Joseph’s Brothers Go to Egypt

42 When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt,^(A) he said to his sons, “Why do you just keep looking at each other?” ² He continued, “I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us,^(B) so that we may live and not die.”^(C)

³ Then ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain^(D) from Egypt. ⁴ But Jacob did not send Benjamin,^(E) Joseph’s brother, with the others, because he was afraid that harm might come to him.^{(F) 5} So Israel’s sons were among those who went to buy grain,^(G) for there was famine in the land of Canaan^(H) also.^(I)

The Second Journey to Egypt

43 Now the famine was still severe in the land.^{(A) 2} So when they had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt,^(B) their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little more food.”^(C)

³ But Judah^(D) said to him, “The man warned us solemnly, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’^{(E) 4} If you will send our brother along with us, we will go down and buy food for you.^{(F) 5} But if you will not send him, we will not go down, because the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.^(G)’”

⁶ Israel^(H) asked, “Why did you bring this trouble^(I) on me by telling the man you had another brother?”

⁷ They replied, “The man questioned us closely about ourselves and our family. ‘Is your father still living?’^(J) he asked us. ‘Do you have another brother?’^(K) We simply answered his questions. How were we to know he would say, ‘Bring your brother down here’?”^(L)

⁸ Then Judah^(M) said to Israel^(N) his father, “Send the boy along with me and we will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die.^{(O) 9} I myself will guarantee his safety; you can hold me personally responsible for him.^(P) If I do not bring him back to you and set him here before you, I will bear the blame^(Q) before you all my life.^(R)

¹⁸ Then Judah^(A) went up to him and said: “Pardon your servant, my lord,^(B) let me speak a word to my lord. Do not be angry^(C) with your servant, though you are equal to Pharaoh himself. ¹⁹ My lord asked his servants,^(D) ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’^{(E) 20} And we answered, ‘We have an aged father, and there is a young son born to him in his old age.^(F) His brother is dead,^(G) and he is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.’^(H)

²¹ “Then you said to your servants,^(I) ‘Bring him down to me so I can see him for myself.’^{(J) 22} And we said to my lord,^(K) ‘The boy cannot leave his father; if he leaves him, his father will die.’^{(L) 23} But you told your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’^{(M) 24} When we went back to your servant my father,^(N) we told him what my lord^(O) had said.^(P)

²⁵ “Then our father said, ‘Go back and buy a little more food.’^{(Q) 26} But we said, ‘We cannot go down. Only if our youngest brother is with us will we go. We cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’^(R)

²⁷ “Your servant my father^(S) said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons.^{(T) 28} One of them went away from me, and I said, “He has surely been torn to pieces.”^(U) And I have not seen him since.^{(V) 29} If you take this one from me too and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray head down to the grave^(W) in misery.’^(X)

³⁰ “So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father,^(Y) and if my father, whose life is closely bound up with the boy’s life,^{(Z) 31} sees that the boy isn’t there, he will die.^(AA) Your servants^(AB) will bring the gray head of our father down to the grave^(AC) in sorrow. ³² Your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father. I said, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before you, my father, all my life!’^(AD)

³³ “Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord’s slave^(AE) in place of the boy,^(AF) and let the boy return with his brothers. ³⁴ How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery^(AG) that would come on my father.”^(AH)

Joseph Makes Himself Known

45 Then Joseph could no longer control himself^(AI) before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Have everyone leave my presence!”^(AJ) So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. ² And he wept^(AK) so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household heard about it.^(AL)

³ Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living?”^(AM) But his brothers were not able to answer him,^(AN) because they were terrified at his presence.^(AO)

⁴ Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.”^(AP) When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt!^{(AQ) 5} And now, do not be distressed^(AR) and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here,^(AS) because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.^(AT)