Genesis
Chapter 42
1 When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he asked his sons, “Why are you just standing around looking at each other?”
2 He said, “Look, I’ve heard there’s grain in Egypt. Go there and buy some for us, so we can survive and not die.”
3 Joseph’s ten brothers went to Egypt to buy grain.
4 Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his other sons, because he feared something bad might happen to him.
5 The Israelites also came to buy grain because there was a famine in Canaan.
6 Joseph was the ruler of the land, and he was the one who sold grain to everyone there. When Joseph’s brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.
7 Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he acted like a stranger towards them and spoke harshly to them. He asked them, “Where do you come from?” And they replied, “We come from the land of Canaan to buy food.”
8 Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him.
9 Joseph remembered his dreams about them and said to them, “You are spies; you have come to find out about our weak spots.”
10 They said to him, “No, sir, we have come to buy food.”
11 We are all sons of one man; we are honest men, your servants are not spies.
12 He told them, “No, you have come to see the bareness of the land.”
13 They said, “We are twelve brothers, sons of one man in Canaan. The youngest is with our father today, and one is gone.”
14 Joseph said to them, “This is what I meant when I told you, ‘You are spies.’”
15 This will test you: You will not leave here unless your youngest brother comes.
16 Choose one of you to go get your brother, and the rest will stay in jail. This will test if you’re telling the truth. If not, as sure as Pharaoh lives, you must be spies.
17 He kept them all together in prison for three days.
18 On the third day, Joseph said to them, “Do this and you will live, because I respect God.”
19 If you are honest men, have one of your brothers stay tied up in your prison, and the rest of you go bring grain for the hunger in your homes.
20 Bring your younger brother to me; then I’ll know you’re telling the truth and you won’t die. And they did it.
21 They said to each other, “We are truly guilty about our brother because we saw his deep distress when he pleaded with us, and we didn’t listen. That’s why this trouble has come to us.”
22 Reuben replied, “Didn’t I tell you not to harm the boy? But you wouldn’t listen. Now we must answer for his blood.”
23 They did not know that Joseph could understand them, because he was speaking to them through an interpreter.
24 He turned away from them and cried. Then he went back, talked with them, took Simeon, and tied him up while they watched.
25 Joseph told them to fill their bags with grain, put each man’s money back in his bag, and give them food for their journey. And so he did for them.
26 They loaded their donkeys with the grain and left that place.
27 When one of them opened his bag to feed his donkey at the inn, he saw his money; it was right on top inside his bag.
28 He told his brothers, “My money is back, and look, it’s in my bag.” Their hearts sank, and they were scared, saying to each other, “What has God done to us?”
29 They went to their father Jacob in Canaan and told him everything that happened to them, saying,
30 The man, who rules the land, spoke to us harshly and thought we were spies.
31 We told him, “We are honest people; we are not spies.”
32 We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One is gone, and the youngest is with our father in Canaan today.
33 The man, the leader of the land, told us, “I will know you are honest men if you leave one of your brothers with me. Take food for your families to survive the hunger and then leave.”
34 Bring your youngest brother to me, so I can know you’re not spies but honest men. Then, I will release your brother, and you can trade in the land.
35 When they emptied their bags, they found that each man’s money was in his bag. When they and their father saw the money, they were scared.
36 Jacob their father said to them, “You have left me without my children: Joseph is gone, Simeon is gone, and now you want to take Benjamin: everything is against me.”
37 Reuben said to his father, “Kill my two sons if I don’t bring him back to you. Trust me with him, and I’ll return him to you.”
38 He said, “My son won’t go with you because his brother is dead, and he’s the only one left. If he gets hurt on your journey, you will make me so sad that I will die.”