Simeon Is Held Hostage

²⁹ When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him everything that had happened to them, saying, ³⁰ “The man, the lord of the land, ^(A)spoke harshly with us, and took us for spies of the country. ³¹ But we said to him, ‘We are ^(B)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 But the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘^(C)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 so that I may know that you are not spies, but ^[a]honest men. I will give your brother to you, and you may ^(D)trade in the land.’”

³⁵ Now it came about, as they were emptying their sacks, that behold, ^(E)every man’s bag of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw their bags of money, they were afraid. ³⁶ And their father Jacob said to them, “You have ^(F)deprived me of my sons: Joseph is gone, and Simeon is gone, and now 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 ^[b]care, and I will return him to you.” ³⁸ But ^[c]Jacob said, “My son shall not go down with you; for his ^(G)brother is dead, and he alone is left. ^(H)If harm should happen to him on the journey ^[d]you are taking, then you will ^(I)bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.”