Genesis 42

Then Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, so Jacob said to his sons, “Why are you looking at each other?”

And he said, “Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy {some} for us from there so that we will live and not die.”

Then ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.

But Jacob did not send Benjamin, the brother of Joseph, with his brothers, because he said, “So that harm does not meet him!” \*

And the sons of Israel came among {those} who came to buy {grain}, because the famine was in the land of Canaan.

Now Joseph {was} the governor over the land. {It was} he who was selling {grain} to all the people of the land. So the brothers of Joseph came and bowed down to him {with} {their} noses to the ground. \*

And Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he acted like a stranger to them, and he spoke with them harshly and said to them, “Where did you come from?” And they said, “From the land of Canaan to buy food.”

And Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. \*

Then Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed about them, and he said to them, “You {are} spies! You have come to see the nakedness of the land!”

But they said to him, “No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food.

All of us {are} sons of one man. We {are} honest. Your servants are not spies.” \*

But he said to them, “No, indeed you have come to see the nakedness of the land!”

But they said, “Your servants {are} twelve brothers. We {are} sons of one man in the land of Canaan. And behold, the youngest {is} with our father today, and the one is not {alive}.” \*

Then Joseph said to them, “It {is} just as I told you, saying, ‘You {are} spies!’

By this you will be tested: {By} the life of Pharaoh, you will not leave from this {place} unless your youngest brother comes here.

Send one of you, and let him bring your brother, and you will be bound. Then your words will be tested {as to whether} the truth {is} in you. And if not, {by} the life of Pharaoh, surely you {are} spies!”

Then he put them together in custody {for} three days. \*

Then Joseph said to them on the third day, “Do this and live, {because} I fear God:

If you {are} honest, let one of your brothers be bound in your prison house, and you go take grain back {for} the famine of your households.

Then you will bring your youngest brother to me so that your words will be verified, and you will not die.” And they did so. \*

Then each {man} said to his brother, “We {are} truly guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, but we did not listen. For that {reason} this distress has come upon us.”

Then Reuben responded to them, saying, “Did I not tell you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the lad’? But you did not listen, so now behold, his blood is being accounted for!” \*

And they did not know that Joseph understood {them}, because the interpreter {was} between them.

And he turned away from them and cried. Then he turned back toward them and spoke to them. Then he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.

Then Joseph ordered {his servants} and they filled their bags {with} grain. And {he ordered them} to return {each} man’s silver to his sack and to give provisions to them for the road. And he did that for them. \*

Then they loaded their grain onto their donkeys and went from there.

Then one {of them} opened his sack to give fodder to his donkey at the lodging place, and he saw his silver, and behold, it {was} in the mouth of his sack!

So he said to his brothers, “My silver has been returned! And indeed behold, {it is} in my sack!” Then their hearts went out, and each {man} trembled to his brother, saying, “What {is} this God has done to us?” \*

Then they came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan, and they reported to him all that had happened to them, saying,

“The man, the lord of the land, spoke to us harshly and treated us as {if we were} spying out the land!

But we said to him, ‘We {are} honest. We are not spies.

We {are} twelve brothers, the sons of our father. The one is not {alive}, and the youngest {is} with our father today in the land of Canaan.’ \*

Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘By this I will know that you {are} honest: Leave one of your brothers with me, and take {grain} {for} the famine of your households and go.

Then bring your youngest brother to me so that I will know that you {are} not spies, that you {are} honest. {Then} I will give your brother to you, and you {can} trade {in} the land.’” \*

Then it happened they were emptying their sacks, and behold, each {man’s} pouch of his silver {was} inside his sack! And they and their father saw the pouches of their silver, and they were afraid.

Then Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me! Joseph is not {here}! And Simeon is not {here}! And you will take Benjamin! All {these} things are against me!” \*

Then Reuben said to his father, saying, “You may kill my two sons if I do not bring him to you. Put him in my hand, and I will return him to you.”

But he said, “My son will not go down with you, because his brother is dead, and he alone is left. And {if} harm were to meet him on the road that you are going on, then you would bring my gray head down in sorrow to Sheol!” \*