< Genesis 42 >
1 Now Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, so Jacob said to his sons, "Why do you look at one another?"
2 He 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."
3 So Joseph's ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.
4 But Jacob did not send Joseph's brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, "Some harm might happen to him."
5 So the sons of Israel went to buy among the other travelers, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
6 Now Joseph was the ruler over the country, and it was he who sold to all the people of the land. Joseph's brothers came and bowed themselves down to him with their faces to the ground.
7 Joseph saw his brothers, and he recognized them, but he acted like he did not know them, and spoke harshly with them. And he said to them, "Where do you come from?" And they said, "From the land of Canaan to buy food."
8 So Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him.
9 Then Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed about them, and said to them, "You are spies. You have come to look for the vulnerabilities of the country."
10 But they said to him, "No, my lord, but 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, but you have come to look for the vulnerabilities of the country."
13 But they said, "We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and look, the youngest is now with our father, and one is no more."
14 But Joseph said to them, "It is as I said to you, saying, 'You are spies.'
15 This is how you will be tested. By the life of Pharaoh, you will not leave from here until your youngest brother comes here.
16 Send one of you, and let him get your brother, and you will stay in prison, so that your words can be tested, whether there is truth in you. Or else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies."
17 So he put all of them together in prison for three days.
18 Then Joseph said to them the third day, "Do what I say, and live, for I fear God.
19 If you are honest, then let one of your brothers remain confined in your prison; but you go and carry grain for the hunger of your households.
20 But bring your youngest brother to me so that your words will be verified, and you won't die." To this they agreed.
21 Then they said to one another, "We are certainly guilty concerning our brother, because we saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us, and we wouldn't listen. Therefore this distress has come upon us."
22 Reuben answered them, saying, "Did I not tell you, saying, 'Do not sin against the boy,' but you wouldn't listen? Therefore, look, now comes a reckoning for his blood."
23 Now they did not know that Joseph could understand them, since he was speaking through an interpreter.
24 He stepped away from them and wept. Then he returned to them and talked with them. Then he took Simeon from them and bound him in front of them.
25 Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, and to restore every man's silver into his sack, and to give them food for the journey. And it was done for them.
26 They loaded their donkeys with their grain, and departed from there.
27 As one of them opened his sack to give his donkey food at the lodging place, he saw his silver. Look, it was in the mouth of his sack.
28 He said to his brothers, "My silver has been returned. Look, it is in my sack." And they were dismayed, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, "What is this that God has done to us?"
29 Then they returned to their father Jacob to the land of Canaan, and told him all that had happened to them, saying,
30 "The man, the lord of the country, spoke harshly to us, and he put us in custody as spies of the country.
31 But we said to him, 'We are honest men. We are not spies.
32 We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is now with our father in the land of Canaan.'
33 The man, the lord of the country, said to us, 'By this I will know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for the hunger of your households, and go your way.
34 Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I will know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. So I will deliver your brother to you, and you may travel in the land.'"
35 Then it happened as they emptied their sacks, that look, every man's bag of silver was in his sack. When they and their father saw their bags of silver, they were afraid.
36 Then their father Jacob said to them, "You have deprived me of my children. Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin away. All this has come against me."
37 Reuben spoke to his father, saying, "Kill my two sons if I do not bring him to you. Put him in my care, and I will bring him back to you."
38 But he said, "My son will not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If harm should happen to him on the journey you are taking, then you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol." (Sheol )
