< Genesis 42 >
1 Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt. And Jacob said to his sons, Why do ye look one upon another?
2 And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Get you down there, and buy for us from there, that we may live, and not die.
3 And Joseph's ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.
4 But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob did not send with his brothers, for he said, Lest perhaps harm befall him.
5 And the sons of Israel came to buy among those who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
6 And Joseph was the governor over the land. It was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came, and bowed down themselves to him with their faces to the earth.
7 And Joseph saw his brothers, and he knew them, but made himself foreign to them, and spoke roughly with them. And he said to them. From where come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food.
8 And Joseph knew his brothers, but they did not know him.
9 And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them. And said to them, Ye are spies; ye have come to see the nakedness of the land.
10 And they said to him, No, my lord, but thy servants have come to buy food.
11 We are all one man's sons. We are true men. Thy servants are no spies.
12 And he said to them, No, but ye have come to see the nakedness of the land.
13 And they said, We thy 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 not.
14 And Joseph said to them, This is that which I spoke to you, saying, Ye are spies.
15 By this ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth from here unless your youngest brother comes here.
16 Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother. And ye shall be bound, that your words may be proved, whether there be truth in you, or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies.
17 And he put them all together into ward three days.
18 And Joseph said to them the third day, This do, and live, for I fear God:
19 If ye be true men, let one of your brothers be bound in your prison house, but go ye, carry grain for the famine of your houses,
20 and bring your youngest brother to me. So shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so.
21 And they said one to another, We are truly guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul when he besought us, and we would not hear. Therefore this distress has come upon us.
22 And Reuben answered them, saying, Did I not speak to you, saying, Sin not against the child, and ye would not hear? Therefore also, behold, his blood is required.
23 And they did not know that Joseph understood them, for there was an interpreter between them.
24 And he turned himself around from them, and wept. And he returned to them, and spoke to them, and took Simeon from among them, and bound him before their eyes.
25 Then Joseph commanded to fill their vessels with grain, and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give them provisions for the way. And thus it was done to them.
26 And they loaded their donkeys with their grain, and departed from there.
27 And as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey provender in the lodging place, he saw his money, and, behold, it was in the mouth of his sack.
28 And he said to his brothers, My money is restored, and, lo, it is even in my sack. And their heart failed them, and they turned trembling one to another, saying, What is this that God has done to us?
29 And they came to Jacob their father to the land of Canaan, and told him all that had befallen them, saying,
30 The man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly with us, and took us for spies of the country.
31 And we said to him, We are true men, and we are no spies.
32 We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One is not, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.
33 And the man, the lord of the land, said to us, By this I shall know that ye are true men. Leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for the famine of your houses, and go your way,
34 and bring your youngest brother to me. Then I shall know that ye are no spies, but that ye are true men. So I will deliver your brother to you, and ye shall trade in the land.
35 And it came to pass as they emptied their sacks, that, 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.
36 And Jacob their father said to them, Ye have bereaved me of my sons. Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away. All these things are against me.
37 And Reuben spoke to his father, saying, Kill my two sons if I do not bring him to thee. Deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to thee again.
38 And he said, My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he only is left. If harm befalls him by the way in which ye go, then ye will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol. (Sheol )
