Genesis 42
New King James Version
Joseph’s Brothers Go to Egypt
42 When (A)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 (B)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, (C)“Lest some calamity befall him.” 5 And the sons of Israel went to buy grain among those who journeyed, for the famine was (D)in the land of Canaan.
6 Now Joseph was governor (E)over the land; and it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and (F)bowed down before him with their faces to the earth. 7 Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he acted as (G)a stranger to them and spoke [a]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 (H)remembered the dreams which he had dreamed about them, and said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see the [b]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 (I)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: (J)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 [c]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 [d]put them all together in prison (K)three days.
18 Then Joseph said to them the third day, “Do this and live, (L)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 (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)“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; (O)therefore this distress has come upon us.”
22 And Reuben answered them, saying, (P)“Did I not speak to you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen? Therefore behold, his blood is now (Q)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 (R)wept. Then he returned to them again, and talked with them. And he took (S)Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.
The Brothers Return to Canaan
25 Then Joseph (T)gave a command to fill their sacks with grain, to (U)restore every man’s money to his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. (V)Thus he did for them. 26 So they loaded their donkeys with the grain and departed from there. 27 But as (W)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 [e]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 (X)spoke [f]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, (Y)‘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 (Z)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 (AA)trade in the land.’ ”
35 Then it happened as they emptied their sacks, that surprisingly (AB)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 (AC)bereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take (AD)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 (AE)his brother is dead, and he is left alone. (AF)If any calamity should befall him along the way in which you go, then you would (AG)bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave.”
Footnotes
- Genesis 42:7 harshly
- Genesis 42:9 Exposed parts
- Genesis 42:16 Lit. bound
- Genesis 42:17 Lit. gathered
- Genesis 42:28 sank
- Genesis 42:30 harshly
Genesis 42
Easy-to-Read Version
The Dreams Come True
42 During the famine in Canaan, Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt. So he said to his sons, “Why are you sitting here doing nothing? 2 I have heard that there is grain for sale in Egypt. Go there and buy grain for us so that we will live and not die!”
3 So ten of Joseph’s brothers went to Egypt to buy grain. 4 Jacob did not send Benjamin. (Benjamin was Joseph’s only full brother.[a]) Jacob was afraid that something bad might happen to Benjamin.
5 The famine was very bad in Canaan, so there were many people from Canaan who went to Egypt to buy grain. Among them were the sons of Israel.
6 Joseph was the governor of Egypt at the time. He was the one who checked the sale of grain to people who came to Egypt to buy it. Joseph’s brothers came to him and bowed before him. 7 Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he acted like he didn’t know them. He was rude when he spoke to them. He said, “Where do you come from?”
The brothers answered, “We have come from the land of Canaan to buy food.”
8 Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not know who he was. 9 Then Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed about his brothers.
Joseph said to his brothers, “You have not come to buy food! You are spies. You came to learn where we are weak.”
10 But the brothers said to him, “No, sir, we come as your servants. We have come only to buy food. 11 We are all brothers—we all have the same father. We are honest men. We have come only to buy food.”
12 Then Joseph said to them, “No, you have come to spy on us!”
13 And the brothers said, “No, sir, we come as servants from Canaan. We are all brothers, sons of the same father. There were twelve brothers in our family. Our youngest brother is still at home with our father, and the other brother died a long time ago.”
14 But Joseph said to them, “No! I can see that I am right. You are spies. 15 But I will let you prove that you are telling the truth. In the name of Pharaoh, I swear that I will not let you go until your youngest brother comes here. 16 One of you must go back to get your youngest brother while the rest of you stay here in prison. Then we can prove whether you are telling the truth or not. If you are not telling the truth, then by Pharaoh, I swear that you are spies!” 17 Then Joseph put them all in prison for three days.
The Troubles Begin
18 After three days Joseph said to them, “I am a God-fearing man. Do this, and I will let you live. 19 If you are honest men, one of your brothers can stay here in prison, and the others can go and carry grain back to your people. 20 But then you must bring your youngest brother back here to me. Then I will know that you are telling the truth, and you will not have to die.”
The brothers agreed to this. 21 They said to each other, “We are being punished for the bad thing we did to our younger brother Joseph. We saw the trouble he was in. He begged us to save him, but we refused to listen. So now we are in trouble.”
22 Then Reuben said to them, “I told you not to do anything bad to that boy, but you refused to listen to me. Now we are being punished for his death.”
23-24 Joseph was using an interpreter to talk to his brothers, so the brothers did not know that he understood their language. He heard and understood everything they said, and that made him want to cry. So he turned away and left the room. When he came back, he took one of the brothers, Simeon, and tied him up while the others watched. 25 Joseph told the servants to fill the bags with grain. The brothers had given Joseph the money for the grain, but he didn’t keep the money. He put the money in their bags of grain. Then he gave them what they would need for their trip back home.
26 So the brothers put the grain on their donkeys and left. 27 That night the brothers stopped at a place to spend the night. One of the brothers opened his sack to get some grain for his donkey. And there in the sack, he saw his money! 28 He said to the other brothers, “Look! Here is the money I paid for the grain. Someone put the money back in my sack.” The brothers were very afraid. They said to one another, “What is God doing to us?”
The Brothers Report to Jacob
29 The brothers went back to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. They told him about everything that had happened. 30 They said, “The governor of that country spoke rudely to us. He thought that we were spies! 31 We told him, ‘We are honest men, not spies. 32 There are twelve of us brothers, all from the same father. But one of our brothers is no longer living, and the youngest is still at home with our father in Canaan.’
33 “Then the governor of that country said to us, ‘Here is a way to prove that you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with me. Take your grain back to your families. 34 Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I will know if you are honest men or if you were sent from an army to destroy us. If you are telling the truth, I will give your brother back to you. I will give him to you, and you will be free to buy grain in our country.’”
35 Then the brothers started taking the grain out of their sacks, and every brother found his bag of money in his sack of grain. When the brothers and their father saw the money, they were afraid.
36 Jacob said to them, “Do you want me to lose all of my children? Joseph is gone. Simeon is gone, and now you want to take Benjamin away too!”
37 But Reuben said to his father, “Father, you may kill my two sons if I don’t bring Benjamin back to you. Trust me. I will bring him back to you.”
38 But Jacob said, “I will not let Benjamin go with you. His brother is dead, and he is the only son left from my wife Rachel. It would kill me if anything happened to him during the trip to Egypt. You would send me to the grave[b] a very sad, old man.”
Footnotes
- Genesis 42:4 full brother Literally, “brother.” Joseph and Benjamin had the same mother.
- Genesis 42:38 grave Or “Sheol,” the place of death.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International