Genesis 42

¹When Jacob learned that there was grain for sale in Egypt , he said to his sons , Why do you look at one another?

²And he said , Behold , I have heard that there is grain for sale in Egypt . Go down and buy grain for us there , that we may live and not die .

³So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt .

⁴But Jacob did not send Benjamin , Joseph’s brother , with his brothers , for he feared that harm might happen to him .

⁵Thus the sons of Israel came to buy among the others who came , for the famine was in the land of Canaan .

⁶Now Joseph was governor over the land . He was the one who sold to all the people of the land . And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground .

⁷Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke roughly to them. Where do you come from? he said . They said , From the land of Canaan , to buy food .

⁸And Joseph recognized his brothers , but they did not recognize him.

⁹And Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed of them. And he said to them, You are spies ; you have come to see the nakedness of the land .

¹⁰They said to him, No , my lord , your servants have come to buy food .

¹¹We are all sons of one man . We are honest men. Your servants have never been spies .

¹²He said to them, No , it is the nakedness of the land that you have come to see .

¹³And they said , We, your servants , are twelve brothers , the sons of one man in the land of Canaan , and behold , the youngest is this day with our father , and one is no more .

¹⁴But Joseph said to them, It is as I said to you. You are spies .

¹⁵By this you shall be tested : by the life of Pharaoh , you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here .

¹⁶Send one of you, and let him bring your brother , while you remain confined , that your words may be tested , whether there is truth in you. Or else , by the life of Pharaoh , surely you are spies .

¹⁷And he put them all together in custody for three days .

¹⁸On the third day Joseph said to them, Do this and you will live , for I fear God :

¹⁹if you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined where you are in custody , and let the rest go and carry grain for the famine of your households ,

²⁰and bring your youngest brother to me. So your words will be verified , and you shall not die . And they did so.

²¹Then they said to one another , In truth we are guilty concerning our brother , in that we saw the distress of his soul , when he begged us and we did not listen . That is why this distress has come upon us.

²²And Reuben answered them, Did I not tell you not to sin against the boy ? But you did not listen . So now there comes a reckoning for his blood .

²³They did not know that Joseph understood them, for there was an interpreter between them.

²⁴Then he turned away from them and wept . And he returned to them and spoke to them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes .

²⁵And Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain , and to replace every man’s money in his sack , and to give them provisions for the journey . This was done for them.

²⁶Then they loaded their donkeys with their grain and departed .

²⁷And as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place , he saw his money in the mouth of his sack .

²⁸He said to his brothers , My money has been put back ; here it is in the mouth of my sack ! At this their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling to one another , saying , What is this that God has done to us?

²⁹When they came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan , they told him all that had happened to them, saying ,

³⁰The man , the lord of the land , spoke roughly to us and took us to be spies of the land .

³¹But we said to him, We are honest men; we have never been spies .

³²We are twelve brothers , sons of our father . One is no more , and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan .

³³Then the man , the lord of the land , said to us, By this I shall know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for the famine of your households , and go your way.

³⁴Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I shall know that you are not spies but honest men, and I will deliver your brother to you, and you shall trade in the land .

³⁵As they emptied their sacks , behold , every man’s bundle of money was in his sack . And when they and their father saw their bundles of money , they were afraid .

³⁶And Jacob their father said to them, You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more , and Simeon is no more , and now you would take Benjamin . All this has come against me.

³⁷Then Reuben said to his father , Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hands , and I will bring him back to you.

³⁸But he said , My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead , and he is the only one left . If harm should happen to him on the journey that you are to make , you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol .