²⁹The brothers went to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan and told him everything that had happened. ³⁰They said, “The master of that land spoke unkindly to us. He accused us of spying on his country, ³¹but we told him that we were honest men, not spies. ³²We told him that we were ten of twelve brothers—sons of one father. We said that one of our brothers was gone and that our youngest brother was with our father in Canaan.

³³“Then the master of the land said to us, ‘Here is a way I can know you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain to feed your hungry families, and go. ³⁴And bring your youngest brother to me so I will know you are not spies but honest men. Then I will give you back your brother whom you leave with me, and you can move about freely in our land.’ ”

³⁵As the brothers emptied their sacks, each of them found his money in his sack. When they and their father saw it, they were afraid.

³⁶Their father Jacob said to them, “You are robbing me of all my children. Joseph is gone, Simeon is gone, and now you want to take Benjamin away, too. Everything is against me.”

³⁷Then Reuben said to his father, “You may put my two sons to death if I don’t bring Benjamin back to you. Trust him to my care, and I will bring him back to you.”

³⁸But Jacob said, “I will not allow Benjamin to go with you. His brother is dead, and he is the only son left from my wife Rachel. I am afraid something terrible might happen to him during the trip to Egypt. Then I would be sad until the day I die.”

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