(5) In the time of the famine, the ten brothers of Joseph made the long journey to Egypt. Joseph received them, his face covered with a veil, and they recounted their hardships and asked for help against the terrors of famine.

In front of Joseph was a cup, which he struck with his hand, and it gave out a mournful sound. The brothers were in a state of consternation: they loosened their tongues and said to him: 'O Aziz! Do you, or does anyone, know what this sound signifies?' 'I know very well,' said Joseph, 'but you will not be able to bear the telling of it; for the cup says that you had a brother, who was remarkable for his beauty, and whose name was Joseph.'

Then Joseph struck the cup a second time and said: 'The cup tells me that you threw him into a well and that you killed an innocent wolf and stained Joseph's coat with the blood.'

Joseph struck the cup a third time, and again it gave out a mournful sound. He added: 'The cup says that Joseph's brothers plunged their father into the depths of grief and that they have sold Joseph.

'Now what have these unbelievers done with their brother? Fear God, at least, you who stand before me.'

This put them into such a state that they sweated with fear, they, who had come to ask for bread. In selling Joseph

they had sold themselves; when they put him in the well they themselves were cast into a pit of affliction.

He who reads this story without profit is blind. Do not listen with indifference, for this is none other than your own story. You continue to commit sins and faults because you have not been lighted with the light of understanding. If someone strikes the cup of your life, then unveil to yourself your guilty deeds. When the cup of your life is struck and you wake from sleep; when your injustices and sins are exposed one by one, I doubt if you will keep your peace or your reason. You are like a lame ant in a bowl. How often have you turned your head from the cup of heaven? Spread your wings and fly upward, you, who have a knowledge of the truth. If not, you will always be ashamed when you hear the sound of the cup.

(7) When the wise men were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, take the child and his mother, and flee into Egypt and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the child to destroy him.

(5) And all bare witness, and wondered at the gracious words which pro-ceded out of his mouth. They said, Is not this Joseph's son? And Jesus said,

(3) They fulfilled the days, and as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. They, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey and [then] they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. When they found him not, they turned back to Jerusalem, seeking him.

(30) The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?

(7) His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strewed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.

(14) And at the season when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent a servant to the husbandmen, that he might receive from them of the fruit of the vineyard: but the husbandmen caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty.

(47) And they all drank of it. And he said unto them,

(1) AND now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea went in unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus.

(2) When Joseph was taken, his father Jacob lost his sight because of the tears of blood that flowed from his eyes. The name of Joseph was always on his lips. At last the Angel Gabriel went to him and said: ' If ever again you utter the

word ''Joseph'' I will strike your name from the roll of prophets and messengers.' When Jacob received this message from God the name of Joseph was lifted from his tongue, but he did not cease to repeat it in his heart. One night he saw Joseph in a dream, and would have called to him, but remembering God's command, he beat his breast and heaved a sad sigh from his immaculate heart. Then Gabriel came: ' God says that although you have not pronounced the name "Joseph" with your tongue, you have heaved a sigh, and thus destroyed all the effect of your repentance.'

(18) Straightway one of them ran, and filled a sponge with vinegar, put it upon hysop (on a reed), and put it to Jesus’ mouth. When he had received the vinegar, he said,

(29) And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.

(15) And again he sent unto them another servant; they beat him also, and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and handled him shamefully, and sent him away empty.

(5) One the false woman is who accused Joseph, The other the false Sinon, Greek of Troy; From acute fever they send forth such reek." And one of them, who felt himself annoyed At being, peradventure, named so darkly, Smote with the fist upon his hardened paunch. It gave a sound, as if it were a drum; And Master Adam smote him in the face, With arm that did not seem to be less hard, Saying to him: "Although be taken from me All motion, for my limbs that heavy are, I have an arm unfettered for such need." Whereat he answer made: "When thou didst go Unto the fire, thou hadst it not so ready: But hadst it so and more when thou wast coining." The dropsical: "Thou sayest true in that; But thou wast not so true a witness there, Where thou wast questioned of the truth at Troy." "If I spake false, thou falsifiedst the coin," Said Sinon; "and for one fault I am here, And thou for more than any other demon." "Remember, perjurer, about the horse," He made reply who had the swollen belly, "And rueful be it thee the whole world knows it."

(25) Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. Be ye therefore ready also; for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.

(2) It is said that when they sold Joseph to the Egyptians the latter treated him kindly. There were many buyers so the merchants priced him at from five to ten times his weight in musk. Meanwhile, in a state of agitation, an old woman ran up, and going among the buyers said to an Egyptian: "Let me buy the Canaanite, for I long to possess that young man. I have spun ten spools of thread to pay for him so take them and give me Joseph and say no more about it.'

The merchants smiled and said: "Your simplicity has misled you. This unique pearl is not for you; they have already offered a hundred treasures for him. How can you bid against them with your spools of thread?' The old woman, looking into their faces, said: "I know very well that you will not sell him for so little, but it is enough for me that my friends and enemies will say, ""this old woman has been among those who wished to buy Joseph".'

He who is without aspiration will never reach the boundless kingdom. Possessed of this lofty ambition a great prince regarded his worldly kingdom as ashes. When he realized the emptiness of temporal royalty, he decided that spiritual royalty was worth a thousand kingdoms of the world.

The doctrine of the Mu'tazilites, mentioned, that all men's intellects are alike and equal at birth, is again controverted, and the poet dwells on the essential differences which characterize the intellects akin to Universal Reason or the Logos, and those swayed by partial or carnal reason; the former, like the children of Israel, seeking exaltation through self-abasement; and the others, like Pharaoh, running after worldly rank and power, to their own destruction. In order to make probation of men, as already explained, God fills the world with deceptions, making apparent blessings destructive to us, and apparent evils salutary. On the other hand, if men try to deceive God, they fail signally. Hypocritical weeping and wailing like that of Joseph's brethren is at once detected by God. Thus a certain Arab had a dog to which he was much attached; but one day the dog died of hunger. He at once began to weep and wail, and disturbed the whole neighborhood by his ostentatious grief One of the neighbors came and inquired into the matter, and on hearing that the dog had died of hunger, he asked the Arab why he had not fed him from the wallet of food which he had in his hand. The Arab said that he had collected this food to support himself, and made it a principle not to part with any of it to any one who could not pay for it; but that, as his tears cost him nothing, he was pouring them forth in token of the sorrow he felt for his dog's death. The neighbor, on hearing this, rebuked him for his hypocrisy, and went his way. Then follows a commentary on the text, "Almost would the infidels strike thee down with their very looks when they hear the reading of the Koran."

(45) When he had supped, Jesus after the same manner took the cup, and when he had given thanks, gave it to them, saying,

(2) A rich man of Arimathea, a city of the Jews, Joseph was an honorable counsellor, a good man, and a just (he had not consented to the counsel and deed of them). He also waited for the kingdom of God, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews.

(4) Joseph came therefore, and took the body of Jesus. And there came also Nicodemus (which at the first came by night ), and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes.