Chapter 42
1 Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt , and Jacob said to his sons , " Why do you look at one another ?"
2 He said , " Behold , I have heard that there is grain in Egypt . Go down there , and buy for us from there , so that we may live , and not die ."
3 Joseph ’s ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt .
4 But Jacob didn’t send Benjamin , Joseph ’s brother, with his brothers; for he said, " Lest perhaps harm happen to him ."
5 The sons of Israel came to buy amongst those who came , for the famine was in the land of Canaan .
6 Joseph was the governor over the land. 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 earth.
7 Joseph saw his brothers, and he recognised them , but acted like a stranger to them , and spoke roughly with them . He said to them , "Where did you come from ?" They said , " From the land of Canaan , to buy food."
8 Joseph recognised his brothers, but they didn’t recognise him .
9 Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamt about them , and said to them , " You are spies ! You have come to see the nakedness of the land."
10 They said to him, " No , my lord, but your servants have come to buy food.
11 We are all one man ’s sons ; we are honest men . Your servants are not spies ."
12 He said to them , " No , but you have come to see the nakedness of the land!"
13 They said, " We , your servants , are twelve brothers , the sons of one man in the land of Canaan ; and behold , the youngest is today with our father , and one is no more."
14 Joseph said to them , " It is like I told you , saying , ‘ You are spies !’
15 By this you shall be tested. By the life of Pharaoh , you shall not go out from here , unless your youngest brother comes here .
16 Send one of you , and let him get your brother, and you shall be bound, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you , or else by the life of Pharaoh surely you are spies ."
17 He put them all together into custody for three days .
18 Joseph said to them the third day , " Do this , and live , for I fear God.
19 If you are honest men, then let one of your brothers be bound in your prison ; but you go , carry grain for the famine of your houses .
20 Bring your youngest brother to me ; so will your words be verified, and you won’t die ." They did so .
21 They said to one another , " We are certainly guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul , when he begged us , and we wouldn’t listen . Therefore this distress has come upon us ."
22 Reuben answered them , saying, "Didn’t I tell you , saying, ‘Don’t sin against the child ,’ and you wouldn’t listen ? Therefore also , behold , his blood is required ."
23 They didn’t know that Joseph understood them ; for there was an interpreter between them .
24 He turned himself away from them , and wept . Then he returned to them , and spoke to them , and took Simeon from amongst them , and bound him before their eyes .
25 Then Joseph gave a command to fill their bags with grain , and to restore each man’s money into his sack , and to give them food for the way . So it was done to 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 in the lodging place , he saw his money . Behold , it was in the mouth of his sack .
28 He said to his brothers, " My money is restored ! Behold , it is in my sack!" Their hearts failed them , and they turned trembling to one another , saying, " What is this that God has done to us ?"
29 They came to Jacob their father, to the land of Canaan , and told him all that had happened to them , saying,
30 " The man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly with us , and took us for spies of the country.
31 We said to him , ‘We are honest men. We are no spies .
32 We are twelve brothers , sons of our father ; one is no more, and the youngest is today with our father in the land of Canaan .’
33 The man , the lord of the land, 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 famine of your houses , 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 shall trade in the land.’"
35 As they emptied their sacks , behold , each man ’s bundle of money was in his sack . When they and their father saw their bundles of money , they were afraid .
36 Jacob , their father, said to them , " You have bereaved me of my children ! Joseph is no more , Simeon is no more , and you want to take Benjamin away . All these things are against me ."
37 Reuben spoke to his father , saying, " Kill my two sons , if I don’t bring him to you . Entrust him to my care , and I will bring him to you again ."
38 He said, " My son shall not go down with you ; for his brother is dead , and he only is left . If harm happens to him along the way in which you go , then you will bring down my grey hairs with sorrow to Sheol ."