Joseph’s Brothers Go to Egypt

42 When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you keep looking at one another?^{(A) 2} I have heard,” he said, “that there is grain in Egypt; go down and buy grain for us there, that we may live and not die.”^{(B) 3} So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. ⁴ But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he feared that harm might come to him.^{(C) 5} Thus the sons of Israel were among the people who came to buy grain, for the famine had reached the land of Canaan.^(D)

⁶ Now Joseph was governor over the land; it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground.^{(E) 7} When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke harshly to them. “Where do you come from?” he said. They said, “From the land of Canaan to buy food.”^{(F) 8} Although Joseph had recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him.

²⁵ Joseph then gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to return every man’s money to his sack, and to give them provisions for their journey. This was done for them.^(A)