Genesis 43:1–14

The Brothers Return to Egypt

^1aNow the famine was heavy in the land.

²And it happened when they had finished eating the grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, “Go back, buy us a little food.”

³Judah spoke to him, however, saying, “^aThe man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’

⁴“If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food.

⁵“But if you do not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.’”

⁶Then Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly ¹by telling the man whether you still had another brother?”

⁷But they said, “The man questioned particularly about us and our kin, saying, ‘^aIs your father still alive? Have you another brother?’ So we told him concerning these things. Could we possibly have known that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?”

⁸Then Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, ^athat we may live and not die, we as well as you and our little ones.

⁹“^aI myself will be the guarantee for him; from my hand you may require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then ¹I shall bear the sin before you all my days.

¹⁰“For if we had not delayed, surely by now we could 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 ¹bags, and bring them down to the man ^aas a present, a little ^2bbalm and a little honey, ³aromatic gum and ⁴myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds.

¹²“Now take double the money in your hand, and take back in your hand ^athe money that was put back in the mouth of your sacks; perhaps it was a mistake.

¹³“And take your brother also, and arise, return to the man;

¹⁴and may ^1aGod Almighty ^bgrant you compassion before the man, so that he will release to you ^cyour other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, ^dif I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.”