Genesis 42

1When Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, “Why do you keep looking at one another?”

2He said, “Look, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us from there, so that we may live and not die.”

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

4But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with his brothers, for he said, “Lest harm happen to him.”

5So the sons of Israel came to buy grain among those who were coming, because the famine was in the land of Canaan.

6Joseph was the ruler over the land; he was the one who sold grain to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.

7When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he acted like a stranger toward them and spoke harshly with them. He said to them, “Where have you come from?” And they said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.”

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

9Then 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.”

10But they said to him, “No, my lord; your servants have come to buy food.”

11We are all sons of one man. We are honest; your servants have not been spies.

12But he said to them, “No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land.”

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

14Joseph said to them, “It is as I said to you, saying, ‘You are spies.’”

15By this you will be tested: as Pharaoh lives, you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here.

16Send one of you, and let him bring your brother, while you remain confined, so that your words may be tested, whether the truth is with you. But if not, as Pharaoh lives, surely you are spies.

17And he put them in custody for three days.

18On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do this and live, for I fear God.

19If you are honest, let one of your brothers be confined in your place of custody, and you, go and bring grain for the famine of your households.

20Then bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words may be verified and you will not die.” And they did so.

21Then they said to one another, “Indeed, we are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we did not listen. Therefore this distress has come upon us.”

22Then Reuben answered them, saying, “Did I not tell you, ‘Do not sin against the boy’? But you did not listen. And now, look, his blood is being required.”

23But they did not know that Joseph was listening, because the interpreter was between them.

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

25Then Joseph gave orders to fill their containers with grain, to return each man's silver to his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. And so it was done for them.

26Then they loaded their grain onto their donkeys and went from there.

27Then 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 bag.

28He said to his brothers, “My silver has been returned, and look, it is even in my sack!” Then their hearts failed them, and they trembled, each man to his brother, saying, “What is this that God has done to us?”

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

30The man, the lord of the land, spoke harshly with us and treated us as spies of the land.

31And we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we have not been spies.’

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

33Then 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, take grain for the famine of your households, and go.’

34Bring your youngest brother to me, so that I may know that you are not spies, but honest men. Then I will give your brother back to you, and you may trade in the land.”

35And as they were emptying their sacks, behold, each man’s bundle of silver was in his sack; and they saw their bundles of silver, they and their father, and they were afraid.

36And Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and you would take Benjamin. All these things have come against me.”

37Then Reuben said to his father, “You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hand, and I myself will bring him back to you.”

38But he said, “My son will not go down with you, because his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If harm should happen to him on the journey on which you go, then you would bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.”