World English Bible · The patriarchs
Genesis 44
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He commanded the steward of his house, saying, "Fill the men's sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man's money in his sack's . Put , the silver , in the sack's of the youngest, with his grain money." He did according to the word that had spoken. 3As soon as the morning was , the men were sent away, they and their donkeys. When they had gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, said to his steward, "Up, follow after the men. When you overtake them, ask them, 'Why have you rewarded evil for good? Isn't this that from which my drinks, and by which he indeed divines? You have done evil in so doing.'" 6He overtook them, and he spoke these words to them. They said to him, "Why does my speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants that they should do such a thing! Behold, the money, which we found in our sacks' mouths, we brought again to you out of the land of . How then should we steal silver or gold out of your house? With whomever of your servants it is found, let him , and we also will be my ." He said, "Now also let it be according to your words. He with whom it is found will be my ; and you will be blameless." 11Then they hurried, and each man took his sack down to the ground, and each man opened his sack. He searched, beginning with the oldest, and ending at the youngest. was found in sack. Then they tore their clothes, and each man loaded his donkey, and returned to the city. Judah and his brothers came to house, and he was still there. They fell on the ground before him. said to them, "What deed is this that you have done? Don't you know that such a man as I can indeed do ?" Judah said, "What will we tell my ? What will we speak? How will we clear ourselves? has found out the of your servants. Behold, we are my , both we and he also in whose hand is found." He said, "Far be it from me that I should do so. The man in whose hand is found, he will be my ; but as for you, go up in peace to your ." Then Judah came near to him, and said, "Oh, my , please let speak a word in my ears, and don't let your burn against ; for you are even as . My asked his servants, saying, 'Have you a , or a brother?' We said to my , 'We have a , an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is , and he alone is left of his mother; and his loves him.' You said to your servants, 'Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.' We said to my , 'The boy can't leave his , for if he should leave his , his would .' You said to your servants, 'Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will see no more.' When we came up to , we told him the words of my . said, 'Go again and buy us a little food.' We said, 'We can't go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down: for we may not see the man's , unless our youngest brother is with us.' , , said to us, 'You know that my wife bore me two sons. One went out from me, and I said, "Surely he is torn in pieces;" and I haven't seen him since. If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to .' Now therefore when I come to , and the boy is not with us; since his life is bound up in the boy's life; it will happen, when he sees that the boy is no more, that he will . Your servants will bring down the gray hairs of , , with sorrow to . For became collateral for the boy to , saying, 'If I don't bring him to you, then I will bear the blame to .' Now therefore, please let stay instead of the boy, my ; and let the boy go up with his brothers. For how will I go up to , if the boy isn't with me?—lest I see the evil that will come on ."
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The world at this moment · The patriarchs, 2000 BC to 1600 BC ›
Abraham's family as herdsmen among settled Canaanite city-states, in a world where Egypt and Mesopotamia are the great powers and Canaan is the corridor between them.
- Mesopotamia
- Abraham's own century is Hammurabi's. The great empire of Ur has already fallen, and Babylon rises under a king who published a law code on a stone pillar for everyone to see. Reading Genesis alongside Hammurabi's laws is illuminating in both directions: some provisions are strikingly similar, and the places where Israel's later law diverges are the places worth stopping at.
- Egypt
- The Middle Kingdom, wealthy, bureaucratic, and organised around the Nile flood. Egyptian tomb paintings from this period show Semitic traders arriving with donkeys and striped cloaks, which is more or less the picture Genesis gives of a family going down to Egypt in a famine. Toward the end of the era the Hyksos, rulers of Semitic origin, take the delta.
- Anatolia and the Aegean
- Assyrian merchants run a long-distance trading colony at Kanesh in Anatolia, leaving thousands of clay letters about copper, tin, and debt. On Crete the Minoan palaces are at their height, with plumbing, frescoes, and a script nobody has yet read.
- Further afield
- The Indus Valley cities are in decline after centuries of grid-planned streets and drains. In China the Erlitou culture is building the first palace complexes. Stonehenge is standing and already old.
All of Genesis