Genesis 42:18-43:34

Tree of Life Version

¹⁸ Then Joseph said to them on the third day, “Do this and you will live. I fear God. ¹⁹ If you’re honest, let one of your brothers remain as a prisoner in the guardhouse where you’ve been, while you, go and bring grain for the hunger in your homes. ²⁰ And your youngest brother, bring to me so that your words can be verified—and you won’t die.” So they did.

²¹ Then each man said to his brother, “We’re truly guilty for our brother. We saw the distress of his soul when he begged us for mercy, but we didn’t listen. That’s why this distress has come to us.”

²² Reuben answered them and said, “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t sin against the boy’? But you didn’t listen. Now, see how his blood is now being accounted for.”

²³ They did not know that Joseph was listening, since there was an interpreter between them. ²⁴ He turned away from them and wept. When he turned back to them and spoke to them, he took Simeon from them and tied him up before their eyes.

²⁵ Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to return each man’s money to his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. So it was done for them. ²⁶ Then they loaded their grain on their donkeys and left from there. ²⁷ As one of them opened his sack to give fodder to his donkey at the lodge, he saw his money—behold, it was in the opening of his bag. ²⁸ So he said to his brothers, “My money has been returned! Look, it’s in my bag.”

Their hearts sank. Trembling, each one turned to his brother and said, “What is this that God has done to us?”

²⁹ When they came to their father Jacob, in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying, ³⁰ “The man, the lord of the land, spoke with us harshly, and took us as spies of the land. ³¹ But we said to him, ‘We’re honest. We’ve never been spies. ³² We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One is no more and the youngest is with our father today in the land of Canaan.’ ³³ Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘By this I’ll know if you’re honest: leave one of your brothers with me. As for the hunger of your homes: take and go! ³⁴ Then bring your youngest brother to me, so that I may know you are not spies, but you are honest. I’ll give you back your brother and you can move about freely in the land.’”

³⁵ Now as they were emptying their sacks, behold, there was each man’s bundle of money in his sack. When they saw their money bundles, they and their father, they were afraid.

³⁶ Then their father Jacob said to them, “You’ve made me childless! Joseph is no more. Now Simeon is gone, and next you’ll take Benjamin! Everything is against me!”

³⁷ Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “You can put my two sons to death if I don’t bring him back to you. Put him in my hand and I—I will return him to you.”

³⁸ But he said, “My son will not go down with you—for his brother is dead and he alone remains. And if harm should happen to him along the way you’re going, you’ll bring my grey hair down to Sheol in grief.”

Judah Pledges for Benjamin

43 Now the famine was severe in the land. ² When they finished eating the grain they had brought from Egypt their father said to them, “Go back. Buy us a little food.”

³ But Judah said to him, “The man warned us firmly saying, ‘You won’t see my face unless your brother is with you.’ ⁴ If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy grain for you for food. ⁵ But if you won’t send him, we won’t go down, because the man said to us, ‘You won’t see my face unless your brother is with you.’”

⁶ Then Israel said, “Why did you do evil to me by telling the man that you have another brother?”

⁷ They said, “The man questioned particularly about us and about our relatives saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have a brother?’ So we spoke to him on the basis of these words. How could we possibly know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’”?

⁸ Then Judah said to his father Israel, “Please, send the boy with me and we’ll get up and go, so that we’ll live and not die—we and you, and our children. ⁹ I myself will be his pledge. You can demand him back from my own hand. If I don’t bring him back to you and place him before you, then you can blame me all my days. ¹⁰ If we had not delayed, we could have returned twice by now.”

¹¹ Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: take some of the best products of the land in your bags, and bring an offering down to the man—a little balsam and a little honey, gum and myrrh, pistachios and almonds. ¹² Also take in your hand a double portion of silver, and bring back in your hand the silver that had been returned in the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake. ¹³ Take your brother too—now, get up, go back to the man! ¹⁴ May El Shaddai grant you mercy before the man, so that he may release your other brother to you, along with Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.”

The Brothers Return With Benjamin

¹⁵ Then the men took this offering. They also took the double portion of silver in their hand, as well as Benjamin. So they got up and went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph. ¹⁶ When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the one over his house, “Bring the men into the house. Slaughter an animal and prepare it, for the men will eat with me this afternoon. ¹⁷ So the man did as Joseph said, and the man brought the men into Joseph’s house. ¹⁸ But the men were afraid, because they had been brought into Joseph’s house. They said, “It’s because of the silver that was returned to our sacks the first time that we are being brought in—to pounce on us and fall on us and take us as slaves, along with our donkeys.”

¹⁹ So they approached the man who was over Joseph’s house and spoke to him at the entrance of the house. ²⁰ “I beg your pardon, my lord!” they said. “We indeed came down on the previous occasion to buy grain for food. ²¹ When we came to the lodge and opened our sacks, behold, there was each man’s money at the opening of the sack, the full amount of our money. So we’ve returned it in our hand. ²² Moreover, we’ve brought down other money in our hand to buy grain for food. We didn’t know who put our money into our sacks.”

²³ “Be at peace,” he replied. “Don’t be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks. Your money had come to me.”

Then he brought Simeon out to them, ²⁴ and the man brought the men into Joseph’s house, gave them water and they washed their feet. He also provided fodder for their donkeys. ²⁵ So they prepared the offering for Joseph’s coming at noon, for they had heard that they were going to eat there. ²⁶ When Joseph came home, they brought him the offering in their hand into the house, and they bowed down to the ground to him. ²⁷ Then he asked if they were well, and said, “Is he well—your elderly father that you told me about? Is he still alive?”

²⁸ “Your servant, our father, is well,” they said. “He’s still alive.” Then they knelt and bowed down.

²⁹ Then he lifted his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, “Is this your youngest brother whom you mentioned to me?” Then he said, “May God be gracious to you, my son.” ³⁰ Then Joseph hurried out because his compassion grew warm and tender toward his brother so that he wanted to cry. So he went into an inner room and wept there.

³¹ Then he washed his face, came out, and controlled himself. “Serve the food,” he said. ³² So they served him by himself, them by themselves, and the Egyptians who were eating with him by themselves (for Egyptians could not eat with the Hebrews because it was an abomination to Egyptians). ³³ They were seated before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth. The men looked at each other in astonishment. ³⁴ Then portions were brought to them from before him—and Benjamin’s portion was five times larger than any of their portions. Yet they drank and made merry with him.