BRETHREN. [Starting back and huddling together, amazed.] Joseph!
JOSEPH. [As above.] Doth my father yet live?
[The BRETHREN are stricken with terror. They can utter no sound.]
JOSEPH. Fear not. Shall I judge you? Am I in the place of God? [He throws open his robe. He is clad in a shepherd's dress similar to the one he wore in Acts I and II. The BRETHREN begin to recognize him, but they are all the more panic-stricken.]
JOSEPH. [Holding out his arms, affectionately.] Come near unto me. [They do not stir; he speaks with extreme yearning.] I pray you!—I am Joseph, your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
SIMEON. [With a cry of agony.] Joseph! Joseph! [He throws himself at JOSEPH'S feet.]
[The BRETHREN burst into wild cries, sobs, and hysterical laughter, as they surge towards JOSEPH and hurl themselves in a confused mass before him.]
JOSEPH. [Coming down amongst them, while they embraced his knees, kissed his garments and his feet, reached up to him and touched him.] Be not grieved or angry with yourselves that ye sold me hither; for God did send me before you to preserve life, and to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God. [He lifts BENJAMIN to his heart.] Oh Benjamin! My brother! My brother!
[With the cries of "JOSEPH!"—"Brother!" all the BRETHREN crowd round to embrace him. But SIMEON stands apart in despair—he is thinking of slaying himself with his own knife.]
