Genesis 42-43
English Standard Version
Joseph's Brothers Go to Egypt
42 When (A)Jacob learned that there was grain for sale in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” 2 And he said, “Behold, I have heard that there is grain for sale in Egypt. Go down and buy grain for us there, that we may (B)live and not die.” 3 So ten of Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. 4 But Jacob did not send Benjamin, (C)Joseph's brother, with his brothers, for (D)he feared that harm might happen to him. 5 Thus the sons of Israel came to buy among the others who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
6 Now Joseph was governor (E)over the land. He was the one who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came and (F)bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground. 7 Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and (G)spoke roughly to them. “Where do you come from?” he said. They said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.” 8 And Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. 9 And Joseph (H)remembered the dreams that he had dreamed of them. (I)And he said to them, “You are spies; you have come to see the nakedness of the land.” 10 They said to him, “No, my lord, your servants have come to buy food. 11 We are all sons of one man. We are honest men. Your servants have never been spies.”
12 He said to them, “No, it is the nakedness of the land that you have come to see.” 13 And they said, “We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan, and behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one (J)is no more.” 14 But Joseph said to them, “It is as I said to you. You are spies. 15 By this you shall be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here. 16 Send one of you, and let him bring your brother, while you remain confined, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you. Or else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies.” 17 And he put them all together in custody for three days.
18 On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do this and you will live, (K)for I fear God: 19 if you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined where you are in custody, and let the rest go and carry (L)grain for the famine of your households, 20 and (M)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, (N)“In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.” 22 And Reuben answered them, (O)“Did I not tell you not to sin against the boy? But you did not listen. So now (P)there comes a reckoning for his blood.” 23 They did not know that Joseph understood them, for there was an interpreter between them. 24 Then he turned away from them and (Q)wept. And he returned to them and spoke to them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. 25 (R)And Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, and to replace every man's money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. This was done for them.
26 Then they loaded their donkeys with their grain and departed. 27 And as (S)one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at (T)the lodging place, he saw his money in the mouth of his sack. 28 He said to his brothers, “My money has been put back; here it is in the mouth of my sack!” At this their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, “What is this that God has done to us?”
29 When they came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying, 30 “The man, the lord of the land, (U)spoke roughly to us and took us to be spies of the land. 31 But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we have never been spies. 32 We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One (V)is no more, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.’ 33 Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, (W)‘By this I shall know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, and take (X)grain for the famine of your households, and go your way. 34 Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I shall know that you are not spies but honest men, and I will deliver your brother to you, and you shall (Y)trade in the land.’”
35 (Z)As they emptied their sacks, behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack. And when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid. 36 And Jacob their father said to them, “You have (AA)bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin. All this has come against me.” 37 Then Reuben said to his father, “Kill (AB)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 (AC)his brother is dead, and he is the only one left. (AD)If harm should happen to him on the journey that you are to make, (AE)you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.”
Joseph's Brothers Return to Egypt
43 Now the famine was (AF)severe in the land. 2 And when they had eaten the grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go again, buy us a little food.” 3 But Judah said to him, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your (AG)brother is with you.’ 4 If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. 5 But if you will not send him, we will not go down, for the man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.’” 6 Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly as to tell the man that you had another brother?” 7 They replied, “The man questioned us carefully about ourselves and our kindred, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ What we told him was in answer to these questions. Could we in any way know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?” 8 And Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, that we may (AH)live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. 9 I will be a pledge of his safety. From my hand you shall require him. (AI)If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. 10 If we had not delayed, we would now have returned twice.”
11 Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: take some of the choice fruits of the land in your bags, and carry a present down to the man, a little (AJ)balm and a little honey, gum, myrrh, pistachio nuts, and almonds. 12 Take double the money with you. Carry back with you the money (AK)that was returned in the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was an oversight. 13 Take also your brother, and arise, go again to the man. 14 May (AL)God Almighty[a] (AM)grant you mercy before the man, and may he send back your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, (AN)if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.”
15 So the men took this present, and they took double the money with them, and Benjamin. They arose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.
16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the (AO)steward of his house, “Bring the men into the house, and slaughter an animal and make ready, for the men are to dine with me at noon.” 17 The man did as Joseph told him and brought the men to Joseph's house. 18 And the men were afraid because they were brought to Joseph's house, and they said, “It is because of the money, which was replaced in our sacks the first time, that we are brought in, so that he may assault us and fall upon us to make us servants and seize our donkeys.” 19 So they went up to the steward of Joseph's house and spoke with him at the door of the house, 20 and said, (AP)“Oh, my lord, (AQ)we came down the first time to buy food. 21 And (AR)when we came to the lodging place we opened our sacks, and there was each man's money in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight. So we have brought it again with us, 22 and we have brought other money down with us to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks.” 23 He replied, “Peace to you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has put treasure in your sacks for you. I received your money.” Then he brought Simeon out to them. 24 And when the man had brought the men into Joseph's house and (AS)given them water, and they had washed their feet, and when he had given their donkeys fodder, 25 they prepared (AT)the present for Joseph's coming at noon, for they heard that they should eat bread there.
26 When Joseph came home, they brought into the house to him the present that they had with them and (AU)bowed down to him to the ground. 27 And he inquired about their welfare and said, “Is your father well, the old man (AV)of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?” 28 They said, “Your servant our father is well; he is still alive.” And they (AW)bowed their heads and prostrated themselves. 29 And he lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, (AX)his mother's son, and said, “Is this your youngest brother, (AY)of whom you spoke to me? God be gracious to you, my son!” 30 Then Joseph hurried out, for (AZ)his compassion grew warm for his brother, and he sought a place to weep. And he entered his chamber and (BA)wept there. 31 Then he washed his face and came out. And (BB)controlling himself he said, “Serve the food.” 32 They served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat with the Hebrews, for that is (BC)an abomination to the Egyptians. 33 And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth. And the men looked at one another in amazement. 34 (BD)Portions were taken to them from Joseph's table, but Benjamin's portion was (BE)five times as much as any of theirs. And they drank and were merry[b] with him.
Footnotes
- Genesis 43:14 Hebrew El Shaddai
- Genesis 43:34 Hebrew and became intoxicated
Genesis 42-43
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 42
The Sons of Jacob Seek Food in Egypt.[a] 1 When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why are you standing around looking at each other?” 2 He continued, “Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may stay alive and not die.”
3 So ten brothers of Joseph went down to buy grain in Egypt. 4 But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with the others, for he said, “Some misfortune might befall him.” 5 The sons of Israel, therefore, arrived to buy grain along with all the others who had also come, for there was famine in Canaan.
6 Joseph had authority over the land, and he sold grain to all the people of the land. Therefore, the brothers of Joseph came to him and bowed down to the earth. 7 Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he hid his identity from them. He spoke harshly and said, “Where do you come from?”
They answered, “From the land of Canaan to buy food.”
8 Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. 9 Joseph remembered the dreams he had concerning them, and he said to them, “You are spies. You have come to see the nakedness of the land.”
10 They answered, “No, my lord, your servants have come to buy food. 11 We are all sons of one man. We are honest. Your servants are not spies.”
12 But he said to them, “No, you have come to spy out the nakedness of the land.”
13 They said, “Your servants are twelve in all. We are brothers, sons of one man from the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with his father, and one is no more.”
14 Joseph said to them, “Things are just as I have said: you are spies. 15 This is how you shall be put to the test. By the life of Pharaoh, you shall not leave here until your youngest brother has arrived. 16 Send one of your number to bring your brother; the rest will remain as prisoners. You will thus be put to the test concerning what you have said, to see if you have told the truth. If not, by the life of Pharaoh, you are spies.” 17 And he then held them in prison for three days.
18 On the third day, Joseph said to them, “Do this and you shall live, for I fear God! 19 If you are honest, then leave one of your brothers in prison and go to bring the grain to ease the hunger of your household. 20 Then bring me your youngest brother. In this way, your words will be seen to be true and you will not die.” They agreed.
21 They said among themselves, “Surely this terrible thing has come upon us because of our brother. We saw his torment when he begged us, and we did not listen to him. That is why this trouble has come upon us.”
22 Reuben spoke to them, “Did I not tell you not to sin against the boy? But you refused to listen. Now we will pay for his blood.” 23 They did not know that Joseph understood them because he was using an interpreter.
24 He walked away from them and cried. Then he returned and spoke with them. He selected Simeon and had him placed in chains while they were watching.
25 The Sons of Jacob Return to Canaan.[b] Joseph gave orders that their sacks be filled with grain, and that each one’s money be placed in his sack, and that they be given provisions for their journey. This was done for them. 26 Then they loaded the grain on their donkeys and departed.
27 At their night encampment, one of them opened his sack to take out forage for his donkey and saw his money lying at the mouth of the sack. 28 He told his brothers, “My money has been returned to me. Look, it was in my sack.”
Their hearts sank, and they began to shake, saying to one another, “What is this that God has done to us?”
29 When they reached their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him everything that had happened to them. 30 “That man who is the lord of the land spoke harshly to us and placed us in prison as spies of the land. 31 We told him, ‘We are honest men, not spies! 32 We are twelve brothers, sons of one father. One is no more, and the youngest is at home with our father in the land of Canaan.’
33 “But the man who is lord of the land answered us, ‘This is how I shall know if you are honest: leave one of your brothers here with me, take the grain you need for your household, and go. 34 Then bring your youngest brother back to me. In that way I shall know that you are not spies, but that you are honest. I will return your brother and you will have the freedom of the land.’ ”
35 As they emptied their sacks, each one found his money bag in his sack. When they and their father saw their money bags, they were filled with fear. 36 And their father Jacob said, “You have taken away my sons. Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would like to take away Benjamin. Everything is against me!”
37 Reuben said to his father, “You can kill my two sons if we do not bring him back to you. Entrust him to me, and I will bring him back.”
38 But he answered, “My son shall not go down there with you because his brother is dead and he alone remains. If something bad were to happen to him during the journey that you were making, you would make these gray hairs go down into the netherworld.”
Chapter 43
The Sons of Jacob Set Out Again for Egypt.[c] 1 The famine continued to grow more severe in the land. 2 When they had finished eating the grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Return there to buy a little more food for us.”
3 But Judah said to him, “That man told us harshly, ‘You shall not come into my presence if you do not have your brother with you.’ 4 If you are willing to let us leave with our brother, then we will go down there and buy grain. 5 But if you will not let him leave, we will not go because of what that man told us: ‘You shall not come into my presence if you do not have your brother with you.’ ”
6 Israel said, “Why have you done this evil thing to me, to let that man know that you had another brother?”
7 They answered, “That man interrogated us, demanding to know about us and our family: ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have some other brothers?’ and we answered his questions. How could we know that he would have said, ‘Bring your brother here’?”
8 Judah said to Israel his father, “Let the young one come with me. We will leave immediately, so that we might live and not die, we, you, and our children. 9 I will make myself the pledge for him. You will receive him from my hand. If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear this guilt in your eyes all my life. 10 If you had not hesitated, we could have already gone there and back twice by now.”
11 Israel their father answered, “If this is the way it is, do it. Pack your bags with the choice products of the land to give to that man as a gift: some balsam, a bit of honey, resin, gum, pistachio nuts, and almonds. 12 Take double the amount of money with you. Take back the money that you found in the mouth of your sacks; maybe there was a mistake. 13 Take your brother as well; leave and return to that man. 14 May God Almighty help you to find mercy with that man so that he will release your other brother and Benjamin. As for me, if I must mourn my children, I will do so.”
15 The Sons of Jacob Are Guests of Joseph.[d] The men therefore took the gifts, double the money, and Benjamin and left. They went down to Egypt and presented themselves to Joseph. 16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to his head steward: “Bring these men into the house. Slaughter an animal and prepare it. They are to eat the noonday meal with me.”
17 The steward did what Joseph had ordered and brought the men into his house. 18 They were worried when they were brought into Joseph’s house and they said, “He brought us here because of the money that was placed back in our sacks the other time. They are going to fall upon us and make us slaves and take our donkeys as well.”
19 So they approached Joseph’s head steward and spoke to him at the entrance to the house 20 saying, “My lord, we came one other time to buy provisions. 21 When we arrived at the place where we spent the night, we opened our sacks and each one discovered his money in the mouth of the sack. It was the exact amount of money we had brought. But we have brought it back 22 and we brought some other money as well to buy more food. We do not know who placed our money in the sacks.”
23 But he told them, “Be at peace! Do not fear! Your God and the God of your fathers placed riches in your sacks. I received your money.” And he brought Simeon to them.
24 The steward led the men into Joseph’s house, and gave them water to wash their feet, and provided forage for their donkeys. 25 They prepared their gifts while they waited for Joseph to arrive at noon, for they knew that they were to eat in that place.
26 When Joseph arrived, they presented to him the gifts that they had with them, and they bowed their faces to the ground before him. 27 He asked them how they were and said, “How is your aged father, the one about whom you have spoken? Is he still alive?”
28 They answered, “Your servant, our father, is well, and he is still alive,” and they knelt and bowed down.
29 Looking up, he saw Benjamin, his brother, the son of his mother, and said, “Is this your youngest brother about whom you have spoken?” He added, “God bless you, my son!” 30 Joseph went out in a rush, for he was deeply moved at seeing his brother and he was close to tears. He went into his room and wept there.
31 Then he washed his face, went out, and, controlling his emotions, ordered, “Serve the meal.”
32 He was served separately, then his brothers, and then the Egyptians, for Egyptians cannot eat with Hebrews. It would be an abomination for them. 33 He sat them before himself from the firstborn to the youngest, each in the order of his birth. They looked at each other with awe. 34 He served them a portion taken from his own table, but the portion he gave to Benjamin was five times larger than that given to all the others. They then drank with him until they were lighthearted.
Footnotes
- Genesis 42:1 Joseph’s dreams (Gen 37:5-11) are fulfilled: without knowing it, his brothers prostrate themselves at his feet. In a moving scene in which he feigns severity and hides his feelings, Joseph leads them to bare their guilt in having sold their brother as a slave. The rhythm of the account demands the lengthy suspense in these chapters, which might seem at times to be deliberately cruel.
- Genesis 42:25 The sons of Jacob wend their way home in sadness. Simeon has been retained as a hostage, the viceroy demands Benjamin, and the gold of the payment is stashed in the sacks. One would be worried over less.
- Genesis 43:1 With deep sadness of soul, the Patriarch gives in to the desire of the demanding viceroy and consents to let his youngest son go to Egypt. The difference between the traditions, along the lines already noted, reappears here: according to the Elohist it was Reuben who offered himself as surety (Gen 42:37); in the Yahwist story it is Judah who once more takes the lead (43:8-10).
- Genesis 43:15 After the misadventures of the first visit, the sons of Jacob are hard put to believe the kindness with which they are being treated, and they are reassured only at the banquet that is offered to them.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
