Genesis 42-45

Legacy Standard Bible

Joseph’s Brothers Sent to Egypt

42 Now ^(A)Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, “Why are you staring at one another?” ² Then he said, “Behold, ^(B)I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down there and buy some for us from there, ^(C)so that we may live and not die.” ³ So ten brothers of Joseph went down to buy grain from Egypt. ⁴ But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother ^(D)Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, “^(E)Lest any harm befall him.” ⁵ So the sons of Israel came to buy grain among those who were coming, ^(F)for the famine was in the land of Canaan also.

⁶ Now ^(G)Joseph was the one in power over the land; he was the one who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and ^(H)bowed down to him with their ^[a]faces to the ground. ⁷ And Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he disguised himself to them and ^(I)spoke to them harshly. And he said to them, “Where have you come from?” And they said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.”

⁸ But Joseph recognized his brothers, although ^(J)they did not recognize him. ⁹ And Joseph ^(K)remembered the dreams which he ^[b]had about them and said to them, “You are spies; you have come to look at the ^[c]nakedness of the land.” ¹⁰ Then they said to him, “No, ^(L)my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. ¹¹ We are all sons of one man; we are ^(M)honest men; your servants are not spies.” ¹² And he said to them, “No, but you have come to look at the ^[d]nakedness of our land!” ¹³ So they said, “Your servants are twelve brothers in all, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and behold, the youngest is with ^(N)our father today, and ^(O)one is no more.” ¹⁴ And Joseph said to them, “It is as I said ^[e]to you, you are spies; ¹⁵ by this you will be tested: ^(P)by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here! ¹⁶ Send one of you that he may get your brother, while you remain confined, that your words may be tested, whether there is ^(Q)truth in you. But if not, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies.” ¹⁷ Then he put them all together in ^(R)prison for three days.

¹⁸ And Joseph said to them on the third day, “Do this and live, for ^(S)I fear God: ¹⁹ if you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in ^[f]your prison; but as for the rest of you, go, bring grain for the famine of your households, ²⁰ and ^(T)bring your youngest brother to me, so your words may be proven true, and you will not die.” And they did so. ²¹ Then they said to one another, “^(U)Surely we are guilty concerning our brother because we saw the distress of his soul when he begged us, yet we would not listen; therefore this distress has come upon us.” ²² And Reuben answered them, saying, “^(V)Did I not tell you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; yet you would not listen? ^(W)So also his blood, behold, it is required of us.” ²³ Now they did not know that Joseph was listening, for there was an interpreter between them. ²⁴ And he turned away from them and ^(X)wept. Then he returned to them and spoke to them. And he ^(Y)took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. ^25 (Z)Then Joseph gave a command to fill their bags with grain and to restore every man’s money in his sack and to give them provisions for the journey. And thus it was done for them.

²⁶ So they loaded their donkeys with their grain and went from there. ²⁷ Then one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place. And he saw his ^(AA)money; and behold, it was in the mouth of his sack. ²⁸ So he said to his brothers, “My money has been returned, and behold, it is even in my sack.” And their hearts ^[g]sank, and they turned ^[h]trembling to one another, saying, “^(AB)What is this that God has done to us?”

Jacob Is Bereaved

²⁹ Then they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them, saying, ³⁰ “The man, the lord of the land, ^(AC)spoke harshly with us and took us for spies of the country. ³¹ So we said to him, ‘We are ^(AD)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 today in the land of Canaan.’ ³³ Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘^(AE)By this I will know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me and take grain for the famine of your households, and go. ³⁴ But bring your youngest brother to me that I may know that you are not spies, but ^[i]honest men. I will give your brother to you, and you may ^(AF)trade in the land.’”

³⁵ Now it happened that they were emptying their sacks, and behold, ^(AG)every man’s bundle of money was in his sack; and they and their father saw their bundles of money, and they feared. ³⁶ And their father Jacob said to them, “You have ^(AH)bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and you would take Benjamin; all these things are against me.” ³⁷ Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my hand, and I will return him to you.” ³⁸ But ^[j]Jacob said, “My son shall not go down with you; for his ^(AI)brother is dead, and he alone remains. ^(AJ)If harm should befall him on the journey on which you are going, then you will ^(AK)bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.”

The Brothers Return to Egypt

43 ^(AL)Now the famine was heavy in the land. ² And it happened when they had finished eating the grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, “Go back, buy us a little food.” ³ Judah spoke to him, however, saying, “^(AM)The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ ⁴ If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. ⁵ But if you do not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.’” ⁶ Then Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly ^[k]by telling the man whether you still had another brother?” ⁷ But they said, “The man questioned particularly about us and our kin, saying, ‘^(AN)Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?’ So we told him concerning these things. Could we possibly have known that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?” ⁸ Then Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, ^(AO)that we may live and not die, we as well as you and our little ones. ^9 (AP)I myself will be the guarantee for him; from my hand you may require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then ^[l]I shall bear the sin before you all my days. ¹⁰ For if we had not delayed, surely by now we could have returned twice.”

¹¹ Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: take some of the best products of the land in your ^[m]bags, and bring them down to the man ^(AQ)as a present, a little ^[n](AR)balm and a little honey, ^[o]aromatic gum and ^[p]myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. ¹² Now take double the money in your hand, and take back in your hand ^(AS)the money that was put back in the mouth of your sacks; perhaps it was a mistake. ¹³ And take your brother also, and arise, return to the man; ¹⁴ and may ^[q](AT)God Almighty ^(AU)grant you compassion before the man, so that he will release to you ^(AV)your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, ^(AW)if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.” ¹⁵ So the men took ^(AX)this present, and they took double the money in their hand, and Benjamin; and they arose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.

Joseph Sees Benjamin

¹⁶ Then Joseph saw Benjamin with them and said to his ^(AY)house steward, “Bring the men into the house, and slay an animal and prepare it; for the men are to eat with me at noon.” ¹⁷ So the man did as Joseph said and ^[r]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 that was returned in our sacks the first time that we are being brought in, that he may ^[s]seek occasion against us and fall upon us and take us for slaves with our donkeys.” ¹⁹ So they came near to Joseph’s house steward and spoke to him at the entrance of the house, ²⁰ and they said, “Oh, my lord, we indeed came down the first time to buy food, ²¹ and it happened when we came to the lodging place, that we opened our sacks, and behold, ^(AZ)each man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in ^[t]full. So ^(BA)we have brought it back in our hand. ²² We have also brought down other money in our hand to buy food; we do not know who put our money in our sacks.” ²³ And he said, “^[u]Be well, do not be afraid. ^(BB)Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks; your money has come to me.” Then ^(BC)he brought Simeon out to them. ²⁴ Then the man brought the men into Joseph’s house and ^(BD)gave them water, and they ^(BE)washed their feet; and he gave their donkeys fodder. ²⁵ So they prepared ^(BF)the present ^[v]for Joseph’s coming at noon; for they had heard that they were to eat ^[w]a meal there.

²⁶ Then Joseph came home, and they brought into the house to him the present which was in their hand and ^(BG)bowed to the ground before him. ²⁷ And he asked them about their ^[x]well-being and said, “^(BH)Is your old father ^[y]well, of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?” ²⁸ And they said, “Your servant our father is well; he is still alive.” ^(BI)They bowed down and prostrated themselves. ²⁹ Then he lifted his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son. And he said, “Is this ^(BJ)your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me?” And he said, “^(BK)May God be gracious to you, my son.” ³⁰ And Joseph hurried out for ^[z](BL)he was deeply stirred with compassion over his brother, and he sought a place to weep; and he entered his chamber and ^(BM)wept there. ³¹ Then he washed his face and came out; and he ^(BN)restrained himself and said, “Set the ^[aa]meal.” ³² So they set the meal for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is ^(BO)an abomination to the Egyptians. ³³ And they ^[ab]were seated before him, ^(BP)the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth, and the men looked at one another in astonishment. ³⁴ And he took portions to them from ^[ac]his own table, ^(BQ)but Benjamin’s portion was five times greater than any of theirs. So they feasted and drank freely with him.

The Brothers Fall Before Joseph

44 ^(BR)Then he commanded his house steward, saying, “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man’s money in the mouth of his sack. ² Now put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, and his money for the grain.” And he did ^[ad]as Joseph had told him. ^3 [ae]As the morning light broke, the men were sent away, they with their donkeys. ⁴ Now they had just gone out of ^(BS)the city and were not far off when Joseph said to his house steward, “Arise, pursue the men; you shall overtake them and say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good? ⁵ Is not this the one from which my lord drinks and which he indeed uses to interpret ^(BT)omens? You have done evil in doing this.’”

⁶ So he overtook them and spoke these words to them. ⁷ And they said to him, “Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing. ⁸ Behold, ^(BU)the money which we found in the mouth of our sacks we have brought back to you from the land of Canaan. How then could we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house? ^9 (BV)With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s ^(BW)slaves.” ¹⁰ So he said, “Now let it also be according to your words; he with whom it is found shall be my slave, but the rest of you shall be innocent.” ¹¹ Then they hurried, each man brought his sack down to the ground, and each man opened his sack. ¹² So he searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest, and ^(BX)the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. ¹³ Then they ^(BY)tore their clothes, and each man loaded his donkey and returned to ^(BZ)the city.

¹⁴ Then Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, and he was still there. So ^(CA)they fell to the ground before him. ¹⁵ And Joseph said to them, “What is this deed that you have done? Do you not know that such a man as I can indeed interpret ^(CB)omens?” ¹⁶ So Judah said, “What can we say to my lord? What can we speak? And how can we justify ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants; behold, we are my lord’s ^(CC)slaves, both we and the one in whose ^[af]possession the cup has been found.” ¹⁷ But he said, “Far be it from me to do this. The man in whose ^[ag]possession the cup has been found, he shall be my slave; but as for you, go up in peace to your father.”

Judah Remains Instead of Benjamin

¹⁸ Then Judah came near to him and said, “O my lord, may your servant please speak a word in my lord’s ears, and ^[ah](CD)do not be angry with your servant; for ^(CE)you are equal to Pharaoh. ^19 (CF)My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father or a brother?’ ²⁰ And we said to my lord, ‘We have an old father and ^(CG)a little child of his old age. Now ^(CH)his brother is dead, so he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him.’ ²¹ Then you said to your servants, ‘^(CI)Bring him down to me that I may set my eyes on him.’ ²² And we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father; if he should leave his father, ^[ai]his father would die.’ ²³ You said to your servants, however, ‘^(CJ)If your youngest brother does not come down with you, you will not see my face again.’ ²⁴ Thus it happened that when we went up to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. ^25 (CK)And our father said, ‘Go back, buy us a little food.’ ²⁶ But we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down; for we cannot see the man’s face if our youngest brother is not with us.’ ²⁷ And your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that ^(CL)my wife bore me two sons; ²⁸ and the one went out from me, and ^(CM)I said, “Surely he is torn to pieces,” and I have not seen him since. ²⁹ If you take this one also from ^[aj]me and harm befalls him, you will ^(CN)bring my gray hair down to Sheol in ^[ak]evil.’ ³⁰ So now, when I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us—^[al](CO)and his life is bound up in the boy’s life— ³¹ so it will be that when he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die. Thus your servants will ^(CP)bring the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow. ³² For your servant ^(CQ)became a guarantee for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, ^[am]then I shall bear the sin before my father all my days.’ ³³ So now, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a slave to my lord, and let the boy go up with his brothers. ³⁴ For how shall I go up to my father if the boy is not with me, lest I see the evil that would ^[an]overtake my father?”

Joseph Sends for Jacob

45 Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood by him, and he called out, “Have everyone go out from me.” So there ^[ao]was no man with him ^(CR)when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. ^2 (CS)Then he ^[ap]wept loudly. And the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. ³ Then Joseph said to his brothers, “^(CT)I am Joseph! ^(CU)Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for ^(CV)they were terrified at his presence.

⁴ Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near to me.” And they came near. And he said, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you ^(CW)sold into Egypt. ⁵ So now do not be grieved or angry ^[aq]with yourselves because ^(CX)you sold me here, for ^(CY)God sent me before you to preserve life. ⁶ For the famine has been in the land ^(CZ)these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. ^7 (DA)So God sent me before you to establish for you a remnant in the earth and to keep you alive for a great remnant of survivors. ⁸ So now, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has set me as a ^(DB)father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt. ⁹ Hurry and go up to my father, and ^(DC)say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, “God has set me as lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. ¹⁰ And you shall ^[ar]live in the land of ^(DD)Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children and your flocks and your herds and all that you have. ¹¹ There I will also ^(DE)provide for you, for there are still five years of famine to come, lest you and your household and all that you have be impoverished.”’ ¹² And behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth which is speaking to you. ¹³ So you must tell my father of all my glory in Egypt and all that you have seen; and you must hurry and ^(DF)bring my father down here.” ¹⁴ Then he fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and ^(DG)wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. ¹⁵ He kissed all his brothers and wept on them, and afterward his brothers talked with him.

¹⁶ Now ^(DH)the ^[as]news was heard in Pharaoh’s house, saying, “Joseph’s brothers have come.” And it was good in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants. ¹⁷ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: load your beasts and ^[at]go to the land of Canaan, ¹⁸ and take your father and your households and come to me, and ^(DI)I will give you the ^[au]best of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land.’ ¹⁹ Now you are commanded, ‘Do this: ^[av]take ^(DJ)wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father and come. ²⁰ Now do not ^[aw]concern yourselves with your goods, for the ^[ax]best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’”

²¹ Then the sons of Israel did so; and Joseph gave them ^(DK)wagons according to the ^[ay]command of Pharaoh, and he gave them provisions for the journey. ²² To ^[az]each of them he gave ^(DL)changes of garments, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and ^(DM)five changes of garments. ²³ Now to his father he sent ^[ba]as follows: ten donkeys loaded with the ^[bb]best things of Egypt and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and sustenance for his father ^[bc]on the journey.

²⁴ So he sent his brothers away, and they departed. And he said to them, “Do not be stirred up on the journey.” ²⁵ Then they went up from Egypt, and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob. ²⁶ And they told him, saying, “Joseph is still alive, and indeed he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” But ^[bd]his heart was stunned, for ^(DN)he did not believe them. ²⁷ Yet they told him all the words of Joseph that he had spoken to them, and he saw the ^(DO)wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him. Then the spirit of their father Jacob revived. ²⁸ And Israel said, “It is enough! My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”