the house, and was doing some business without any man with him. And she catching the skirt of his garment, said: Come with me. But he leaving the garment in her hand, fled, and went out. And when the woman saw the garment in her hands, and herself disregarded, she called to her the men of her house, and said to them: See, he hath brought in a Hebrew, to abuse us: he came in to me, to sin with me: and when I cried out, and he heard my voice, he left the garment that I held, and got him out. For a proof therefore of her fidelity, she kept the garment, and showed it to her husband when he returned home and said: The Hebrew servant, whom thou hast brought, came to me to abuse me. And when he heard me cry, he left the garment which I held, and fled out. Joseph in Prison. His master hearing these things, and Gen.xXXIX. giving too much credit to his wife's words, was very angry, and cast Joseph into the prison, where the king's prisoners were kept, and he was there shut up. But the Lord was with Joseph, and having mercy upon him gave him favour in the sight of the chief keeper of the prison: who delivered into his hand all the prisoners that were kept in custody: and whatsoever was done was under him. Neither did he himself know any thing, having committed all things to him: for the Lord was with him, and made all that he did to prosper. 19-23. After this, it came to pass, that two eunuchs, the butler Gen. XL. and the baker of the king of Egypt, offended their lord. And 1-23. Pharao being angry with them (now the one was chief butler, the other chief baker), he sent them to the prison of the commander of the soldiers, in which Joseph also was prisoner. But the keeper of the prison delivered them to Joseph, and he served them. Some little time passed, and they were kept in custody. And they both dreamed a dream the same night, according to the interpretation agreeing to themselves and when Joseph was come in to them in the morning, and saw them sad, he asked them saying: Why is your countenance sadder to-day than usual? They answered: We have dreamed a dream, and there is nobody to interpret it to us. And Joseph said to them: Doth not interpretation belong to God? Tell me what you have dreamed? The chief butler first told his dream: I saw before me a vine, on which were three branches, which by little and little sent out buds, and after the blossoms brought forth ripe grapes: and the cup of Pharao was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into the cup which I held, and I gave the cup to Pharao. Joseph answered: This is the interpretation of the dream: the three branches are yet three days: after which Pharao will remember thy service, and will restore thee to thy former place : and thou shalt present him the cup according to thy office, as before thou wast wont to do. Only remember me, when it shall be well with thee, and do me this kindness: to put Pharao in mind to take me out of this prison: for I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews, and here without any fault was cast into the dungeon. The chief baker seeing that he had wisely interpreted the dream, said: I also dreamed a dream, that I had three baskets of meal upon my head: and that in one basket which was uppermost, I carried all meats that are made by the art of baking, and that the birds ate out of it. Joseph answered: This is the interpretation of the dream: the three baskets are yet three days after which Pharao will take thy head from thee, and hang thee on a cross, and the birds shall tear thy flesh. : The third day after this was the birthday of Pharao: and he made a great feast for his servants, and at the banquet remembered the chief butler and the chief baker. And he restored the one to his place, to present him the cup: the other he hanged on a gibbet, that the truth of the interpreter might be shown. But the chief butler, when things prospered with him, forgot his interpreter. Gen. XLI. SECT. XVII. THE HISTORY OF JOSEPH CONTINUED. HIS EXALTATION Pharao's Dreams.-After two years Pharao had a dream. 1-36. He thought he stood by the river, out of which came up seven kine, very beautiful and fat: and they fed in marshy places. Other seven also came up out of the river, ill-favoured, and lean fleshed and they fed on the very bank of the river, in green places and they devoured them whose bodies were very beautiful and well conditioned. So Pharao awoke. : He slept again, and dreamed another dream: seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk full and fair: then seven other ears sprung up thin and blasted, and devoured all the beauty of the former. Pharao awaked after his rest. And when morning was come, being struck with fear, he sent to all the interpreters of Egypt, and to all the wise men : and they being called for, he told them his dream, and there was not any one that could interpret it. Then at length the chief butler remembering, said: I confess my sin the king being angry with his servants, commanded me and the chief baker to be cast into the prison of the captain of the soldiers where in one night both of us dreamed a dream foreboding things to come, There was there a young man a Hebrew, servant to the same captain of the soldiers: to whom we told our dreams. And we heard what afterwards the event of the thing proved to be so. For I was restored to my office and he was hanged upon a gibbet. Forthwith at the king's command, Joseph was brought out of the prison; and they shaved him, and changing his apparel, brought him in to him. And he said to him: I have dreamed dreams, and there is no one that can expound them: now I have heard that thou art very wise at interpreting them. Joseph answered: Without me, God shall give Pharao a prosperous answer. So Pharao told what he had dreamed: Methought I stood upon the bank of the river, and seven kine came up out of the river, exceeding beautiful and full of flesh : and they grazed on green places in a marshy pasture. And behold, there followed these, other seven kine, so very ill-favoured and lean, that I never saw the like in the land of Egypt: and they devoured and consumed the former, and yet gave no mark of their being full but were as lean and ill-favoured as before. I awoke, and then fell asleep again, and dreamed a dream seven ears of corn grew upon one stalk, full and very fair. Other seven also, thin and blasted, sprung of the stock: and they devoured the beauty of the former: I told this dream to the magicians, and there is no man that can expound it. Joseph answered: The king's dream is one : God hath shown to Pharao what He is about to do. The seven beautiful kine and the seven full ears are seven years of plenty: and both contain the same meaning of the dream. And the seven lean and thin kine that came up after them, and the seven thin ears that were blasted with the burning wind, are seven years of famine to come: which shall be fulfilled in this order. Behold, there shall come seven years of great plenty in the whole land of Egypt after which shall follow other seven years of so great scarcity, that all the abundance before shall be forgotten: for the famine shall consume all the land, and the greatness of the scarcity shall destroy the greatness of the plenty. And for that thou didst see the second time a dream pertaining to the same thing it is a token of the certainty, and that the word of God cometh to pass, and is fulfilled speedily. Now therefore Gen. XLI. 37-57. let the king provide a wise and industrious man, and make him ruler over the land of Egypt: that he may appoint overseers over all the countries: and gather into barns the fifth part of the fruits, during the seven fruitful years that shall now presently ensue: and let all the corn be laid up under Pharao's hands, and be reserved in the cities. And let it be in readiness, against the famine of seven years to come, which shall oppress Egypt, and the land shall not be consumed with scarcity. Joseph made Governor of Egypt.-The counsel pleased Pharao and all his servants. And he said to them: Can we find such another man, that is full of the spirit of God? He said therefore to Joseph: Seeing God hath shown thee all that thou hast said, can I find one wiser and one like unto thee? Thou shalt be over my house, and at the commandment of thy mouth all the people shall obey: only in the kingly throne will I be above thee. And again Pharao said to Joseph: Behold, I have appointed thee over the whole land of Egypt. And he took his ring from his own hand, and gave it into his hand: and he put upon him a robe of silk, and put a chain of gold about his neck. And he made him go up into his second chariot, the crier proclaiming that all should bow their knee before him, and that they should know he was made governor over the whole land of Egypt. And the king said to Joseph: I am Pharao without thy commandment no man shall move hand or foot in all the land of Egypt. And he turned his name, and called him in the Egyptian tongue The saviour of the world. And he gave him to wife Aseneth, the daughter of Putiphar priest of Heliopolis. Then Joseph went out to the land of Egypt (now he was thirty years old when he stood before king Pharao), and he went round all the countries of Egypt. And the fruitfulness of the seven years came: and the corn being bound up into sheaves was gathered together into the barns of Egypt. And all the abundance of grain was laid up in every city. And there was so great abundance of wheat, that it was equal to the sand of the sea, and the plenty exceeded measure. And before the famine came, Joseph had two sons born: whom Aseneth, the daughter of Putiphar priest of Heliopolis, bore unto him. And he called the name of the first-born Manasses, saying: God hath made me to forget all my labours, and my father's house. And he named the second Ephraim, saying: God hath made me to grow in the land of my poverty. Now when the seven years of the plenty that had been in Egypt were past: the seven years of scarcity, which Joseph had foretold, began to come: and the famine prevailed in the whole world, but there was bread in all the land of Egypt. And when there also they began to be famished, the people cried to Pharao for food. And he said to them: Go to Joseph: and do all that he shall say to you. And the famine increased daily in all the land: and Joseph opened all the barns, and sold to the Egyptians for the famine had oppressed them also. And all provinces came into Egypt, to buy food, and to seek some relief of their want. SECT. XVIII. JOSEPH'S BRETHREN COME TO HIM. HIS TREATMENT OF THEM. 1-38. Joseph's Brethren come to Egypt.-And Jacob hearing Gen. XLII, that food was sold in Egypt, said to his sons: Why are ye careless? I have heard that wheat is sold in Egypt: go ye down, and buy us necessaries, that we may live, and not be consumed with want. So the ten brethren of Joseph went down, to buy corn in Egypt: whilst Benjamin was kept at home by Jacob, who said to his brethren: Lest perhaps he take any harm in the journey. And they entered into the land of Egypt with others that went to buy. For the famine was in the land of Canaan. And Joseph was governor in the land of Egypt, and corn was sold by his direction to the people. And when his brethren had bowed down to him, and he knew them, he spoke as it were to strangers somewhat roughly, asking them: Whence came you? They answered: From the land of Canaan to buy necessaries of life. And though he knew his brethren, he was not known by them. And remembering the dreams, which formerly he had dreamed, he said to them: You are spies: you are come to view the weaker parts of the land. But they said: It is not so, my lord, but thy servants are come to buy food. We are all the sons of one man: we are come as peaceable men, neither do thy servants go about any evil. And he answered them: It is otherwise: you are come to consider the unfenced parts of this land. But they said: We thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan : the youngest is with our father, the other is not living. He saith: This is it that I said: You are spies. I shall now presently try what you are by the health of Pharao you shall not depart hence, until your youngest brother come. Send one of you to fetch him and you shall be in prison, till what you have said E |