Genesis 42

1 Jacob saw that there was grain for sale in Egypt, and he said to his sons, "Why do you keep showing yourselves?" 2 He said, "Look, I have heard that there is grain for sale in Egypt. Go down there and buy grain for us, so that we may live and not die." 3 So ten of Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. 4 But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with his brothers, because he said, "Harm might come to him." 5 So the sons of Israel came to buy grain along with the others who came, because the famine was in the land of Canaan. 6 Joseph was the governor over the land. He was the one who sold grain to all the people of the land. Joseph's brothers came and bowed down to him with their faces to the ground. 7 When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them. But he acted like a stranger to them and spoke harshly to them. He said to them, "Where have you come from?" They said, "From the land of Canaan, to buy food." 8 Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him.

9 Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them. He said to them, "You are spies! You have come to see where the land is unprotected." 10 They said to him, "No, my lord. Your servants have come to buy food. 11 We are all sons of one man. We are honest men. Your servants are not spies." 12 But he said to them, "No, you have really come to see where the land is unprotected." 13 They said, "We, your servants, are 12 brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is with our father today, and one is no more." 14 Joseph said to them, "It is just as I told you: you are spies. 15 This is how you will be tested: as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here! 16 Send one of you to get your brother, while the rest of you are kept in prison. That way your words will be tested, to see whether you are telling the truth. If not, as Pharaoh lives, you are surely spies."

17 Then he put them in custody for three days. 18 On the third day Joseph said to them, "Do this and live. I fear the elohim. 19 If you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay bound in the place where you are held. The rest of you go and take grain home for your hungry households. 20 Then bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words will be proved firm and you will not die." And they did so. 21 They said to one another, "We really are guilty because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he begged us for mercy, and we would not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us." 22 Reuben answered them, "Didn't I tell you, 'Do not sin against the boy'? But you would not listen. And look, an account is being demanded for his blood too." 23 They did not know that Joseph understood them, because there was an interpreter between them. 24 Joseph turned away from them and wept. Then he came back and spoke to them. He took Simeon from them and tied him up in front of them.

25 Joseph gave orders, and their containers were filled with grain. He also ordered that each man's money be put back in his sack and that they be given provisions for the journey. And this was done for them. 26 They loaded their grain on their donkeys and left. 27 At the place where they stopped for the night, one of them opened his sack to give feed to his donkey. He saw his money: it was right there in the mouth of his pack. 28 He said to his brothers, "My money has been put back! Look, it is here in my pack!" Their hearts sank. Trembling, they turned to one another and said, "What is this that God has done to us?" 29 When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them. They said, 30 "The man who is lord of the land spoke harshly to us and treated us as spies of the land. 31 But we said to him, 'We are honest men. We are not spies. 32 We are 12 brothers, sons of our father. One is no more, and the youngest is with our father today in the land of Canaan.'

33 Then the man who is lord of the land said to us, 'This is how I will know that you are honest men. Leave one of your brothers with me. Take what your hungry households need, and go. 34 Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I will know that you are not spies but honest men. I will give your brother back to you, and you may trade in the land.'" 35 As they were emptying their sacks, there in each man's sack was his bundle of money. When they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. 36 Their father Jacob said to them, "You have bereaved me. Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and now you want to take Benjamin. All these things have fallen on me." 37 Then Reuben said to his father, "You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring Benjamin back to you. Put him in my care, and I will bring him back to you." 38 But Jacob said, "My son will not go down with you, because his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If harm comes to him on the journey you are making, you will bring my gray head down to Sheol in grief."