Joseph’s Brothers Sent to Egypt

42 Now when Jacob (Israel) learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why are you staring at one another [in bewilderment and not taking action]?” ² He said, “I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down there and buy [some] grain for us, so that we may live and not die [of starvation].” ³ So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. ⁴ But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s [younger] brother, with his brothers, for he said, “I am afraid that some harm or injury may come to him.” ⁵ So the sons of Israel came [to Egypt] to buy grain along with the others who were coming, for famine was in the land of Canaan also.

⁶ Now Joseph was the ruler over the land, and he was the one who sold [grain] to all the people of the land; and Joseph’s [half] brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the ground. ⁷ When Joseph saw his brothers he recognized them, but [hiding his identity] he treated them as strangers and ^[a]spoke harshly to them. He said to them, “Where have you come from?” And they said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.”

⁸ Joseph recognized his brothers, but ^[b]they did not recognize him. ⁹ Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them, and said to them, “You are spies; you have come [with a malicious purpose] to observe the ^[c]undefended parts of our land.” ¹⁰ But they said to him, “No, my lord, for your servants have [only] come to buy food. ¹¹ We are all the sons of one man; we are honest men, your servants are not spies.” ¹² Yet he said to them, “No, you have come to see the undefended parts of our land.” ¹³ But they said, “Your servants are twelve brothers [in all], the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; please listen: the youngest is with our father today, and one is no longer alive.” ¹⁴ Joseph said to them, “It is as I said to you, you are spies. ¹⁵ In this way you shall be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here! ¹⁶ Send one of you [back home], and let him bring your brother [here], while [the rest of] you remain confined, so that your words may be tested, [to see] whether there is any truth in you [and your story]; or else, by the life of Pharaoh, certainly you are spies.” ¹⁷ Then Joseph put them all in prison for three days.

¹⁸ Now Joseph said to them on the third day, “Do this and [you may] live, for I fear God: ¹⁹ if you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in your [place here in] prison; but as for the rest of you, go, carry grain for the famine in your households, ²⁰ but bring your youngest brother to me, so your words will be verified and you will not die.” And they did so. ²¹ And they said to one another, “Truly we are guilty regarding our brother [Joseph], because we saw the distress and anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us [to let him go], yet we would not listen [to his cry]; so this distress and anguish has come on us.” ²² Reuben answered them, “Did I not tell you, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen? Now the accounting for his blood is required [of us for we are guilty of his death].” ²³ They did not know that Joseph understood [their conversation], because he spoke to them through an interpreter. ²⁴ He turned away from his brothers and [left the room and] wept; then he returned and talked with them, and took Simeon from them and bound him in front of them [to be kept as a hostage in Egypt]. ²⁵ Then Joseph gave orders [privately] that their bags be filled with grain, and that every man’s money [used to pay for the grain] be put back in his sack, and that provisions be given to them for the journey. And so this was done for them.

²⁶ They loaded their donkeys with grain and left from there. ²⁷ And at the lodging place, as one of them opened his sack to feed his donkey, he saw his money in the opening of his sack. ²⁸ And he said to his brothers, “My money has been returned! Here it is in my sack!” And their hearts sank, and they were afraid and turned trembling to one another, saying, “What is this that God has done to us?”

The Return to Canaan

²⁹ When they came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan, they told him everything that had happened to them, saying, ³⁰ “The man who is the lord of the land spoke harshly to us, and took us for spies of the land. ³¹ But we told him, ‘We are honest men; we are not spies. ³² We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no longer alive, and the youngest is with our father today in the land of Canaan.’ ³³ And the man, the lord of the country, said to us, ‘By this [test] I will know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers here with me and take grain for your starving households and go. ³⁴ Bring your youngest brother to me; then I will know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. Then I will return your [imprisoned] brother [back] to you, and you may trade and do business in the land.’”

³⁵ Now when they emptied their sacks, every man’s bundle of money [paid to buy grain] was in his sack. When they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. ³⁶ Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me [by causing the loss] of my children. Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and you would take Benjamin [from me]. All these things are [working] against me.” ³⁷ Then Reuben spoke to his father, “You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring Benjamin back to you; put him in my care, and I will return him to you.” ³⁸ But Jacob said, “My son shall not go down [to Egypt] with you; for his brother is dead, and he alone is left [of Rachel’s children]. If any harm or accident should happen to him on the journey you are taking, then you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol (the place of the dead) in sorrow.”