Genesis 42–45

Joseph’s Brothers in Egypt

42When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, ^zhe said to his sons, “Why do you keep looking at each other? ²Listen,” he went on, “I have heard there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us so that we will live and not die.” ^a3So 10 of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. ⁴But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he thought, “Something might happen to him.”

⁵The sons of Israel were among those who came to buy grain, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. ⁶Joseph was in charge of the country; he sold grain to all its people. His brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the ground. ^b7When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke harshly to them.

“Where do you come from?” he asked.

“From the land of Canaan to buy food,” they replied.

⁸Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. ⁹Joseph remembered his dreams about them ^cand said to them, “You are spies. You have come to see the weakness ^dof the land.”

¹⁰“No, my lord. Your servants have come to buy food,” they said. ¹¹“We are all sons of one man. We are honest; your servants are not spies.”

¹²“No,” he said to them. “You have come to see the weakness of the land.”

¹³But they replied, “We, your servants, were 12 brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now ^ewith our father, and one is no longer living.”

¹⁴Then Joseph said to them, “I have spoken: ^f‘You are spies!’ ¹⁵This is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. ¹⁶Send one from among you to get your brother. The rest of you will be imprisoned so that your words can be tested to see if they are true. If they are not, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!” ¹⁷So Joseph imprisoned them together for three days.

¹⁸On the third day Joseph said to them, “I fear God ^g—do this and you will live. ¹⁹If you are honest, let one of you ^hbe confined to the guardhouse, while the rest of you go and take grain to relieve the hunger of your households. ²⁰Bring your youngest brother to me so that your words can be confirmed; then you won’t die.” And they consented to this.

²¹Then they said to each other, “Obviously, we are being punished for what we did to our brother. We saw his deep distress when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this trouble has come to us.” ⁱ

²²But Reuben replied: “Didn’t I tell you not to harm the boy? ^jBut you wouldn’t listen. Now we must account for his blood!” ^k

²³They did not realize that Joseph understood them, since there was an interpreter between them. ²⁴He turned away from them and wept. Then he turned back and spoke to them. He took Simeon from them and had him bound before their eyes. ²⁵Joseph then gave orders to fill their containers with grain, return each man’s money to his sack, and give them provisions for their journey. This order was carried out. ²⁶They loaded the grain on their donkeys and left there.

The Brothers Return Home

²⁷At the place where they lodged for the night, one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey, and he saw his money there at the top of the bag. ²⁸He said to his brothers, “My money has been returned! It’s here in my bag.” Their hearts sank. Trembling, they turned to one another and said, “What is this that God has done to us?”

²⁹When they reached their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them: ³⁰“The man who is the lord of the country spoke harshly to us and accused us of spying on the country. ³¹But we told him: We are honest and not spies. ³²We were 12 brothers, sons of the same ^lfather. One is no longer living, and the youngest is now ^mwith our father in the land of Canaan. ³³The man who is the lord of the country said to us, ‘This is how I will know if you are honest: Leave one brother with me, take food to relieve the hunger of your households, and go. ³⁴Bring back your youngest brother to me, and I will know that you are not spies but honest men. I will then give your brother back to you, and you can trade in the country.’ ”

³⁵As they began emptying their sacks, there in each man’s sack was his bag of money! When they and their father saw their bags of money, they were afraid.

³⁶Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my sons. Joseph is gone and Simeon is gone. Now you want to take Benjamin. Everything happens to me!”

³⁷Then Reuben said to his father, “You can kill my two sons if I don’t bring him back to you. Put him in my care, ⁿand I will return him to you.”

³⁸But Jacob answered, “My son will not go down with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. ^oIf anything happens to him on your journey, you will bring my gray hairs down to Sheol in sorrow.” ^p

Decision to Return to Egypt

43Now the famine in the land was severe. ^q2When they had used up the grain they had brought back from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us some food.”

³But Judah said to him, “The man specifically warned us: ‘You will not see me again unless your brother is with you.’ ⁴If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy food for you. ⁵But if you will not send him, we will not go, for the man said to us, ‘You will not see me again unless your brother is with you.’ ” ^r

⁶“Why did you cause me so much trouble?” Israel asked. “Why did you tell the man that you had another brother?”

⁷They answered, “The man kept asking about us and our family: ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ And we answered him accordingly. How could we know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother here’?”

⁸Then Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me. We will be on our way so that we may live and not die—neither we, nor you, nor our children. ⁹I will be responsible for him. You can hold me personally accountable! ^sIf I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, I will be guilty before you forever. ^t10If we had not wasted time, we could have come back twice by now.”

¹¹Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your packs and take them down to the man as a gift—some balsam and some honey, aromatic gum and resin, pistachios and almonds. ^u12Take twice as much money with you. Return the money that was returned to you in the top of your bags. Perhaps it was a mistake. ¹³Take your brother also, and go back at once to the man. ¹⁴May God Almighty cause the man to be merciful to you so that he will release your other brother and Benjamin to you. As for me, if I am deprived of my sons, then I am deprived.” ^v

The Return to Egypt

¹⁵The men took this gift, double the amount of money, and Benjamin. They made their way down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.

¹⁶When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to his steward, ^w“Take the men to my house. Slaughter an animal and prepare it, for they will eat with me at noon.” ¹⁷The man did as Joseph had said and brought them to Joseph’s house.

¹⁸But the men were afraid because they were taken to Joseph’s house. They said, “We have been brought here because of the money that was returned in our bags the first time. They intend to overpower us, seize us, make us slaves, and take our donkeys.” ¹⁹So they approached Joseph’s steward ^xand spoke to him at the doorway of the house.

²⁰They said, “Sir, we really did come down here the first time only to buy food. ²¹When we came to the place where we lodged for the night and opened our bags of grain, each one’s money was at the top of his bag! ^yIt was the full amount of our money, and we have brought it back with us. ²²We have brought additional money with us to buy food. We don’t know who put our money in the bags.”

²³Then the steward said, “May you be well. Don’t be afraid. Your God and the God of your father must have put treasure in your bags. I received your money.” Then he brought Simeon out to them. ²⁴The steward brought the men into Joseph’s house, gave them water to wash their feet, ^zand got feed for their donkeys. ²⁵Since the men had heard that they were going to eat a meal there, they prepared their gift for Joseph’s arrival at noon. ²⁶When Joseph came home, they brought him the gift they had carried into the house, and they bowed to the ground before him.

²⁷He asked if they were well, and he said, “How is your elderly father that you told me about? Is he still alive?”

²⁸They answered, “Your servant our father is well. He is still alive.” And they bowed down to honor him.

²⁹When he looked up and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, he asked, “Is this your youngest brother that you told me about?” Then he said, “May God be gracious to you, my son.” ³⁰Joseph hurried out because he was overcome with emotion for his brother, and he was about to weep. He went into an inner room to weep. ³¹Then he washed his face and came out. Regaining his composure, ^ahe said, “Serve the meal.”

³²They served him by himself, his brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians who were eating with him by themselves, because Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews, since that is abhorrent to them. ^b33They were seated before him in order by age, from the firstborn to the youngest. The men looked at each other in astonishment. ³⁴Portions were served to them from Joseph’s table, and Benjamin’s portion was five times larger than any of theirs. ^cThey drank, and they got intoxicated with Joseph.

Joseph’s Final Test

44Then Joseph commanded his steward: “Fill the men’s bags with as much food as they can carry, and put each one’s money at the top of his bag. ^d2Put my cup, the silver one, at the top of the youngest one’s bag, along with his grain money.” So he did as Joseph told him.

³At morning light, the men were sent off with their donkeys. ⁴They had not gone very far from…