Genesis 42

Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, and he said to his sons, “Why do you keep looking at one another?” He said, “I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.” Joseph’s ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with his brothers, for he thought, “Some harm might happen to him.” The sons of Israel came to buy grain among the others who came, for there was famine in the land of Canaan. 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. When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he acted like a stranger to them and spoke harshly to them. He asked them, “Where have you come from?” They said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.” Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them and said to them, “You are spies. You have come to see the exposed parts of the land.” They said to him, “No, my lord. Your servants have come to buy food. We are all sons of one man. We are honest men; your servants have not been spies.” He said to them, “No, you have come to see the exposed parts of the land.” They said, “Your servants are twelve brothers, sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is with our father today, and one is gone.” Joseph said to them, “It is as I told you: you are spies. This is how you will be tested: as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. Send one of you to get your brother, while you remain confined. Your words will be tested to see whether you are telling the truth. If not, as Pharaoh lives, you are spies.” He put them all together in custody for three days. On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do this and live, for I fear God. If you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined in the prison where you are being held. The rest of you go and take grain for your hungry households. But bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words may be confirmed and you will not die.” And they did so. They said to one another, “We are indeed guilty concerning our brother. We saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, but we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.” Reuben answered them, “Did I not tell you, ‘Do not sin against the boy’? But you did not listen. Now we are also being called to account for his blood.” They did not know that Joseph understood them, for there was an interpreter between them. He turned away from them and wept. Then he returned and spoke to them. He took Simeon from among them and bound him before their eyes. Joseph gave orders for their containers to be filled with grain, for each man’s money to be returned to his sack, and for them to be given provisions for the journey. He did this for them. They loaded the grain they had bought onto their donkeys and left. At the lodging place, one of them opened his sack to give his donkey feed. He saw his money there in the mouth of his sack. He said to his brothers, “My money has been returned! Here it is in my sack!” Their hearts sank, and they trembled, saying to one another, “What is this that God has done to us?” They came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them: “The man who is lord of the land spoke harshly to us and treated us as spies of the land. We said to him, ‘We are honest men; we have not been spies. We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One is gone, and the youngest is with our father today in the land of Canaan.’ 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 food for your hungry households, and go. Bring your youngest brother to me, and 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.’” As they emptied their sacks, each man’s bundle of money was there in his sack. When they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid. Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my children. Joseph is gone, and Simeon is gone, and you would take Benjamin! All these things are against me.” 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 hands, and I will bring him back to you.” But he said, “My son will not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If harm happens to him on the journey you are taking, you will bring down my gray hair in sorrow to Sheol.”

Rights and attribution