Aggada -- Translations into English; Bible. Old Testament -- Legends; Jewish legends; Midrash -- Translations into English
"A short while thereafter another vision was revealed to me. I saw all
of us together with our father at the shores of the sea, and a ship
appeared in the midst of the sea, and it had neither sailors nor other
crew. Our father spake, 'Do you see what I see?' And when we answered
that we did, he commanded us to follow him. He took off his clothes,
and sprang into the sea, and we sprang after him. Levi and Judah were
the first to scale the side of the ship. Our father cried after them,
'See what is written upon the mast,' for there is no ship that does not
bear the name of the owner upon the mast. Levi and Judah scrutinized
the writing, and what they read was this, 'This ship and all the
treasures therein belong unto the son of Barachel.' Jacob thanked God
for having blessed him, not only on land, but also upon the sea, and he
said to us, 'Stretch forth your hands, and whatsoever each one seizes
shall be his!' Levi caught hold of the big mast, Judah of the second
mast, next to Levi's, and the other brethren, with the exception of
Joseph, took the oars, and Jacob himself seized the two rudders,
wherewith to guide the ship. He bade Joseph take an oar, too, but he
refused to do his father's bidding, and Jacob gave him one of the
rudders. After our father had instructed us each one in what we had to
do, he disappeared, whereupon Joseph took possession of the second
rudder, too. All went smoothly for a time, as long as Judah and Joseph
acted together in harmony with each other, and Judah kept Joseph
informed in what direction to steer. But a quarrel broke out between
them, and Joseph did not guide the vessel in the way his father had
commanded him, and Judah attempted to direct him, and the vessel was
wrecked upon a rock. Levi and Judah descended from the masts, and
likewise the other brethren left the ship and escaped to the shore. At
this moment Jacob appeared, and he found us scattered in all
directions, and we reported to him how Joseph had caused the vessel to
run aground, because he had refused, out of jealousy of Judah and Levi,
to steer it according to their instructions. Then Jacob asked us to
show him the spot where we had lost the ship, of which only the masts
were visible above the water. He emitted a whistle summoning us all,
and he swam out into the water, and raised the vessel as before.
Turning to Joseph, he spake thus, 'My son, never do that again, never
permit jealousy of thy brethren to master thee. Nearly it happened that
all thy brethren perished because of thee.'
"When I told my father what I had seen in this vision, he clasped his
hands, and tears flowed from his eyes, and be said: 'My son, for that
the vision was doubled unto thee twice, I am dismayed, and I shudder
for my son Joseph. I loved him more than all of you, but by reason of
his perverseness ye will be carried away into captivity, and scattered
among the nations. Thy first and thy second vision had the same
meaning, the vision is one.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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