh sent word, saying, What is this thing that has this day happened in the land of Egypt? And they came and told him all the things from beginning to end, and Pharaoh was alarmed and he wondered and was greatly afraid.
49And his fright increased when he heard all these things, and he sent to Joseph, saying, You have brought to me the Hebrews to destroy all Egypt; what will you do with that thievish slave? Send him away and let him go with his brothers, and let us not perish through their evil, even we, you and all Egypt.
50And if you desire not to do this thing, cast off from you all my valuable things, and go with them to their land, if you delight in it, for they will this day destroy my whole country and slay all my people; even all the women of Egypt have miscarried through their screams; see what they have done merely by their shouting and speaking, moreover if they fight with the sword, they will destroy the land; now therefore choose that which you desire, whether me or the Hebrews, whether Egypt or the land of the Hebrews.
51And they came and told Joseph all the words of Pharaoh that he had said concerning him, and Joseph was greatly afraid at the words of Pharaoh and Judah and his brothers were still standing before Joseph indignant and enraged, and all the sons of Jacob roared at Joseph, like the roaring of the sea and its waves.
52And Joseph was greatly afraid of his brothers and on account of Pharaoh, and Joseph sought a pretext to make himself known to his brothers, lest they should destroy all Egypt.
53And Joseph commanded his son Manasseh, and Manasseh went and approached Judah, and placed his hand upon his shoulder, and the anger of Judah was stilled.
54And Judah said to his brothers, Let no one of you say that this is the act of an Egyptian youth for this is the work of my father's house.
55And Joseph seeing and knowing that Judah's anger was stilled, he approached to speak to Judah in the language of mildness.
56And Joseph said to Judah, Surely you speak truth and have this day verified your assertions concerning your strength, and may your God who delights in you, increase your welfare; but tell me truly why from among all your brothers do you wrangle with me on account of the lad, as none of them have spoken one word to me concerning him.
57And Judah answered Joseph, saying, Surely you must know that I was security for the lad to his father, saying, If I brought him not to him I should bear his blame forever.
58Therefore have I approached you from among all my brothers, for I saw that you were unwilling to allow him to go from you; now therefore may I find grace in your sight that you shall send him to go with us, and behold I will remain as a substitute for him, to serve you in whatever you desire, for wheresoever you shall send me I will go to serve you with great energy.
59Send me now to a mighty king who has rebelled against you, and you shall know what I will do to him and to his land; although he may have cavalry and infantry or an exceeding mighty people, I will slay them all and bring the king's head before you.
60Do you not know or have you not heard that our father Abraham with his servant Eliezer struck all the kings of Elam with their hosts in one night, they left not one remaining? And ever since that day our father's strength was given to us for an inheritance, for us and our seed forever.
61And Joseph answered and said, You speak truth, and falsehood is not in your mouth, for it was also told to us that the Hebrews have power and that the Lord their God delights much in them, and who then can stand before them?
62However, on this condition will I send your brother, if you will bring before me his brother the son of his mother, of whom you said that he had gone from you down to Egypt; and it shall come to pass when you bring to me his brother I will take him in his stead, because not one of you was security for him to your father, and when he shall come to me, I will then send with you his brother for whom you have been security.
63And Judah's anger was kindled against Joseph when he spoke this thing, and his eyes dropped blood with anger, and he said to his brothers, How does this man this day seek his own destruction and that of all Egypt!
64And Simeon answered Joseph, saying, Did we not tell you at first that we did not know the particular spot to which he went, and whether he is dead or alive, and why speaks my lord like to these things?
65And Joseph observing the countenance of Judah discerned that his anger began to kindle when he spoke to him, saying, Bring to me your other brother instead of this brother.
66And Joseph said to his brothers, Surely you said that your brother was either dead or lost, now if I should call him this day and he should come before you, would you give him to me instead of his brother?
67And Joseph began to speak and call out, Joseph, Joseph, come this day before me, and appear to your brothers and sit before them.
68And when Joseph spoke this thing before them, they looked each a different way to see from where Joseph would come before them.
69And Joseph observed all their acts, and said to them, Why do you look here and there? I am Joseph whom you sold to Egypt, now therefore let it not grieve you that you sold me, for as a support during the famine did God send me before you.
70And his brothers were terrified at him when they heard the words of Joseph, and Judah was exceedingly terrified at him.
71And when Benjamin heard the words of Joseph he was before them in the inner part of the house, and Benjamin ran to Joseph his brother, and embraced him and fell upon his neck, and they wept.
72And when Joseph's brothers saw that Benjamin had fallen upon his brother's neck and wept with him, they also fell upon Joseph and embraced him, and they wept a great weeping with Joseph.
73And the voice was heard in the house of Joseph that they were Joseph's brothers, and it pleased Pharaoh exceedingly, for he was afraid of them lest they should destroy Egypt.
74And Pharaoh sent his servants to Joseph to congratulate him concerning his brothers who had come to him, and all the captains of the armies and troops that were in Egypt came to rejoice with Joseph, and all Egypt rejoiced greatly about Joseph's brothers.
75And Pharaoh sent his servants to Joseph, saying, Tell your brothers to fetch all belonging to them and let them come to me, and I will place them in the best part of the land of Egypt, and they did so.
76And Joseph commanded him that was set over his house to bring out to his brothers gifts and garments, and he brought out to them many garments being robes of royalty and many gifts, and Joseph divided them among his brothers.
77And he gave to each of his brothers a change of garments of gold and silver, and three hundred pieces of silver, and Joseph commanded them all to be dressed in these garments, and to be brought before Pharaoh.
78And Pharaoh seeing that all Joseph's brothers were valiant men, and of beautiful appearance, he greatly rejoiced.
79And they afterward went out from the presence of Pharaoh to go to the land of Canaan, to their father, and their brother Benjamin was with them.
80And Joseph rose up and gave to them eleven chariots from Pharaoh, and Joseph gave to them his chariot, upon which he rode on the day of his being crowned in Egypt, to fetch his father to Egypt; and Joseph sent to all his brothers' children, garments according to their numbers, and a hundred pieces of silver to each of them, and he also sent garments to the wives of his brothers from the garments of the king's wives, and he sent them.
81And he gave to each of his brothers ten men to go with them to the land of Canaan to serve them, to serve their children and all belonging to them in coming to Egypt.
82And Joseph sent by the hand of his brother Benjamin ten suits of garments for his ten sons, a portion above the rest of the children of the sons of Jacob.
83And he sent to each fifty pieces of silver, and ten chariots on the account of Pharaoh, and he sent to his father ten donkeys laden with all the luxuries of Egypt, and ten she donkeys laden with corn and bread and nourishment for his father, and to all that were with him as provisions for the road.
84And he sent to his sister Dinah garments of silver and gold, and frankincense and myrrh, and aloes and women's ornaments in great plenty, and he sent the same from the wives of Pharaoh to the wives of Benjamin.
85And he gave to all his brothers, also to their wives, all sorts of onyx stones and bdellium, and from all the valuable things among the great people of Egypt, nothing of all the costly things was left but what Joseph sent of to his father's household.
86And he sent his brothers away, and they went, and he sent his brother Benjamin with them.
87And Joseph went out with them to accompany them on the road to the borders of Egypt, and he commanded them concerning his father and his household, to come to Egypt.
88And he said to them, Do not quarrel on the road, for this thing was from the Lord to keep a great people from starvation, for there will be yet five years of famine in the land.
89And he commanded them, saying, When you come to the land of Canaan, do not come suddenly before my father in this affair, but act in your wisdom.
90And Joseph ceased to command them, and he turned and went back to Egypt, and the sons of Jacob went to the land of Canaan with joy and cheerfulness to their father Jacob.
91And they came to the borders of the land, and they said to each other, What shall we do in this matter before our father, for if we come suddenly to him and tell him the matter, he will be greatly alarmed at our words and will not believe us.
92And they went along until they came nigh to their houses, and they found Serach, the daughter of Asher, going forth to meet them, and the young woman was very good and subtle, and knew how to play upon the harp.
93And they called to her and she came before them, and she kissed them, and they took her and gave to her a harp, saying, Go now before our father, and sit before him, and strike upon the harp, and speak these words.
94And they commanded her to go to their house, and she took the harp and hastened before them, and she came and sat near Jacob.
95And she played well and sang, and uttered in the sweetness of her words, Joseph my uncle is living, and he rules throughout the land of Egypt, and is not dead.
96And she continued to repeat and utter these words, and Jacob heard her words and they were agreeable to him.
97He listened while she repeated them twice and thrice, and joy entered the heart of Jacob at the sweetness of her words, and the spirit of God was upon him, and he knew all her words to be true.
98And Jacob blessed Serach when she spoke these words before him, and he said to her, My daughter, may death never prevail over you, for you have revived my spirit; only speak yet before me as you have spoken, for you have gladdened me with all your words.
99And she continued to sing these words, and Jacob listened and it pleased him, and he rejoiced, and the spirit of God was upon him.
100While he was yet speaking with her, behold his sons came to him with horses and chariots and royal garments and servants running before them.
101And Jacob rose up to meet them, and saw his sons dressed in royal garments and he saw all the treasures that Joseph had sent to them.
102And they said to him, Be informed that our brother Joseph is living, and it is he who rules throughout the land of Egypt, and it is he who spoke to us as we told you.
103And Jacob heard all the words of his sons, and his heart palpitated at their words, for he could not believe them until he saw all that Joseph had given them and what he had sent him, and all the signs which Joseph had spoken to them.
104And they opened out before him, and showed him all that Joseph had sent, they gave to each what Joseph had sent him, and he knew that they had spoken the truth, and he rejoiced exceedingly an account of his son.
105And Jacob said, It is enough for me that my son Joseph is still living, I will go and see him before I die.
106And his sons told him all that had befallen them, and Jacob said, I will go down to Egypt to see my son and his offspring.
107And Jacob rose up and put on the garments which Joseph had sent him, and after he had washed, and shaved his hair, he put upon his head the turban which Joseph had sent him.
108And all the people of Jacob's house and their wives put on the garments which Joseph had sent to them, and they greatly rejoiced at Joseph that he was still living and that he was ruling in Egypt,
109And all the inhabitants of Canaan heard of this thing, and they came and rejoiced much with Jacob that he was still living.
110And Jacob made a feast for them for three days, and all the kings of Canaan and nobles of the land ate and drank and rejoiced in the house of Jacob.