GenesisChapter 42

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¹Jacob found out that there was grain in Egypt. He said to his sons, "Why do you just sit there looking at each other?" ²"Listen," he said. "I've heard there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us. Then we will live and not die." ³So ten of Joseph's brothers went down to Egypt to buy grain. ⁴But Jacob did not send Joseph's brother Benjamin with the others. He said, "I'm afraid something bad might happen to him." ⁵So Israel's sons went with the others to buy grain, because the famine had spread to the land of Canaan too. ⁶Joseph was the governor of the land. He was the one who sold grain to all the people. So when his brothers came, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground. ⁷Joseph saw his brothers and knew who they were. But he acted like a stranger and spoke roughly to them. "Where are you from?" he asked. "From the land of Canaan," they answered. "We've come to buy food." ⁸Joseph knew who his brothers were. But they did not know who he was. ⁹Then Joseph remembered his dreams about them. He said to them, "You are spies! You have come to see where our land is weak." ¹⁰"No, my master!" they answered. "We, your servants, have come to buy food. ¹¹We are all sons of one man. We, your servants, are honest men. We are not spies." ¹²"No," he said to them. "You have come to see where our land is weak." ¹³But they answered, "We, your servants, are twelve brothers. We are the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is with our father now. And one brother is gone." ¹⁴Then Joseph said, "It is just as I told you. You are spies! ¹⁵This is how you will be tested. As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. ¹⁶Send one of you to get your brother. The rest of you will be kept in prison. That way we will test whether you are telling the truth. If you are not, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!" ¹⁷So Joseph put them all in prison for three days. ¹⁸On the third day Joseph said to them, "I fear God. So do this, and you will live. ¹⁹If you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here in prison. The rest of you may go. Take grain back to your hungry families. ²⁰Then bring your youngest brother to me. That will prove that what you say is true, and you won't die." And they agreed to do this. ²¹Then they said to each other, "We are surely being punished because of our brother. We saw how upset he was when he begged us for help. But we would not listen. That is why this trouble has come on us." ²²Reuben answered, "Didn't I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you would not listen. Now we must pay for his blood!" ²³They did not know that Joseph could understand them, because he was speaking to them through an interpreter. ²⁴Joseph turned away from them and cried. Then he turned back and talked to them again. He took Simeon from them. He had him tied up while they watched. ²⁵Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain. He ordered that each man's silver be put back in his sack. He also ordered that they be given food for the trip. This was done for them. ²⁶So they loaded the grain on their donkeys and left. ²⁷At the place where they stopped for the night, one of them opened his sack. He wanted to get food for his donkey. There was his silver in the top of his sack! ²⁸"My silver has been given back!" he said to his brothers. "Here it is in my sack!" Their hearts sank. They turned to each other shaking with fear. They said, "What is this that God has done to us?" ²⁹They came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. They told him all that had happened to them. ³⁰"The man who rules the land spoke roughly to us," they said. "He said we were spying on his country. ³¹But we told him, 'We are honest men. We are not spies. ³²We are twelve brothers, sons of one father. One brother is gone. The youngest is with our father now in the land of Canaan.' ³³Then the man who rules the land said to us, 'This is how I will know if you are honest. Leave one of your brothers here with me. Take food for your hungry families and go. ³⁴But bring your youngest brother back to me. Then I will know you are honest men and not spies. Then I will give your brother back to you. And you can trade in the land.'" ³⁵Then they began to empty their sacks. And there in each man's sack was his bag of silver! When they and their father saw the bags of silver, they were afraid. ³⁶Their father Jacob said to them, "You have taken my sons from me! Joseph is gone, and Simeon is gone. Now you want to take Benjamin too. Everything is against me!" ³⁷Then Reuben said to his father, "If I don't bring Benjamin back to you, you may kill my two sons. Put him in my care. I will bring him back to you." ³⁸But Jacob said, "My son will not go down there with you, because his brother is dead, and he is the only one left. If anything bad happens to him on your trip, you will send my gray head down to the grave in sorrow."a