But they replied, ‘We, your servants, were twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with our father, and one is no longer living.’
and we answered my lord, “We have an elderly father and a younger brother, the child of his old age. The boy’s brother is dead. He is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.”
They answered, ‘The man kept asking about us and our family: “Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother? ” And we answered him accordingly. How could we know that he would say, “Bring your brother here”? ’
Then Herod, when he realised that he had been outwitted by the wise men, flew into a rage. He gave orders to massacre all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, in keeping with the time he had learned from the wise men.
This is what the Lord says: A voice was heard in Ramah, a lament with bitter weeping – Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children because they are no more.
But Jacob answered, ‘My son will not go down with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. If anything happens to him on your journey, you will bring my grey hairs down to Sheol in sorrow.’
Their father Jacob said to them, ‘It’s me that you make childless. Joseph is gone, and Simeon is gone. Now you want to take Benjamin. Everything happens to me! ’
When he looked up and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, he asked, ‘Is this your youngest brother that you told me about? ’ Then he said, ‘May God be gracious to you, my son.’