Genesis 42:14–24

¹⁴And Joseph said to them, “It is as I said ¹to you, you are spies;

¹⁵by this you will be tested: ^aby 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 ^atruth in you. But if not, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies.”

¹⁷Then he put them all together in ^aprison for three days.

¹⁸And Joseph said to them on the third day, “Do this and live, for ^aI fear God:

¹⁹if you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in ¹your prison; but as for the rest of you, go, bring grain for the famine of your households,

²⁰and ^abring your youngest brother to me, so your words may be proven true, and you will not die.” And they did so.

²¹Then they said to one another, “^aSurely 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.”

²²And Reuben answered them, saying, “^aDid I not tell you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; yet you would not listen? ^bSo also his blood, behold, it is required of us.”

²³Now they did not know that Joseph was listening, for there was an interpreter between them.

²⁴And he turned away from them and ^awept. Then he returned to them and spoke to them. And he ^btook Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.