Genesis 41:38-42

New King James Version

³⁸ And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find such a one as this, a man ^(A)in whom is the Spirit of God?”

³⁹ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. ^40 (B)You shall be ^[a]over my house, and all my people shall be ruled according to your word; only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you.” ⁴¹ And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have ^(C)set you over all the land of Egypt.”

⁴² Then Pharaoh ^(D)took his signet ring off his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand; and he ^(E)clothed him in garments of fine linen ^(F)and put a gold chain around his neck. ⁴³ And he had him ride in the second ^(G)chariot which he had; ^(H)and they cried out before him, “Bow the knee!” So he set him ^(I)over all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁴ Pharaoh also said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no man may lift his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” ⁴⁵ And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name ^[b]Zaphnath-Paaneah. And he gave him as a wife ^(J)Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On. So Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁶ Joseph was thirty years old when he ^(K)stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁷ Now in the seven plentiful years the ground brought forth ^[c]abundantly. ⁴⁸ So he gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities; he laid up in every city the food of the fields which surrounded them. ⁴⁹ Joseph gathered very much grain, ^(L)as the sand of the sea, until he stopped counting, for it was immeasurable.

^50 (M)And to Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On, bore to him. ⁵¹ Joseph called the name of the firstborn ^[d]Manasseh: “For God has made me forget all my toil and all my ^(N)father’s house.” ⁵² And the name of the second he called ^[e]Ephraim: “For God has caused me to be ^(O)fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

⁵³ Then the seven years of plenty which were in the land of Egypt ended, ^54 (P)and the seven years of famine began to come, ^(Q)as Joseph had said. The famine was in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. ⁵⁵ So when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Then Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph; ^(R)whatever he says to you, do.” ⁵⁶ The famine was over all the face of the earth, and Joseph opened ^[f]all the storehouses and ^(S)sold to the Egyptians. And the famine became severe in the land of Egypt. ^57 (T)So all countries came to Joseph in Egypt to ^(U)buy grain, because the famine was severe in all lands.

Joseph’s Brothers Go to Egypt

42 When ^(V)Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” ² And he said, “Indeed I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down to that place and buy for us there, that we may ^(W)live and not die.”

³ So Joseph’s ten brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. ⁴ But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, ^(X)“Lest some calamity befall him.” ⁵ And the sons of Israel went to buy grain among those who journeyed, for the famine was ^(Y)in the land of Canaan.

⁶ Now Joseph was governor ^(Z)over the land; and it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and ^(AA)bowed down before him with their faces to the earth. ⁷ Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he acted as ^(AB)a stranger to them and spoke ^[g]roughly to them. Then he said to them, “Where do you come from?”

And they said, “From the land of Canaan to buy food.”

⁸ So Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. ⁹ Then Joseph ^(AC)remembered the dreams which he had dreamed about them, and said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see the ^[h]nakedness of the land!”

¹⁰ And 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 But he said to them, “No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land.”

¹³ And they said, “Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and in fact, the youngest is with our father today, and one ^(AD)is no more.”

¹⁴ But Joseph said to them, “It is as I spoke to you, saying, ‘You are spies!’ ¹⁵ In this manner you shall be tested: ^(AE)By the life of Pharaoh, you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. ¹⁶ Send one of you, and let him bring your brother; and you shall be ^[i]kept in prison, that your words may be tested to see whether there is any truth in you; or else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies!” ¹⁷ So he ^[j]put them all together in prison ^(AF)three days.

¹⁸ Then Joseph said to them the third day, “Do this and live, ^(AG)for I fear God: ¹⁹ If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined to your prison house; but you, go and carry grain for the famine of your houses. ²⁰ And ^(AH)bring your youngest brother to me; so your words will be verified, and you shall not die.”

And they did so. ²¹ Then they said to one another, ^(AI)“We are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear; ^(AJ)therefore this distress has come upon us.”

²² And Reuben answered them, saying, ^(AK)“Did I not speak to you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen? Therefore behold, his blood is now ^(AL)required of us.” ²³ But they did not know that Joseph understood them, for he spoke to them through an interpreter. ²⁴ And he turned himself away from them and ^(AM)wept. Then he returned to them again, and talked with them. And he took ^(AN)Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.

The Brothers Return to Canaan

²⁵ Then Joseph ^(AO)gave a command to fill their sacks with grain, to ^(AP)restore every man’s money to his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. ^(AQ)Thus he did for them. ²⁶ So they loaded their donkeys with the grain and departed from there. ²⁷ But as ^(AR)one of them opened his sack to give his donkey feed at the encampment, he saw his money; and there it was, in the mouth of his sack. ²⁸ So he said to his brothers, “My money has been restored, and there it is, in my sack!” Then their hearts ^[k]failed them and they were afraid, saying to one another, “What is this that God has done to us?”

²⁹ Then they went to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them, saying: ³⁰ “The man who is lord of the land ^(AS)spoke ^[l]roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country. ³¹ But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we are not spies. ³² We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is with our father this day in the land of Canaan.’ ³³ Then the man, the lord of the country, said to us, ^(AT)‘By this I will know that you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with me, take food for the famine of your households, and be gone. ³⁴ And bring your ^(AU)youngest brother to me; so I shall know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. I will grant your brother to you, and you may ^(AV)trade in the land.’ ”

³⁵ Then it happened as they emptied their sacks, that surprisingly ^(AW)each man’s bundle of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. ³⁶ And Jacob their father said to them, “You have ^(AX)bereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take ^(AY)Benjamin. All these things are against me.”

³⁷ Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.”

³⁸ But he said, “My son shall not go down with you, for ^(AZ)his brother is dead, and he is left alone. ^(BA)If any calamity should befall him along the way in which you go, then you would ^(BB)bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave.”