Genesis 42:29–38

Simeon Is Held Hostage

²⁹When 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.’ ”

³⁵Now 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.

³⁶Their 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.”

³⁷Then 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.”

³⁸But 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.”