Joseph and Aseneth (Apocryphal)

Chapter 1

1And it happened in the first year of the seven years of plenty, in the second month, on the fifth of the month. Pharaoh sent Joseph out to drive around the whole land of Egypt.

2And Joseph came in the fourth month of the first year, on the eighteenth of the month, into the territory of Heliopolis (“City of the Sun”) and was gathering the grain of that region like the sand of the sea.

3And there was a man in that city, a satrap of Pharaoh, and this man was a chief of all the satraps and the noblemen of Pharaoh.

4And this man was exceedingly rich and prudent and gentle, and he was a counselor of Pharaoh, because he had understanding beyond all the noblemen of Pharaoh.

5And the name of that man was Pentephres, priest of Heliopolis.

6And he had a daughter, a virgin of eighteen years, she was very tall and handsome and beautiful to look at beyond all virgins on the earth.

7And this girl had nothing similar to the virgins of the Egyptians, but she was in every respect similar to the daughters of the Hebrews; and she was tall as Sarah and handsome as Rebecca and beautiful as Rachel.

8And the name of that virgin was Aseneth.

9And the fame of her beauty spread all over that land and to the ends of the inhabited world.

10And all the sons of the noblemen and the sons of the satraps and the sons of all kings, all of them young and powerful, asked for her hand in marriage, and there was much wrangling among them over Aseneth, and they made attempts to fight against each other because of her.

11And Pharaoh's firstborn son heard about her and he kept entreating his father to give her to him for his wife.

12And his firstborn son said to Pharaoh, ‘Father, give me Aseneth, the daughter of Pentephres, the priest of Heliopolis, for my wife.’

13And Pharaoh, his father, said to him, ‘Why do you seek a wife that is beneath you, and you are king of the whole land of Egypt?

14Behold, is not the daughter of the king of Moab, Joakim, betrothed to you, and she is a queen and exceedingly beautiful?

15Take this one for your wife.’

Chapter 2

1And Aseneth was despising and scorning every man, and she was boastful and arrogant with everyone.

2And no man had ever seen her, because Pentephres had a tower adjoining his house, very big and high, and on top of this tower was an upper floor including ten chambers.

3And the first chamber was big and splendid, paved with purple stones, and its walls were faced with colored and precious stones, and the ceiling of that chamber was of gold.

4And within that chamber gods of the Egyptians who were without number were fixed to the walls, even gods of gold and silver.

5And Aseneth worshiped them all and feared/reverenced them and performed sacrifices to them every day.

6And the second chamber contained Aseneth's ornaments and chests, and there was much gold in it (the chamber) and silver and clothes interwoven with gold and chosen and costly stones and distinguished cloths and all the ornaments of her virginity.

7And the third chamber was Aseneth's storeroom, and in it were all the good things of the earth.

8And seven virgins occupied the remaining seven chambers, each having one chamber, and these were waiting on Aseneth, and they were all of the same age, born in one night with Aseneth, and she loved them very much.

9And they were very beautiful, like the stars of heaven, and no man ever conversed with them, not even a male child.

10And there were three windows to Aseneth's big chamber where her virginity was being fostered.

11And the one window, the first, was exceedingly big, looking east toward the court, and the second one was looking north toward the street where people passed by.

12And there was a golden bed standing in the chamber, a bed that looked toward the window looking east, and the bed was laid with gold-woven purple stuff, interwoven with violet, purple, and white.

13And in this bed Aseneth slept, alone; and a man or another woman never sat on it, only Aseneth alone.

14And there was a large court surrounding the house, and a wall was around the court, very high, built from big square stones.

15And the court had four iron-plated gates, and eighteen powerful armed young men guarded each of these.

16And handsome trees of all sorts and all bearing fruit were planted within the court along the wall.

17And their fruit was ripe, for it was the time of harvest.

18And there was in the court, on the right hand, a spring of abundant living water, and below the spring was a big cistern receiving the water of that spring.

19From there a river ran right through the court and watered all the trees of that court.

Chapter 3

1And it happened in the first year of the seven years of plenty, in the fourth month, on the eighteenth of the month; Joseph came into the territory of Heliopolis and was gathering the surplus grain of that region.

2And when he had come close to that city, Joseph sent twelve men ahead of him to Pentephres the priest, saying, I will lodge with you because it is the hour of noon and the time of lunch, and the heat of the sun is great, and I desire that I may refresh myself under the shadow of your house.

3And Pentephres heard this, and rejoiced exceedingly with great joy and said, Blessed is the Lord, the God of Joseph, because my lord Joseph thought me worthy to come to us.

4And Pentephres called the steward of his house and said to him, ‘Hurry and make my house ready and prepare a great dinner, because Joseph, the Powerful One of God, is coming to us today.’

5And Aseneth heard that her father and mother had come from the field, which was their inheritance, and rejoiced and said, I will go and see my father and my mother because they have come from the field which is our inheritance.

6For it was the time of harvest.

7And Aseneth hurried into the chamber, where her robes lay, and dressed in a white linen robe interwoven with violet and gold, and girded herself with a golden girdle and put bracelets on her hands and feet, and put golden buskins about her feet, and around her neck she put valuable ornaments and costly stones which hung around from all sides, and the names of the gods of the Egyptians were engraved everywhere on the bracelets and the stones, and the faces of all the idols were carved on them.

8And she put a tiara on her head and fastened a diadem around her temples, and covered her head with a veil.

Chapter 4

1And she hurried and went down the stairs from the upper floor, and came to her father and mother and greeted them and kissed them.

2And Pentephres and his wife rejoiced over her daughter Aseneth with great joy, because they saw her adorned like a bride of God.

3And they brought out all the good things which they had brought from the field which was their inheritance, and gave them to their daughter.

4And Aseneth rejoiced over all the good things, the fruit, and the grapes, and the dates, and the doves, and the pomegranates, and the figs, because they were all handsome and good to taste.

5And Pentephres said to his daughter Aseneth, ‘My child’, And she said, ‘Behold, here I am, my lord.’

6And he said to her, ‘Sit down between us, and I will tell you what I have to say.’

7And Aseneth sat between her father and mother.

8And Pentephres, her father, with his right hand grasped the right hand of his daughter and kissed it and said to her, ‘My child Aseneth’.

9And she said, ‘Behold, here I am, lord. Let my lord and my father speak up.’

10And Pentephres, her father, said to her, Joseph the Powerful One of God is coming to us today.

11And he is chief of the whole land of Egypt, and the king Pharaoh appointed him king/ruler of the whole land, and he is giving grain to the whole land, and saving it from the oncoming famine.

12And Joseph is a man who worships God, and self-controlled, and a virgin like you today, and Joseph is also a man powerful in wisdom and experience, and the Spirit of God is upon him and the grace of the Lord is with him.

13Come, my child, and I will hand you over to him for his wife, and you will be a bride to him, and he will be your bridegroom for ever and ever.’

14And when Aseneth heard these words from her father, plenty of red sweat poured over her face, and she became furious with great anger, and looked askance at her father with her eyes, and said, ‘Why does my lord and my father speak words such as these, to hand me over, like a captive, to a man who is an alien, and a fugitive, and was sold as a slave?

15Is he not the shepherd's son from the land of Canaan, and he himself was caught in the act of sleeping with his mistress, and his master threw him into the prison of darkness; and Pharaoh brought him out of prison, because he interpreted his dream just like the older women of the Egyptians interpret dreams?

16No, but I will be married to the king's firstborn son, because he is king of the whole land of Egypt.’

17Hearing this, Pentephres was ashamed to speak further to his daughter Aseneth about Joseph, because she had answered him daringly and with boastfulness and anger.

Chapter 5

1And a young man of Pentephres' servants rushed in and said, ‘Behold, Joseph is standing before the doors of our court.’

2And Aseneth fled from her father's and mother's presence, when she heard them speak these words about Joseph, and went up into the upper floor and entered her chamber and stood by the large window, the one looking east, in order to see Joseph entering her father's house.

3And Pentephres and his wife and his whole family went out to meet Joseph.

4And the gates of the court looking east were opened, and Joseph entered, standing on Pharaoh's second chariot, and four horses, white as snow and with golden bridles, were harnessed to it, and the entire chariot was manufactured from pure gold.

5And Joseph was dressed in an exquisite white tunic, and the robe which he had thrown around him was purple, made of linen interwoven with gold, and a golden crown was on his head, and around the crown were twelve chosen stones, and on the top of the twelve stones were twelve golden rays.

6And a royal staff was in his left hand, and in his right hand he held outstretched an olive branch, and there was plenty of fruit on it, and in the fruits was a great wealth of oil.

7And Joseph entered the court, and the gates of the court were closed, and every man and woman, if strange remained outside the court, because the guards of the gates drew tight and closed the doors, and all the strangers were closed out.

8And Pentephres and his wife and his whole family, except their daughter Aseneth, went and prostrated themselves face down to the ground before Joseph.

9And Joseph descended from his chariot and greeted them with his right hand.

Chapter 6

1And Aseneth saw Joseph on his chariot and was strongly cut to the heart, and her soul was crushed, and her knees were paralyzed, and her entire body trembled, and she was filled with great fear.

2And she sighed and said in her heart: ‘What shall I do now, wretched that I am?

3Did I not speak saying that Joseph is coming, the shepherd's son from the land of Canaan?

4And now, behold, the sun from heaven has come to us on its chariot and entered our house today, and shines in it like a light upon the earth.

5But I, foolish and daring, have despised him and spoken wicked words about him, and did not know that Joseph is a son of God.

6For who among men on earth will generate such beauty, and what womb of a woman will give birth to such light?

7What a wretched and foolish girl I am, because I have spoken wicked words about him to my father.

8And now, where shall I go and hide from his face in order that Joseph, the son of God, does not see me because I have spoken wicked things about him?

9And where shall I flee and hide, because every hiding place, he sees and nothing hidden escapes him, because of the great light that is inside him?

10And now be gracious on me, Lord, God of Joseph, because I have spoken wicked words against him in ignorance.

11And now, let my father give me to Joseph for a maidservant and slave, and I will serve him for ever and ever.’

Chapter 7

1And Joseph entered the house of Pentephres and sat upon the throne.

2And they washed his feet and set a table before him by itself, because Joseph never ate with the Egyptians, for this was an abomination to him.

3And looking up with his eyes, Joseph saw Aseneth leaning through the window.

4and Joseph said to Pentephres and his whole family, ‘Who is this woman who is standing in the upper floor by the window? Let her leave this house.’

5Because Joseph was afraid, saying, ‘This one must not molest me, too.’

6For all the wives and the daughters of the noblemen and the satraps of the whole land of Egypt used to molest him wanting to sleep with him, and all the wives and the daughters of the Egyptians, when they saw Joseph, suffered badly because of his beauty.

7But Joseph despised them, and the messengers whom the women sent to him with gold and silver and valuable presents Joseph sent back with threats and insults, because Joseph said, I will not sin before the Lord God of my father Israel nor in the face of my father Jacob.

8And the face of his father Jacob, Joseph always had before his eyes, and he remembered his father's commandments.

9For Jacob would say to his son Joseph and all his sons, ‘My children, guard strongly against associating with a strange woman, for association with her is destruction and corruption.’

10Therefore Joseph said, ‘Let this woman leave this house.’

11And Pentephres said to him, ‘Lord, this one whom you have seen standing in the upper floor is not a strange woman, but she is our daughter, a virgin hating every man, and there is not any other man who has ever seen her except you alone today.

12And if you will, she will come and address you, because our daughter is like a sister to you.’

13And Joseph rejoiced exceedingly with great joy because Pentephres had said, She is a virgin hating every man.

14And Joseph said by himself, If she is a virgin hating every man, this girl will certainly not molest me.

15And Joseph said to Pentephres and his whole family, ‘If she is your daughter and a virgin, let her come, because she is a sister to me, and I love her from today as my sister.’

Chapter 8

1And Aseneth's mother went up to the upper floor and brought her and stood her before Joseph.

2And Pentephres said to his daughter Aseneth, ‘Greet your brother, because he, too, is a virgin like you today and hates every strange woman, as you, too, every strange man.

3And Aseneth said to Joseph, ‘Be of good cheer, my lord, blessed by the Most High Lord.’

4And Joseph said to Aseneth, ‘May the Lord God who gives life to all things bless you.’

5And Pentephres said to his daughter Aseneth, ‘Go up and kiss your brother.’

6And as Aseneth went up to kiss Joseph, Joseph stretched out his right hand and put it on her chest between her two breasts, and her breasts were already standing upright like handsome apples.

7And Joseph said, ‘It is not fitting for a man who worships God, who will bless with his mouth the living God and eat blessed bread of life and drink a blessed cup of immortality and anoint himself with blessed ointment of incorruptibility to kiss a strange women who will bless with her mouth dead and dumb idols and eat from their table bread of strangulation and drink from their libation a cup of insidiousness and anoint herself with ointment of destruction.

8But a man who worships God will kiss his mother and the sister who is born of his mother and the sister who is born of his clan and family and the wife who shares his bed, all of whom bless with their mouths the living God.

9Likewise, for a woman who worships God it is not fitting to kiss a strange man, because this is an abomination before the Lord God.’

10And when Aseneth heard these words of Joseph, she was cut to the heart strongly and was distressed exceedingly and sighed, and she kept gazing at Joseph with her eyes open and her eyes were filled with tears.

11And Joseph saw her, and had mercy on her exceedingly, and was himself cut to the heart, because Joseph was meek and merciful and fearing God.

12And he lifted up his right hand and put it upon her head and said: ‘Lord God of my father Israel, the Most High, the Powerful One of Jacob, who gave life to all things and called them from the darkness to the light, and from the error to the truth, and from the death to the life,

13You, Lord, bless this virgin, and renew her by Your Spirit, and form her anew by Your hidden hand, and make her alive again by Your life, and let her eat Your bread of life, and drink Your cup of blessing, and number her among Your people that You have chosen before all things came into being, and let her enter Your rest which You have prepared for Your chosen ones, and live in Your eternal life for ever and ever.’

Chapter 9

1And Aseneth rejoiced exceedingly with great joy over Joseph's blessing, and hurried and went into the upper floor by herself, and fell on her bed exhausted, because in her there was joy and distress and much fear and trembling and continuous sweating as she heard all these words of Joseph, which he had spoken to her in the name of the Most High God.

2And she wept with great and bitter weeping and repented of her infatuation with the gods whom she used to worship, and spurned all the idols, and waited for the evening to come.

3And Joseph ate and drank and told his servants, Harness the horses to the chariots, for, he said, ‘I will go away and drive around the whole land.’

4And Pentephres said to Joseph, ‘Let my lord lodge here today, and tomorrow you will go out on your way.’

5And Joseph said, ‘No, but I will go out today, because this is the day on which God began to make all his creatures, and on the eighth day, when this day returns, I too will return to you and lodge here.’

Chapter 10

1And Joseph went away on his way and Pentephres and his whole family went away to their estate.

2And Aseneth was left alone with the seven virgins, and she continued to be weighed down and weep until the sun set.

3And she ate no bread and drank no water.

4And the night fell, and all the people in the house slept, and she alone was awake and continued to brood and to weep; and she often struck her breast with her hand and kept being filled with great fear and trembled with heavy trembling.

5And Aseneth rose from her bed and quietly went down the stairs from the upper floor and went to the gateway, and the woman gatekeeper was asleep with her children.

6And Aseneth hurried and took down from the window the skin which hung there for a curtain, and filled it with ashes from the fireplace, and carried it up into the upper floor, and put it on the floor.

7And she closed the door firmly and slipped the iron bolt across and sighed with great sighing and bitter weeping.

8And the virgin who was her foster sister, whom Aseneth loved beyond all the virgins, heard her sighing and hurried and woke up the other six virgins.

9And they went to Aseneth's door and found the door closed.

10And they heard Aseneth's sighing and weeping and said to her, ‘What have you, mistress, and why do you feel so sad, and what is it that is bothering you?

11Open the door to us, and we will see what you have.’

12Aseneth did not open the door, but said to them from within, ‘My head is stricken with heavy pain, and I am resting in my bed and I do not have the strength to rise and open the door to you, because I have grown weak in all my limbs.

13But go each of you in your chamber and rest and let me be quiet.’

14So the virgins went away, each into her chamber.

15And Aseneth rose and opened the door quietly and went into her second chamber where the chests containing her ornaments were, and opened her coffer and took out a black and somber tunic.

16And this was her tunic of mourning when her younger brother died.

17In this Aseneth had dressed and mourned for her brother.

18And she took her black tunic and carried it into her chamber and closed the door again firmly and slipped the bolt across.

19And Aseneth hurried and put off her linen and gold woven royal robe and dressed in the black tunic of mourning, and loosened her golden girdle and girded a rope around her, and put off the tiara from her head, and the diadem and the bracelets from her hands and feet, and put everything on the floor.

20And she took her chosen robe and the golden girdle and the headgear and the diadem, and threw everything through the window looking north to the poor.

21And Aseneth hurried and took all her gods that were in her chamber, the ones of gold and silver who were without number, and ground them to pieces, and threw all the idols of the Egyptians through the window looking north from her upper floor to beggars and needy persons.

22And Aseneth took her royal dinner and the fatlings and the fish and the flesh of the heifer and all the sacrifices of her gods and the vessels of their wine of libation and threw everything through the window looking north, and gave everything to the strange dogs.

23For Aseneth said to herself, By no means must my dogs eat from my dinner and from the sacrifice of the idols, but let the strange dogs eat those.

24And after that Aseneth took the skin full of ashes and poured it on the floor and she took a piece of sackcloth and girded it around her waist.

25And she loosened the clasp of the hair of her head and sprinkled ashes upon her head.

26And she scattered the ashes on the floor and struck her breast often with both hands and wept bitterly, and fell upon the ashes and wept with great and bitter weeping all night with sighing and screaming until daybreak.

27And Aseneth rose at daybreak and looked, and behold, there was much mud from her tears and from the ashes.

28And Aseneth fell again upon her face on the ashes till evening and until the setting of the sun.

29And this way Aseneth did for seven days, and she ate no bread and drank no water in those seven days of her humiliation.

30And on the eighth day, behold, it was dawn and the birds were already singing and the dogs barking at people who were passing through, and Aseneth lifted her head just a little from the floor and the ashes on which she was lying, because she was exceedingly tired and could not control her limbs because of the want of food for the seven days.

31And she rose on her knees and put her hand on the floor and lifted herself up a little from the floor, and she was still bowing her head, and the hairs of her head were stretched out in strands from the load of ashes.

32And Aseneth clasped her hands, finger against finger, and shook her head to and fro, and struck her breast continuously with her hands, and laid her head into her lap, and her face was flooded with her tears, and she sighed with great sighing, and pulled her hairs from her head, and sprinkled ashes on her head.

33And Aseneth was tired and had become discouraged and her strength had gone.

34And she turned upward to the wall and sat below the window looking east.

35And she laid her head into her lap, clasping her fingers round her right knee, and her mouth was closed, and she had not opened it in the seven days and in the seven nights of her humiliation.

36And she said in her heart without opening her mouth: What shall I do, miserable that I am, or where shall I go; with whom shall I take refuge, or what shall I speak, I the virgin and an orphan and desolate and abandoned and hated?

37All people have come to hate me, and on top of those my father and my mother, because I, too, have come to hate their gods and have destroyed them, and caused them to be trampled underfoot by men.

38And therefore my father and my mother and my whole family have come to hate me and said, Aseneth is not our daughter because she destroyed our gods.

39And all people hate me, because I, too, have come to hate every man, and all who asked for my hand in marriage.

40And now, in the humiliation of mine, all have come to hate me, and gloat over this affliction of mine.

41And the Lord, the God of the powerful Joseph, the Most High, hates all those who worship idols, because He is a jealous and terrible/fearful God toward all those who worship strange gods.

42Therefore He has come to hate me, too, because I worshiped dead and dumb idols, and blessed them, And ate from their sacrifices, and my mouth is defiled from their table, and I do not have the boldness to call on the Lord God of Heaven, the Most High, the Mighty One of the powerful Joseph, because my mouth is defiled from sacrifices of the idols

43But I have heard many saying that the God of the Hebrews is a true God, and a living God, and a merciful God, and compassionate and long-suffering and full of pity and gentle, and does not count the sin of a humble person, nor expose the lawless deeds of an afflicted person at the time of his affliction.

Chapter 11

1Therefore I will take courage too and turn to Him, and take refuge with Him, and confess all my sins to Him, and pour out my supplication before Him.

2Who knows, maybe He will see my humiliation and have mercy on me.

3Perhaps He will see this desolation of mine and have compassion on me, Or see my orphanage and protect me, because He is the father of orphans, and a protector of the persecuted, and of the afflicted a helper.

4I will take courage and cry to Him.

5And Aseneth rose from the wall where she was sitting and turned to the window looking east and straightened up on her knees and spread her hands out toward heaven.

6And she was afraid to open her mouth and to name the Name of God.

7And she turned again away to the wall and sat and struck her head and her breast with her hand often, and said in her heart without opening her mouth:

8What a wretched woman I am, and an orphan and desolate, my mouth is defiled from the sacrifices of the idols and from the blessings of the gods of the Egyptians.

9And now, in these tears of mine and the ashes strewn around and the filth of my humiliation, how shall I open my mouth to the Most High, and how name His Awesome Holy Name, and be sure that the Lord will not be angry with me, because in the midst of my lawless deeds I have called on His Holy Name?

10What shall I now do, wretched that I am?

11I will rather take courage and open my mouth to Him and invoke His Name.

12And if in fury the Lord strikes me He Himself will again heal me; and if He chastises me with His whips, He Himself will look again on me in His mercy; and if He is furious at me in my sins, He will again be reconciled with me and forgive me every sin.

13so I will take courage to open my mouth to Him.

14And Aseneth rose again from the wall where she sat and straightened up on her knees and spread her hand eastward and looked with her eyes up toward heaven, and opened her mouth to God, and said:

Chapter 12

1‘Lord God of the ages, who created all things and gave life to them, who gave breath of life to Your whole creation, who brought the invisible/unseen things out into the light.

2Who made the things that are and the ones that have an appearance from the non-appearing and non-being, who lifted up the heaven and founded it on a Firmament upon the back of the winds, who founded the earth upon the waters, who put big stones on the abyss of the water, and the stones will not be submerged, but they are like oak leaves floating on top of the water, and they are living stones and hear Your voice/Word, Lord, and keep Your Commandments which You have commanded to them, and never transgress Your ordinances, but are doing Your Will to the end.

3For You, Lord, spoke and they were brought to life, because Your Word, Lord, is life for all your creatures.

4With you I take refuge, Lord, and to you I will shout, Lord, to you I will pour out my supplication, to you I will confess my sins, and to you I will reveal my lawless deeds.

5Spare me, Lord, because I have sinned much before you, I have committed lawlessness and irreverence and have said wicked and unspeakable things before You.

6My mouth is defiled from the sacrifices of the idols and from the tables of the gods of the Egyptians.

7I have sinned, Lord, before you I have sinned much in ignorance, and have worshiped dead and dumb idols.

8And now I am not worthy to open my mouth to you, Lord.

9And I, Aseneth, daughter of Pentephres the priest, the virgin and queen, who was once proud and arrogant, and prospering in my riches beyond all people, am now an orphan, and desolate, and abandoned by all people.

10With you I take refuge, Lord, and to You I bring my supplication, and to You I will shout.

11Rescue me before I am caught by my persecutors.

12For just as a little child who is afraid flees to his father, and the father, stretching out his hands, snatches him off the ground, and puts his arms around him by his breast, and the child clasps his hands around his father's neck, and regains his breath after his fear, and rests at his father's breast, the father, however, smiles at the confusion of his childish mind, likewise you too, Lord, stretch out your hands upon me as a child-loving father, and snatch me off the earth.

13For behold, the wild old lion persecutes me, because he is the father of the gods of the Egyptians, and his children are the gods of the idol maniacs.

14And I have come to hate them, because they are the lion's children, and have thrown all of them from me and destroyed them.

15And the lion their father furiously persecutes me/tries to swallow me.

16But you, Lord, rescue me from his hands, and from his mouth deliver me, lest he carry me off like a lion, and tear me up and throw me into the flame of the fire, and the fire will throw me into the hurricane, and the hurricane will wrap me up in darkness and throw me out into the deep of the sea, and the big sea monster who exists since eternity will swallow me, and I will be destroyed forever.

17Rescue me, Lord, before all this comes upon me.

18Rescue me, Lord, the desolate and solitary, because my father and mother disowned me and said, Aseneth is not our daughter, because I have destroyed and ground to pieces their gods, and have come to hate them.

19And I am now an orphan and desolate and I have no other hope except in you, Lord, and no other refuge except Your mercy, Lord, because You are the father of the orphans, and a protector of the persecuted and a helper of the afflicted.

20Have mercy upon me, Lord, and guard me, a virgin who is abandoned and an orphan, because you, Lord, are a sweet and good and gentle father.

21What father is as sweet as you, Lord, and who is as quick in mercy as you, Lord, and who is as long-suffering toward our sins as you, Lord?

22For behold, all the gifts of my father Pentephres, which he gave me as an inheritance, are transient and obscure; but the gifts of your inheritance, Lord, are incorruptible and eternal.

Chapter 13

1Be mindful, Lord, of my humiliation and have mercy upon me.

2Look at my orphanage and have compassion on the afflicted, for behold, I fled from everything and took refuge in you, Lord, the only friend to men.

3Behold, I left behind all the good things of the earth and took refuge in you, Lord, in this sackcloth and ashes, naked and an orphan and left all alone.

4Behold, I put off my linen royal robe, interwoven with violet and gold, and dressed in a black mourning tunic.

5Behold, I loosened my golden girdle and threw it off me and girded a rope and sackcloth around myself.

6Behold, my tiara and my diadem I threw off my head, and have sprinkled ashes upon it.

7Behold, the floor of my chamber, paved with colored and purple stones, which once used to be sprinkled with perfumes and wiped with bright linen cloths, is now sprinkled with my tears and was profaned having been powdered with ashes.

8Behold, my Lord, from my tears and the ashes much mud has been formed in my chamber, as on a broad street.

9Behold, Lord, my royal dinner and the cereals I gave to the strange dogs.

10And behold, seven days and seven nights I was fasting and ate no bread and drank no water, and my mouth has become dry as a drum, and my tongue as a horn, and my lips as a potsherd, and my face has fallen, and my eyes are burning in shame from my many tears, and my entire strength has left me.

11Behold, now, all the gods whom I once used to worship in ignorance: I have now recognized that they were dumb and dead idols, and I have caused them to be trampled underfoot by men, and the thieves snatched those that were of silver and gold.

12And with you I have taken refuge, O Lord my God.

13Yet You, rescue me from my many deeds of ignorance and pardon me, because I have sinned against you in ignorance, being a virgin, and have fallen in error unwittingly, and have spoken blasphemous words against my lord Joseph, because I did not know, the miserable one that I am, that he is Your son, as people told me that Joseph is the shepherd's son from the land of Canaan.

14And I, the miserable one, had come to believe them and fallen into error.

15And I have despised him and spoken wicked words about him and did not know that he is Your son.

16For who among men will give birth to such beauty and such great wisdom and virtue and power, as owned by the all-beautiful Joseph?

17Lord, I commit him to You, because I love him beyond my own soul.

18Preserve him in the wisdom of Your grace.

19And You, Lord, commit me to him for a maidservant and slave.

20And I will make his bed and wash his feet and wait on him and be a slave for him and serve him for ever and ever.

Chapter 14

1And when Aseneth had ceased making confession to the Lord, behold, the Morning Star rose out of heaven in the east.

2And Aseneth saw it and rejoiced and said, So the Lord God listened to my prayer, because this star rose as a messenger and herald of the light of the Great Day.

3And Aseneth kept looking, and behold, close to the Morning Star, the heaven was torn apart and great and unutterable light appeared.

4And Aseneth saw it and fell on her face on the ashes.

5And a man came to her from heaven and stood by Aseneth's head.

6And he called her and said, ‘Aseneth, Aseneth’.

7And she said, Who is he that calls me, because the door of my chamber is closed, and the tower is high, and how then did he come into my chamber?

8And the man called her a second time and said, ‘Aseneth, Aseneth’.

9And she said, ‘Behold, here I am, Lord. Who are you, tell me.’

10And the man said, ‘I am the chief of the house of the Lord, and commander of the whole host of the Most High.

11Rise and stand on your feet, and I will tell you what I have to say.’

12And Aseneth raised her head and saw, and behold, there was a man in every respect similar to Joseph, by the robe and the crown and the royal staff, except that his face was a burning torch, and hands and feet like iron shining forth from a fire, and sparks shot forth from his hands and feet.

13And Aseneth saw it and fell on her face at his feet on the ground.

14And Aseneth was filled with great fear, and all of her limbs trembled.

15And the man said to her, Have courage and don’t be afraid, but rise and stand on your feet, and I will tell you what I have to say.’

16And Aseneth rose and stood on her feet.

17And the man said to her, ‘Proceed unhindered into your second chamber and put off your black tunic of mourning, and the sackcloth put off your waist, and shake off those ashes from your head, and wash your face and your hands with living water, and dress in a new linen robe as yet untouched and distinguished and gird your waist with the new twin girdle of your virginity.

18And come back to me, and I will tell you what I have to say.

19And Aseneth hurried and went into her second chamber where the chests containing her linen robe, as yet untouched, were.

20And she undressed from the black tunic of mourning and put off the sackcloth from her waist, and dressed in her distinguished and as yet untouched linen robe and girded herself with the twin girdle of her virginity, one girdle around her waist, and another girdle upon her breast.

21And she shook off the ashes from her head and washed her hands and her face with living water.

22And she took an as yet untouched and distinguished linen veil and covered her head.

Chapter 15

1And she went to the man into her first chamber and stood before him.

2And the man said to her, ‘Remove the veil from your head, and for what purpose did you do this?

3For you are a chaste virgin today, and your head is like that of a young man.’ 1 Cor 10:3

4And Aseneth removed the veil from her head.

5And the man said to her, ‘Courage, Aseneth, chaste virgin.

6Behold, I have heard all the words of your confession and your prayer.

7Behold, I have also seen the humiliation and the affliction of the seven days of your want of food.

8Behold, from your tears and these ashes, plenty of mud has formed before your face.

9Courage, Aseneth, chaste virgin.

10For behold, your name was written in the Book of the Living in heaven; in the beginning of the book, as the very first of all, your name was written by my finger, and it will not be erased forever.

11Behold, from today, you will be renewed and formed anew and made alive again, and you will eat blessed bread of life and drink a blessed cup of immortality, and anoint yourself with blessed ointment of incorruptibility.

12Courage, Aseneth, chaste virgin.

13Behold, I have given you today to Joseph for a bride, and he himself will be your bridegroom for ever and ever.

14And your name shall no longer be called Aseneth, but your name shall be City of Refuge, because in you many nations will take refuge with the Lord God, the Most High, and under your wings many peoples trusting in the Lord God will be sheltered, and behind your walls will be guarded those who attach themselves to the Most High God in the name of Repentance.

15For Repentance is in the heavens, an exceedingly beautiful and good daughter of the Most High.

16And she herself entreats the Most High God for you at all times and for all who repent in the Name of the Most High God, because He is the father of Repentance.

17And she herself is guardian of all virgins, and loves you very much, and is beseeching the Most High for at all times and for all who repent she has prepared a place of rest in the heavens.

18And she will renew all who repent, and wait on them herself for ever and ever.

19And Repentance is exceedingly beautiful, a virgin pure and laughing always, and she is gentle and meek.

20And, therefore, the Most High Father loves her, and all the angels stand in awe of her.

21And I, too, love her exceedingly, because she is also my sister.

22And because she loves you virgins, I love you, too.

23And behold, I am going away to Joseph and will tell him about you everything I have to say.

24And Joseph will come to you today, and see you, and rejoice over you, and love you, and he will be your bridegroom, and you will be a bride for him for ever and ever.

25And now listen to me, Aseneth, chaste virgin, and dress in your wedding robe, the ancient and first robe which is laid up in your chamber since eternity, and put around you all your wedding ornaments, and adorn yourself as a good bride, and go meet Joseph.

26For behold, he himself is coming to you today, and he will see you and rejoice.’

27And when the man had finished speaking these words, Aseneth rejoiced exceedingly with great joy about all these words and fell down at his feet and prostrated herself face down to the ground before him, and said to him, ‘Blessed be the Lord your God the Most High who sent you out to rescue me from the darkness and to bring me up from the foundations of the abyss, and blessed be your name forever.

28What is your name, Lord?; tell me in order that I may praise and glorify you for ever and ever.

29And the man said to her, Why do you seek this, my name, Aseneth?

30My name is in the heavens in the book of the Most High, written by the finger of God in the beginning of the book before all the others, because I am chief of the house of the Most High.

31And all names written in the book of the Most High are unspeakable, and man is not allowed to pronounce nor hear them in this world, because those names are exceedingly great and wonderful and laudable.

32And Aseneth said, ‘If I have found favor in your sight, Lord, and will know that you will do all your words that you have spoken to me, let your maidservant speak before you’.

33And the man said to her, ‘Speak up’.

34And Aseneth stretched out her right hand and put it on his knees and said to him, I beg you, Lord, sit down a little on this bed, because this bed is pure and undefiled, and a man or woman never sat on it.

35And I will set a table before you, and bring you bread and you will eat, and bring you from my storeroom old and good wine, the exhalation of which will go up till heaven, and you will drink from it.

36And after this you will go out on your way.’

37And the man said to her, ‘Hurry and bring it quickly’.

Chapter 16

1And Aseneth hurried and set a new table before him and went to provide bread for him.

2And the man said to her, ‘Bring me also a honeycomb’.

3And Aseneth stood still and was distressed, because she didn’t have a honeycomb in her storeroom.

4And the man said to her, ‘Why do you stand still?’

5And Aseneth said, ‘I will send a boy to the suburb, because the field which is our inheritance is close, and he will quickly bring you a honeycomb from there, and I will set it before you, Lord.’

6And the man said to her, ‘Proceed and enter your storeroom, and you will find a honeycomb lying upon the table. Pick it up and bring it here.

7And Aseneth said, ‘Lord, a honeycomb is not in my storeroom’.

8And the man said, ‘Proceed and you will find one.’

9And Aseneth entered her storeroom and found a honeycomb lying on the table.

10And the comb was big and white as snow and full of honey.

11And that honey was like dew from heaven and its exhalation like breath of life.

12And Aseneth wondered and said in herself, Did then this comb come out of the man's mouth, because its exhalation is like the breath of this man's mouth?

13And Aseneth took that comb and brought it to the man, and put it on the table which she had prepared before him.

14And the man said to her, ‘How is it that you said that a honeycomb is not in my storeroom?

15And behold, you have brought a wonderful honeycomb.’

16And Aseneth was afraid and said, Lord, I did not have a honeycomb in my storeroom at any time, but you spoke and it came into being.

17Surely this came out of your mouth, because its exhalation is like breath of your mouth.

18And the man smiled at Aseneth's understanding and called her to himself, and stretched out his right hand, and grasped her head and shook her head with his right hand.

19And Aseneth was afraid of the man's hand, because sparks shot forth from his hand as from bubbling red-hot iron.

20And Aseneth looked, gazing with her eyes at the man's hand.

21And the man saw and smiled and said, ‘Happy are you, Aseneth, because the ineffable mysteries of the Most High have been revealed to you, and happy are all who attach themselves to the Lord God in repentance, because they will eat from this comb.

22For this comb is full of the spirit of life.

23And the bees of the paradise of delight have made this from the dew of the roses of life that are in the paradise of God.

24And all the angels of God eat of it and all the chosen of God and all the children of the Most High, because this is a comb of life, and everyone who eats of it will not die for ever and ever.

25And the man stretched out his right hand and broke a small portion off the comb, and he himself ate and what was left he put with his hand into Aseneth's mouth, and said to her, Eat.

26And she ate.

27And the man said to Aseneth, ‘Behold, you have eaten bread of life, and drunk a cup of immortality, and been anointed with ointment of incorruptibility.

28Behold, from today your flesh will flourish like flowers of life from the ground of the Most High, and your bones will grow strong like the cedars of the paradise of delight of God, and untiring powers will embrace you, and your youth will not see old age, and your beauty will not fail for ever.

29And you shall be like a walled mother-city of all who take refuge with the Name of the Lord God, the king of the ages.

30And the man stretched out his right hand and touched the comb where he had broken off a portion, and it was restored and filled up, and at once it became whole as it was in the beginning.

31And again the man stretched out his right hand and put his forefinger on the edge of the comb looking east and drew it over the edge looking west, and the way of his finger became like blood.

32And he stretched out his hand the second time and put his finger on the edge of the comb looking north and drew it over the edge looking south, and the way of his finger became like blood.

33And Aseneth stood at his left and watched everything that the men were doing.

34And the man said to the comb, Come.

35And the bees rose from the cells of that comb, and the cells were innumerable, ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands upon thousands.

36And the bees were white as snow, and their wings like purple and like violet and like scarlet and like gold-woven linen cloaks, and golden diadems were on their heads, and they had sharp stings, and they would not injure anyone.

37And all those bees encircled Aseneth from feet to head.

38And other bees were great and chosen like their queens, and they rose from the damaged part of the comb and encircled Aseneth's mouth, and made upon her mouth and her lips a comb similar to the comb which was lying before the man.

39And all these bees ate of the comb which was on Aseneth's mouth.

40And the man said to the bees, ‘Go off to your place’.

41And all the bees rose and flew and went away into heaven.

42And those who wanted to injure Aseneth fell to the ground and died.

43And the man stretched out his staff over the dead bees and said to them, Rise you, too, and go away to your place.

44And the bees who had died rose and went into the court adjoining Aseneth's house and sought shelter on the fruit-bearing trees.

Chapter 17

1And the man said to Aseneth, ‘Have you seen this thing?’

2And she said, Yes, Lord, I have seen all these things.’

3And the man said to her, ‘So will be all my words which I have spoken to you today.’

4And the man for the third time stretched out his right hand, and touched the damaged part of the comb, and at once fire went up from the table and consumed the comb, but the table it did not injure.

5And much fragrance came forth from the burning of the comb, and filled the chamber.

6And Aseneth said to the man, ‘Lord, with me are seven virgins ministering to me, fostered with me from my childhood, born with me in one night, and I love them as my sisters.

7I will call them and you will bless them as you have blessed me, too.’

8And the man said, ‘Call them’.

9And Aseneth called the seven virgins and stood them before the man.

10And the man blessed them and said, May the Lord God the Most High bless you.

11And you shall be seven pillars of the City of Refuge, and all the fellow inhabitants of the chosen of that city will rest upon you for ever and ever.

12And the man said to Aseneth, ‘Put this table away’.

13And Aseneth turned to put the table away, and at once the man went away out of her sight.

14And Aseneth saw something like a chariot of four horses traveling into heaven toward the east.

15And the chariot was like a flame of fire, and the horses like lightning.

16And the man was standing on that chariot.

17And Aseneth said, ‘What a foolish and bold woman I am, because I have spoken with frankness and said that a man came into my chamber from heaven; and I did not know that a god came to me.

18And behold, now he is traveling back into heaven to his place.’

19And she said in herself, Be gracious, Lord, to your servant, and spare your maidservant, because I have spoken boldly before you all my words in ignorance.

Chapter 18

1And as Aseneth was still saying these things to herself, behold, a young man from Pentephres servant staff rushed in and said, Behold, Joseph the Powerful One of God is coming to us today.

2For a forerunner of his is standing at the gates of our court.

3And Aseneth hurried and called her foster-father, the steward of her house, and said to him, ‘Hurry and make the house ready and prepare a good dinner, because Joseph the Powerful One of God is coming to us today.’

4And her foster-father saw her, and behold, her face had fallen from the affliction and the weeping and the fasting of the seven days, and he was distressed and wept, and he took her right hand and kissed it and said, ‘What have you, my child, because your face has fallen so much?’

5And Aseneth said to him, My head is stricken with heavy pain, and the sleep kept away from my eyes, and therefore my face has fallen.

6And her foster-father went away and prepared the house and the dinner.

7And Aseneth remembered the man from heaven and his commandment, and she hurried and entered her second chamber where the chests containing her ornaments were, and opened her big coffer and brought out her first robe, the one of wedding, like lightning in appearance, and dressed in it.

8And she girded a golden and royal girdle around herself which was made of precious stones.

9And she put golden bracelets on her fingers and on her feet golden buskins, and precious ornaments she put around her neck in which innumerable costly and precious stones were fastened, and a golden crown she put on her head, and on that crown, in front on her brow, was a big sapphire stone, and around the big stone were six costly stones; and with a veil she covered her head like a bride, and she took a scepter in her hand.

10And Aseneth remembered the words of her foster-father, because he had said to her, ‘Your face has fallen’.

11And she sighed and was much distressed and said, ‘Woe is me, the humble, because my face has fallen.

12Joseph will see me and despise me’.

13And she said to her foster-sister, Bring me pure water from the spring, and I will wash my face.

14And she brought her pure water from the spring and poured it into the basin.

15And Aseneth leaned over to wash her face and saw her face in the water; and it was like the sun and her eyes were like a rising Morning Star, and her cheeks like fields of the Most High, and on her cheeks there was red color like a son of Adam’s blood, and her lips were like a rose of life coming out of its foliage, and her teeth like fighting men lined up for a fight and the hair of her head was like a vine in the paradise of God prospering in its fruits, and her neck like an all-variegated cypress, and her breasts were like the mountains of the Most High God.

16And when Aseneth saw herself in the water, she was amazed at the sight and rejoiced with great joy, and did not wash her face, for she said, ‘Perhaps I will wash off this great beauty.’

17And her foster-father came to say to her, ‘Everything is prepared as you have commanded’.

18And when he saw her he was alarmed and stood speechless for a long time, and was filled with great fear and fell at her feet and said, What is this, my mistress, and what is this great and wonderful beauty?

19At last the Lord God of heaven has chosen you as a bride for his firstborn son, Joseph.

Chapter 19

1And while they were still speaking this way a boy came and said to Aseneth, ‘Behold, Joseph is standing at the doors of our court.’

2And Aseneth hurried and went down the stairs from the upper floor with the seven virgins to meet Joseph and stood in the entrance of the house.

3And Joseph entered the court and the gates were closed, and all strangers remained outside.

4And Aseneth went out of the entrance to meet Joseph, and Joseph saw her and was amazed at her beauty, and said to her, ‘Who are you?

5Quickly tell me’.

6And she said to him, ‘I am your maidservant Aseneth, and all the idols I have thrown away from me and they were destroyed.

7And a man came to me from heaven today, and gave me bread of life and I ate, and a cup of blessing and I drank.

8And he said to me, ‘I have given you for a bride to Joseph today, and he himself will be your bridegroom forever and ever’.

9And he said to me, ‘Your name will no longer be called Aseneth, but your name will be called City of Refuge and the Lord God will reign as king over many nations for ever, because in you many nations will take refuge with the Lord God, the Most High.’

10And the man said to me, ‘I will also go to Joseph and speak into his ears concerning you what I have to say.’

11And now, you know, my Lord, whether that man has come to you and spoken to you concerning me.’

12And Joseph said to Aseneth, ‘Blessed are you by the Most High God, and blessed is your name forever, because the Lord God founded your walls in the highest, and your walls are adamantine walls of life, because the children of the living God will dwell in your City of Refuge, and the Lord God will reign as king over them for ever and ever.

13For this man came to me today and spoke to me words such as these concerning you.

14And now, come to me, chaste virgin, and why do you stand far away from me?’

15And Joseph stretched out his hands and called Aseneth by a wink of his eyes.

16And Aseneth also stretched out her hands and ran up to Joseph and fell on his breast.

17And Joseph put his arms around her, and Aseneth put hers around Joseph, and they kissed each other for a long time and both came to life in their spirit.

18And Joseph kissed Aseneth and gave her spirit of life, and he kissed her the second time and gave her spirit of wisdom, and he kissed her the third time and gave her spirit of truth.

Chapter 20

1And they embraced each other for a long time and interlocked their hands like bonds.

2And Aseneth said to Joseph, ‘Come, my Lord, and enter our house, because I have prepared our house and made a great dinner.

3And she grasped his right hand and led him into her house and seated him on Pentephres her father's throne.

4And she brought water to wash his feet.

5And Joseph said, ‘Let one of the virgins come and wash my feet.’

6And Aseneth said to him, ‘No, my Lord, because you are my lord from now on, and I am your maidservant.

7And why do you say that another virgin is to wash your feet?

8For your feet are my feet, and your hands are my hands, and your soul my soul, and your feet another woman will never wash.’

9And she urged him and washed his feet.

10And Joseph looked at her hands, and they were like hands of life, and her fingers fine like the fingers of a fast-writing scribe.

11And after this Joseph grasped her right hand and kissed it and Aseneth kissed his head and sat at his right hand.

12And her father and mother and his whole family came from the field which was their inheritance.

13And they saw Aseneth like the appearance of light, and her beauty was like heavenly beauty.

14And they saw her sitting with Joseph and dressed in a wedding garment.

15And they were amazed at her beauty and rejoiced and gave glory to God who gives life to the dead.

16And after this they ate and drank and celebrated.

17And Pentephres said to Joseph, ‘Tomorrow I will call all the noblemen and the satraps of the whole land of Egypt and give a marriage feast for you, and you will take my daughter Aseneth for your wife.’

18And Joseph said, I will go tomorrow to Pharaoh the king, because he is like a father to me and appointed me chief of the whole land of Egypt, and I will speak about Aseneth into his ears, and he himself will give her to me for my wife.

19And Pentephres said to him, ‘Go in peace’.

20And Joseph stayed with Pentephres that day and he did not sleep with Aseneth, because Joseph said, ‘It does not befit a man who worships God to sleep with his wife before the wedding.

21And Joseph rose at daybreak and went away to Pharaoh and said to him, Give me Aseneth, daughter of Pentephres, priest of Heliopolis, for my wife.

22And Pharaoh rejoiced with great joy and said to Joseph, ‘Behold, isn’t this one betrothed to you since eternity?

23And she shall be your wife from now on and for ever and ever.

24And Pharaoh sent and called Pentephres, and he came and brought Aseneth, and stood her before Pharaoh.

25And Pharaoh saw her and was amazed at her beauty and said, ‘May the Lord, the God of Joseph bless you, child, and let this beauty of yours remain for ever and ever, because justly the Lord, the God of Joseph, has chosen you as a bride for Joseph, because he is the firstborn Son of God.

26And you shall be called a daughter of the Most High and a bride of Joseph from now on and for ever.

27And Pharaoh took Joseph and Aseneth and put golden crowns on their heads which had been in his house from the beginning and of old.

28And Pharaoh set Aseneth at Joseph's right side and put his hands on their heads, and his right hand was on Aseneth's head.

29And Pharaoh said, ‘May the Lord God the Most High bless you and multiply you and magnify you and glorify you forever’.

30And Pharaoh turned them around toward each other face to face and brought them mouth to mouth and joined them by their lips, and they kissed each other.

31And after this Pharaoh gave a marriage feast and a great dinner and a big banquet for seven days.

32And he called together all the chiefs of the land of Egypt and all the kings of the nations and proclaimed to the whole land of Egypt, saying, ‘Every man who does any work during the seven days of Joseph's and Aseneth's wedding shall surely die.’

33And it happened after this, Joseph went in to Aseneth, and Aseneth conceived from Joseph and gave birth to Manasseh and Ephraim, his brother, in Joseph's house.

34“And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, has made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house.

35And the name of the second he called Ephraim: For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.” Genesis 45:1-2

Chapter 21

1And then Aseneth began to confess to the Lord God and gave thanks, praying, for all the good things of which she was deemed worthy by the Lord:

2‘I have sinned, Lord, I have sinned; before you I have sinned much, I Aseneth, daughter of Pentephres, priest of Heliopolis, who is an overseer of everything.

3I have sinned, Lord, I have sinned; before you I have sinned much, I was prospering in my father's house, and was a boastful and arrogant virgin.

4I have sinned, Lord, I have sinned; before you I have sinned much, And have worshiped strange gods who were without number, and eaten bread from their sacrifices.

5I have sinned, Lord, I have sinned; before you I have sinned much, Bread of strangulation I have eaten, and a cup of insidiousness I have drunk from the table of death.

6I have sinned, Lord, I have sinned; before you I have sinned much.

7And I did not know the Lord the God of Heaven, and I did not trust in the Most High God of life.

8I have sinned, Lord, I have sinned; before you I have sinned much.

9For I trusted in the richness of my glory and in my beauty, and I was boastful and arrogant.

10I have sinned, Lord, I have sinned; before you I have sinned much.

11And I despised every man on earth, and there was no one who achieved anything before me.

12I have sinned, Lord, I have sinned; before you I have sinned much.

13And I had come to hate all who had asked my hand in marriage, and despised them and scorned them.

14I have sinned, Lord, I have sinned; before you I have sinned much.

15And I spoke bold words in vanity and said, There is no prince on earth who may loosen the girdle of my virginity.

16I have sinned, Lord, I have sinned; before you I have sinned much.

17But will be the bride of the Great King's firstborn son.

18I have sinned, Lord, I have sinned; before you I have sinned much, until Joseph the Powerful One of God came.

19He pulled me down from my dominating position and made me humble after my arrogance, and by his beauty he caught me, and by his wisdom he grasped me like a fish on a hook, and by his spirit, as by bait of life, he ensnared me, and by his power he confirmed me, and brought me to the God of the ages and to the chief of the house of the Most High, and gave me to eat bread of life, and to drink a cup of wisdom, and I became his bride for ever and ever.

Chapter 22

1And it happened after this: The seven years of plenty passed and the seven years of famine began to come.

2And Jacob heard about Joseph his son, and Israel went to Egypt with his whole family, in the second year of the famine, in the second month, on the twenty-first of the month, and dwelt in the land of Goshen.

3And Aseneth said to Joseph, I will go and see your father, because your father Israel is like a father to me and a god.

4And Joseph said to her, You shall go with me and see my father.

5And Joseph and Aseneth went to the land of Goshen to Jacob.

6And Joseph's brothers met them and prostrated themselves face down to the ground before them.

7And they went in to Jacob.

8And Israel was sitting on his bed, and he was an old man in comfortable old age.

9And Aseneth saw him and was amazed at his beauty, because Jacob was exceedingly beautiful to look at, and his old age was like the youth of a handsome young man, and his head was all white as snow, and the hairs of his head were all exceedingly close and thick like those of an Ethiopian, and his beard was white reaching down to his breast, and his eyes were flashing and darting flashes of lightning, and his sinews and his shoulders and his arms were like those of an angel, and his thighs and his calves and his feet like those of a giant.

10And Jacob was like a man who had wrestled with God.

11And Aseneth saw him and was amazed, and prostrated herself before him face down to the ground.

12And Jacob said to Joseph, ‘Is this my daughter-in-law, your wife?

13Blessed she will be by the Most High God.’

14And Jacob called her to himself and blessed her and kissed her.

15And Aseneth stretched out her hands and grasped Jacob's neck and hung herself on her father's neck just like someone hangs on to his father's neck when he returns from fighting into his house, and she kissed him.

16And after this they ate and drank.

17And Joseph and Aseneth went back to their house.

18And Simeon and Levi, Joseph's brethren, the sons of Leah, alone escorted them; but the sons of Zilpah and Bilhah, Leah's and Rachel's maidservants, did not escort them, because they envied them and were hostile against them.

19And Levi was on Aseneth's right side and Joseph on her left.

20And Aseneth grasped Levi's hand.

21And Aseneth loved Levi exceedingly beyond all of Joseph's brethren, because he was one who attached himself to the Lord, and he was a prudent man and a prophet of the Most High and sharp-sighted with his eyes, and he used to see letters written in heaven by the finger of God and he knew the unspeakable mysteries of the Most High God and revealed them to Aseneth in secret, because he himself, Levi, would love Aseneth very much, and see her place of rest in the highest, and her walls like adamantine eternal walls, and her foundations found upon the rock of the seventh heaven.

Chapter 23

1And it happened while Joseph and Aseneth were passing by, Pharaoh's firstborn son saw them from the wall.

2And he saw Aseneth and was cut to the heart, and for some time he was heavily indignant and felt sick because of her beauty.

3And he said, Thus it shall not be.

4And Pharaoh's son sent messengers and called to him Simeon and Levi.

5And the men came to him and stood before him.

6And Pharaoh's firstborn son said to them, ‘I know today that you are powerful men beyond all men on the earth, and by these right hands of yours the city of the Shechemites has been overthrown, and by these two swords of yours thirty thousand fighting men were cut down.

7And behold, today I will take you as companions for myself, and give you plenty of gold and silver, and servants and maids and houses and big estates as an inheritance.

8Only do this thing and show mercy on me, for I have been insulted very much by your brother Joseph, for he himself took Aseneth my envisaged wife who was betrothed to me from the beginning.

9And now, come assist me, and we will make war on Joseph, your brother, and I will kill him with my sword and have Aseneth for my wife, and you will be to me brothers and faithful friends.

10However, do this thing.

11But if you are too cowardly to do this thing, and despise my purpose, behold, my sword is prepared against you.

12And while he was saying this, he exposed his sword and showed it to them.

13But when the men, Simeon and Levi, heard these words, they were exceedingly cut to the heart, because Pharaoh's son had spoken to them in a tyrannical fashion.

14And Simeon was a daring and bold man, and he intended to lay his hand on the handle of his sword and draw it from its sheath and strike Pharaoh's son, because he had spoken defiant things to them.

15And Levi saw the intention of his heart, because Levi was a prophet and he was sharp-sighted with both his mind and his eyes, and he used to read what is written in the heart of men.

16And Levi trod with his foot on Simeon's right foot and pressed it and thus signaled him to cease from his wrath.

17And Levi said to Simeon quietly, Why are you furious with anger with this man?

18And we are men who worship God and it does not befit us to repay evil for evil.

19And Levi said to Pharaoh's son with frankness, his face cheerful, and there was not the least bit of anger in him, but in meekness of heart he said to him, ‘Why does our lord speak words such as these?

20And we are men who worship God and our father is a friend of the Most High God, and Joseph our brother is like the firstborn son of God.

21And how could we do this wicked thing, and sin before our God and before our father Israel and before our brother Joseph?

22And now, listen to my words.

23It does not befit a man who worships God to injure anyone in any way.

24And if anyone wants to injure a man who worships God, that first-mentioned man who worships God does not succor him (the injurer), because a sword is not in his hands.

25And you at least guard against speaking any longer about our brother Joseph words such as these.

26But if you insist on this wicked purpose of yours, behold, our swords are drawn in our right hands before you.

27And Simeon and Levi drew their swords from their sheaths and said, ‘Behold, have you seen these swords?

28With these two swords the Lord God punished the insult of the Shechemites by which they insulted the sons of Israel, because of our sister Dinah whom Shechem the son of Hamor had defiled.’

29And the son of Pharaoh saw their swords drawn and was exceedingly afraid and trembled over his whole body, because their swords were flashing forth like a flame of fire, and the eyes of Pharaoh's son darkened, and he fell on his face on the ground beneath their feet.

30And Levi stretched out his right hand and grasped him and said to him, ‘Rise and don’t be afraid.

31Only guard against speaking any longer a wicked word about our brother Joseph.

32And Simeon and Levi went away from the presence of Pharaoh's son.