Genesis 42

Young's Literal Translation

42 And Jacob seeth that there is corn in Egypt, and Jacob saith to his sons, `Why do you look at each other?'

² he saith also, `Lo, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt, go down thither, and buy for us from thence, and we live and do not die;'

³ and the ten brethren of Joseph go down to buy corn in Egypt,

⁴ and Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob hath not sent with his brethren, for he said, `Lest mischief meet him.'

⁵ And the sons of Israel come to buy in the midst of those coming, for the famine hath been in the land of Canaan,

⁶ and Joseph is the ruler over the land, he who is selling to all the people of the land, and Joseph's brethren come and bow themselves to him -- face to the earth.

⁷ And Joseph seeth his brethren, and discerneth them, and maketh himself strange unto them, and speaketh with them sharp things, and saith unto them, `From whence have ye come?' and they say, `From the land of Canaan -- to buy food.'

⁸ And Joseph discerneth his brethren, but they have not discerned him,

⁹ and Joseph remembereth the dreams which he dreamed of them, and saith unto them, `Ye [are] spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye have come.'

¹⁰ And they say unto him, `No, my lord, but thy servants have come to buy food;

¹¹ we [are] all of us sons of one man, we [are] right men; thy servants have not been spies;'

¹² and he saith unto them, `No, but the nakedness of the land ye have come to see;'

¹³ and they say, `Thy servants [are] twelve brethren; we [are] sons of one man in the land of Canaan, and lo, the young one [is] with our father to-day, and the one is not.'

¹⁴ And Joseph saith unto them, `This [is] that which I have spoken unto you, saying, Ye [are] spies,

¹⁵ by this ye are proved: Pharaoh liveth! if ye go out from this -- except by your young brother coming hither;

¹⁶ send one of you, and let him bring your brother, and ye, remain ye bound, and let your words be proved, whether truth be with you: and if not -- Pharaoh liveth! surely ye [are] spies;'

¹⁷ and he removeth them unto charge three days.

¹⁸ And Joseph saith unto them on the third day, `This do and live; God I fear!

¹⁹ if ye [are] right men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your ward, and ye, go, carry in corn [for] the famine of your houses,

²⁰ and your young brother ye bring unto me, and your words are established, and ye die not;' and they do so.

²¹ And they say one unto another, `Verily we [are] guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul, in his making supplication unto us, and we did not hearken: therefore hath this distress come upon us.'

²² And Reuben answereth them, saying, `Spake I not unto you, saying, Sin not against the lad? and ye hearkened not; and his blood also, lo, it is required.'

²³ And they have not known that Joseph understandeth, for the interpreter [is] between them;

²⁴ and he turneth round from them, and weepeth, and turneth back unto them, and speaketh unto them, and taketh from them Simeon, and bindeth him before their eyes.

²⁵ And Joseph commandeth, and they fill their vessels [with] corn, also to put back the money of each unto his sack, and to give to them provision for the way; and one doth to them so.

²⁶ And they lift up their corn upon their asses, and go from thence,

²⁷ and the one openeth his sack to give provender to his ass at a lodging-place, and he seeth his money, and lo, it [is] in the mouth of his bag,

²⁸ and he saith unto his brethren, `My money hath been put back, and also, lo, in my bag:' and their heart goeth out, and they tremble, one to another saying, `What [is] this God hath done to us!'

²⁹ And they come in unto Jacob their father, to the land of Canaan, and they declare to him all the things meeting them, saying,

³⁰ `The man, the lord of the land, hath spoken with us sharp things, and maketh us as spies of the land;

³¹ and we say unto him, We [are] right men, we have not been spies,

³² we [are] twelve brethren, sons of our father, the one is not, and the young one [is] to-day with our father in the land of Canaan.

³³ `And the man, the lord of the land, saith unto us, By this I know that ye [are] right men -- one of your brethren leave with me, and [for] the famine of your houses take ye and go,

³⁴ and bring your young brother unto me, and I know that ye [are] not spies, but ye [are] right men; your brother I give to you, and ye trade with the land.'

³⁵ And it cometh to pass, they are emptying their sacks, and lo, the bundle of each man's silver [is] in his sack, and they see their bundles of silver, they and their father, and are afraid;

³⁶ and Jacob their father saith unto them, `Me ye have bereaved; Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and Benjamin ye take -- against me have been all these.'

³⁷ And Reuben speaketh unto his father, saying, `My two sons thou dost put to death, if I bring him not in unto thee; give him into my hand, and I -- I bring him back unto thee;'

³⁸ and he saith, `My son doth not go down with you, for his brother [is] dead, and he by himself is left; when mischief hath met him in the way in which ye go, then ye have brought down my grey hairs in sorrow to sheol.'