Genesis 42:21–38

21 Then they said to one another, “aTruly we are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, yet we would not listen; therefore this distress has come upon us.”

22 Reuben answered them, saying, “aDid I not tell 1you, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen? 2bNow comes the reckoning for his blood.”

23 They did not know, however, that Joseph understood, for there was an interpreter between them.

24 He turned away from them and awept. But when he returned to them and spoke to them, he btook Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.

25 aThen Joseph gave orders 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 departed from there.

27 As one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place, he saw his amoney; and behold, it was in the mouth of his sack.

28 Then he said to his brothers, “My money has been returned, and behold, it is even in my sack.” And their hearts 1sank, and they turned 2trembling to one another, saying, “aWhat is this that God has done to us?”

Simeon Is Held Hostage

29 When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying,

30 “The man, the lord of the land, aspoke harshly with us, and took us for spies of the country.

31 “But we said to him, ‘We are ahonest 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 “The man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘aBy 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 1honest men. I will give your brother to you, and you may atrade in the land.’ ”

35 Now it came about as they were emptying their sacks, that behold, aevery man’s bundle of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were dismayed.

36 Their father Jacob said to them, “You have abereaved 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 1care, and I will return him to you.”

38 But 1Jacob said, “My son shall not go down with you; for his abrother is dead, and he alone is left. bIf harm should befall him on the journey 2you are taking, then you will cbring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.”