Genesis 42–45

Joseph’s Brothers Go to Egypt for Food

42When Jacob realized that there was grain in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” ²Then he said, “Look, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy grain for us there that we may live and not die.” ³And the ten brothers of Joseph went down to buy grain from Egypt. ⁴But Jacob did not send Benjamin, the brother of Joseph, with his brothers, for he feared harm would come to him.^{a 5}Then the sons of Israel went to buy grain amid those other people who went as well, for there was famine in the land of Canaan. ⁶Now Joseph was the governor over the land. He was the one who sold food to all the people of the land. And the brothers of Joseph came and bowed down to him with their faces to the ground. ⁷And Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger to them. And he spoke with them harshly and said to them, “From where have you come?” And they said, “From the land of Canaan to buy food.” ⁸And Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. ⁹And Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed concerning them, and he said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see the nakedness of the land!” ¹⁰And they said to him, “No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. ¹¹We all are sons of one man. We are honest men. We, your servants, are not spies.” ¹²Then he said to them, “No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land.” ¹³Then they said, “We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan, but behold, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more.” ¹⁴But Joseph said to them, “It is what I said to you—you are spies. ¹⁵By this you shall be tested. By the life of Pharaoh you will not go out from here unless your youngest brother comes here. ¹⁶Send one of you, and let him bring your brother, but you will be kept in prison so that your words might be tested to see if there is truth with you. And if not, by the life of Pharaoh surely you are spies.” ¹⁷Then he gathered them into the prison for three days. ¹⁸On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do this and you will live; I fear God. ¹⁹If you are honest, let one of your brothers be kept in prison where you are now being kept,^b but the rest of you go, carry grain for the famine for your households. ²⁰You must bring your youngest brother to me, and then your words will be confirmed and you will not die.” And they did so. ²¹Then each said to his brother, “Surely we are guilty on account of our brother when we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded for mercy to us and we would not listen. Therefore this trouble has come to us.” ²²Then Reuben answered them, saying, “Did I not say to you, do not sin against the boy? But you did not listen, and now, behold, his blood has been sought.” ²³Now they did not know that Joseph understood, for the interpreter was between them. ²⁴And he turned away from them and wept. Then he returned to them and spoke to them, and took Simeon from them and tied him up in front of them. ²⁵Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain and to return their money to each sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. Thus he did for them. ²⁶Then they loaded their grain upon their donkeys and went away from there. ²⁷And one of them later opened his sack to give fodder to his donkey at the lodging place and saw his money—behold, it was in the mouth of his sack. ²⁸And he said to his brothers, “My money was returned and moreover, behold, it is in my sack!” Then their hearts failed them^c and each of them trembled and said, “What is this God has done to us?”

²⁹And 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, the lord of the land, spoke harshly to us and treated us as if we were spying out the land. ³¹But we said to him, ‘We are honest; we are not spies. ³²We are twelve brothers, the sons of our father. One is no more and the youngest is with our father now in the land of Canaan.’ ³³Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘By this I will know that you are honest. Leave one of your brothers with me, and take food for the famine in your households and go. ³⁴And bring your youngest brother to me. Then I will know that you are not spies but you are honest. I will give your brother back to you, and you will trade in the land.’ ” ³⁵And it happened that when they emptied their sacks, behold, each one’s pouch of money was in his sack. And when they and their father saw the pouches of their money, they were greatly distressed. ³⁶And Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me—Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more, and Benjamin you would take! All of this is against me! ³⁷Then Reuben said to his father, “You may kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hand and I myself will return him to you.” ³⁸But he said, “My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead and he alone remains. If harm meets him on the journey that you would take, you would bring down my gray head in sorrow to Sheol.”

Joseph’s Brothers Return to Egypt

43Now the famine in the land was severe. ²And it happened that as they finished eating the grain which they had brought from Egypt their father said to them, “Return and buy a little food for us.” ³Then Judah said to him, “The man solemnly admonished us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ ⁴If you will send^a our brother with us, we will go down and buy food for you, ⁵but if you will not send^b him, we will not go down, for the man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ ” ⁶Then Israel said, “Why did you bring trouble to me by telling the man you still had a brother?” ⁷And they said, “The man asked explicitly about us and about our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have a brother?’ And we answered him according to these words. How could we know that he would say, ‘Bring down your brother’?” ⁸Then Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me, and let us arise and go, so that we will live and not die—you, we, and our children. ⁹I myself will be surety for him. You may seek him from my hand. If I do not bring him back to you and present him before you, then I will stand guilty before you forever. ¹⁰Surely if we had not hesitated by this time we would have returned twice.” ¹¹Then 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 bags and take them down to the man as a gift—a little balm and honey, aromatic gum and myrrh, and pistachios and almonds. ¹²And take double the money with you.^c Take back with you^d the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake. ¹³And take your brother. Now arise and return to the man. ¹⁴And may El-Shaddai^e grant you compassion before the man that he may release your other brother to you and Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.”

¹⁵So the men took this gift, and they took double money in their hands, and Benjamin, and they rose up and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph. ¹⁶When Joseph saw Benjamin with them he said to the one who was over his household, “Bring the men into the house and slaughter and prepare an animal, for the men shall eat with me at noon.” ¹⁷And the man did as Joseph had said, and the man brought the men into the house of Joseph. ¹⁸And the men were afraid when they were brought into the house of Joseph. And they said “We were brought here on account of the money that was returned to our sacks the first time, that he might attack us and fall upon us to take us as slaves with our donkeys.” ¹⁹So they approached the man who was over Joseph’s house and spoke to him at the doorway of the house. ²⁰And they said, “Please, my lord, we surely came down once before to buy food, ²¹but when we came to the place of lodging and we opened our sacks, then behold, each one’s money was in the mouth of his sack—our money in its full weight—so we have returned with it in our hands. ²²Now, other money we have brought down in our hand to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks.” ²³And he said, “Peace to you; do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father must have given you a treasure in your sacks; your money came to me.” And he brought Simeon out to them. ²⁴Then the man brought the men into Joseph’s house and he gave them water and washed their feet, and gave fodder to their donkeys. ²⁵Then they laid out^f the gift until Joseph came at noon, for they had heard that they were to eat food there. ²⁶And when Joseph came into the house they brought the gift that was in their hand into the house to him, and they bowed down before him to the ground. ²⁷And he greeted them^g and said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?” ²⁸And they said, “Your servant our father is well; he is still alive.” And they knelt and bowed down. ²⁹Then he lifted up his eyes and saw Benjamin his brother, the son of his mother, and said, “Is this your youngest brother of whom you told me?” And he continued,^h “God be gracious to you, my son.” ³⁰Then Joseph hurried away,ⁱ being overcome with emotion^j toward his brother, and sought for a place to cry. Then he went into a room and wept there. ³¹Then he washed his face and went out, now controlling himself, and said, “Serve the food.” ³²And they served him^k by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who were eating with him by themselves, for Egyptians could not dine^l with Hebrews, because that was a detestable thing to Egyptians. ³³And they were seated before him from the firstborn according to his birthright to the youngest according to his youth. And the men looked at one another^m amazed. ³⁴And portions were served to them from his…