In the same night the son of Pharaoh rose up and went to his father's
chamber with intent to slay him, as he had promised; but when he came
to the door the guards stopped him and said, "What is my lord's
will?" He said, "I desire to see my father, for I am going away
to-morrow to visit my vine-yard which I have newly planted." And they
said, "Your father is ill and has not slept until now, and he gave
us commandment that no man should come into his chamber, no, not if
it were his firstborn son." So he went away in a rage, and took fifty
archers with him on horses and went on before, as Dan and Gad had
said.
Aseneth also arose early in the morning and said to Joseph, "Lo, I
go to the vineyard as you appointed; but my soul is troubled greatly
at being parted from you." But Joseph said, "Be of good cheer; the
Lord is with you and will keep you as the apple of an eye. As for me,
I go to distribute corn to the people of the land, that no man in
Egypt may perish of hunger." So Aseneth went her way; and as she came
to the place of the ambush by the river, the men that were in hiding
rushed out upon her, and slew all the guard that were with her, even
six hundred soldiers and fifty runners; and Aseneth fled away upon
her chariot.
Now Levi, though he was afar off, saw in the spirit what was being
done--for he was a seer--and told his brethren of the peril of
Aseneth; and they girded every man his sword upon his thigh, and took
up their shields and their spears and ran swiftly after Aseneth.
And as she fled on before, suddenly she saw the son of Pharaoh in the
way, and the horsemen that were with him. Then was Aseneth in great
fear, and she called upon the name of her God.
But Benjamin was in the chariot with her. Now he was a lad of
nineteen years, beautiful exceedingly, and strong as a lion's whelp.
And when he saw the men, he leapt down from the chariot and caught up
a round stone out of the brook and threw it at the son of Pharaoh,
and smote him on the left temple, so that he fell from his horse
half-dead.
Then Benjamin leapt up upon a rock by the way-side, and called to the
driver of the chariot, "Give me stones out of the river bed." And he
gave them; and with fifty stones Benjamin slew the fifty archers
that were with Pharaoh's son; every stone smote a man on the temples.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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