Genesis Chapter 42
1 When Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, Why do you look upon 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 in Egypt.
4 But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob did not send with his brothers. For he said, Lest perhaps mischief happen to him.
5 The sons of Israel came to buy among those who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
6 Joseph was the potentate over the land. He was the one selling to all the people of the earth. Then Joseph's brothers came and bowed down before him, their faces to the earth.
7 Joseph saw his brothers and he knew them but remained a stranger and spoke roughly to them. He said to them, Where do you come from? They said, From the land of Canaan to buy food.
8 Joseph knew his brothers, but they did not know him.
9 Joseph remembered the dreams that he dreamed of 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. 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, Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. Behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not.
14 Joseph said to them, That is what I spoke to you saying, You are spies.
15 By this you shall be proved. As Pharaoh lives, you shall not go forth from here unless your youngest brother comes here.
16 Send one of you, and let him bring your brother, and you shall be kept in prison so that your words may be proved, whether any truth is in you. Or else, as Pharaoh lives, surely you are spies.
17 He put them together into custody three days.
18 Joseph said to them the third day, Do this and live. I fear God.
19 If you are honest, let one of your brothers be bound in the house of your prison. You go carry grain for the famine of your houses.
20 But bring your youngest brother to me and let your words be confirmed and be proved true and you will not die. Then they did so.
21 They said one to another, We are truly guilty concerning our brother in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he begged us but we would not hear. Therefore this distress has come upon us.
22 Reuben answered them saying, Did I not speak to you saying, Do not sin against the youth? But you would not hear. Therefore, his blood is also required.
23 They did not know that Joseph understood, for the interpreter was between them.
24 He turned from them, and wept. And he returned to them again and talked with them, and took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.
25 Then Joseph commanded their sacks to be filled with grain, and returned their silver, each into his sack, and to give them provision for the way. And so he did to them.
26 They loaded their donkeys with grain and departed from there.
27 As one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder in the inn, he saw his silver. For, behold, it was in the mouth of the sack.
28 He said to his brothers, my silver has been put back. And, also look in my sack. And their hearts failed, and they each were afraid, saying to one another, What is this God has done to us?
29 They came to Jacob their father, to the land of Canaan, and told him all that happened to them saying,
30 The man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country.
31 We said to him, We are honest, we are not 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 The man, the lord of the country, said to us, By this I shall know that you are honest. Leave one, your brother, with me, and take food for the famine of your households, and go.
34 Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I shall know that you are not spies, but that you are honest. And I will deliver you your brother, and you shall trade in the land.
35 As they emptied their sacks, every man's bundle of silver was in his sack. When they and their father saw the bundles of silver, they were afraid.
36 Jacob their father said to them, You have deprived⁺ me of my children. Joseph is not. Simeon is not. 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 do not bring him to you. Deliver him into my hand 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 is left alone. And if mischief should happen to him by the way you go, then you shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.