Genesis 42–45

Joseph’s Brothers Go to Egypt

42When ^aJacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” ²And he said, “Indeed I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down to that place and buy for us there, that we may ^blive and not die.”

³So Joseph’s ten brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. ⁴But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, ^c“Lest some calamity befall him.” ⁵And the sons of Israel went to buy grain among those who journeyed, for the famine was ^din the land of Canaan.

⁶Now Joseph was governor ^eover the land; and it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and ^fbowed down before him with their faces to the earth. ⁷Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he acted as ^ga stranger to them and spoke ¹roughly to them. Then he said to them, “Where do you come from?”

And they said, “From the land of Canaan to buy food.”

⁸So Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. ⁹Then Joseph ^hremembered the dreams which he had dreamed about them, and said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see the ²nakedness of the land!”

¹⁰And they said to him, “No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. ¹¹We are all one man’s sons; we are honest men; your servants are not spies.”

¹²But he said to them, “No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land.”

¹³And they said, “Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and in fact, the youngest is with our father today, and one ⁱis no more.”

¹⁴But Joseph said to them, “It is as I spoke to you, saying, ‘You are spies!’ ¹⁵In this manner you shall be tested: ^jBy the life of Pharaoh, you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. ¹⁶Send one of you, and let him bring your brother; and you shall be ³kept in prison, that your words may be tested to see whether there is any truth in you; or else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies!” ¹⁷So he ⁴put them all together in prison ^kthree days.

¹⁸Then Joseph said to them the third day, “Do this and live, ^lfor I fear God: ¹⁹If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined to your prison house; but you, go and carry grain for the famine of your houses. ²⁰And ^mbring your youngest brother to me; so your words will be verified, and you shall not die.”

And they did so. ²¹Then they said to one another, ⁿ“We are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear; ^otherefore this distress has come upon us.”

²²And Reuben answered them, saying, ^p“Did I not speak to you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen? Therefore behold, his blood is now ^qrequired of us.” ²³But they did not know that Joseph understood them, for he spoke to them through an interpreter. ²⁴And he turned himself away from them and ^rwept. Then he returned to them again, and talked with them. And he took ^sSimeon from them and bound him before their eyes.

The Brothers Return to Canaan

²⁵Then Joseph ^tgave a command to fill their sacks with grain, to ^urestore every man’s money to his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. ^vThus he did for them. ²⁶So they loaded their donkeys with the grain and departed from there. ²⁷But as ^wone of them opened his sack to give his donkey feed at the encampment, he saw his money; and there it was, in the mouth of his sack. ²⁸So he said to his brothers, “My money has been restored, and there it is, in my sack!” Then their hearts ⁵failed them and they were afraid, saying to one another, “What is this that God has done to us?”

²⁹Then they went to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them, saying: ³⁰“The man who is lord of the land ^xspoke ⁶roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country. ³¹But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we are not spies. ³²We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is with our father this day in the land of Canaan.’ ³³Then the man, the lord of the country, said to us, ^y‘By this I will know that you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with me, take food for the famine of your households, and be gone. ³⁴And bring your ^zyoungest brother to me; so I shall know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. I will grant your brother to you, and you may ^atrade in the land.’ ”

³⁵Then it happened as they emptied their sacks, that surprisingly ^beach man’s bundle of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. ³⁶And Jacob their father said to them, “You have ^cbereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take ^dBenjamin. All these things are against me.”

³⁷Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.”

³⁸But he said, “My son shall not go down with you, for ^ehis brother is dead, and he is left alone. ^fIf any calamity should befall him along the way in which you go, then you would ^gbring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave.”

Joseph’s Brothers Return with Benjamin

43Now the famine was ^asevere in the land. ²And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, “Go ^bback, buy us a little food.”

³But Judah spoke to him, saying, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your ^cbrother is with you.’ ⁴If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. ⁵But if you will not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ ”

⁶And Israel said, “Why did you deal so ¹wrongfully with me as to tell the man whether you had still another brother?”

⁷But they said, “The man asked us pointedly about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?’ And we told him according to these words. Could we possibly have known that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?”

⁸Then Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may ^dlive and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. ⁹I myself will be surety for him; from my hand you shall require him. ^eIf I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. ¹⁰For if we had not lingered, surely by now we would have returned this second time.”

¹¹And their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Take some of the best fruits of the land in your vessels and ^fcarry down a present for the man—a little ^gbalm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. ¹²Take double money in your hand, and take back in your hand the money ^hthat was returned in the mouth of your sacks; perhaps it was an oversight. ¹³Take your brother also, and arise, go back to the man. ¹⁴And may God ⁱAlmighty ^jgive you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother and Benjamin. ^kIf I am bereaved, I am bereaved!”

¹⁵So the men took that present and Benjamin, and they took double money in their hand, and arose and went ^ldown to Egypt; and they stood before Joseph. ¹⁶When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the ^msteward of his house, “Take these men to my home, and slaughter ²an animal and make ready; for these men will dine with me at noon.” ¹⁷Then the man did as Joseph ordered, and the man brought the men into Joseph’s house.

¹⁸Now the men were ⁿafraid because they were brought into Joseph’s house; and they said, “It is because of the money, which was returned in our sacks the first time, that we are brought in, so that he may ³make a case against us and seize us, to take us as slaves with our donkeys.”

¹⁹When they drew near to the steward of Joseph’s house, they talked with him at the door of the house, ²⁰and said, “O sir, ^owe indeed came down the first time to buy food; ²¹but ^pit happened, when we came to the encampment, that we opened our sacks, and there, each man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight; so we have brought it back in our hand. ²²And we have brought down other money in our hands to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks.”

²³But he said, “Peace be with you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks; I had your money.” Then he brought ^qSimeon out to them.

²⁴So the man brought the men into Joseph’s house and ^rgave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their donkeys feed. ²⁵Then they made the present ready for Joseph’s coming at noon, for they heard that they would eat bread there.

²⁶And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and ^sbowed down before him to the earth. ²⁷Then he asked them about their well-being, and said, “Is your father well, the old man ^tof whom you spoke? Is he still alive?”

²⁸And they answered, “Your servant our father is in good health; he is still alive.” ^uAnd they bowed their heads down and prostrated themselves.

²⁹Then he lifted his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, ^vhis mother’s son, and said, “Is this your younger brother ^wof whom you spoke to me?” And he said, “God be gracious to you, my son.” ³⁰Now ^xhis heart yearned for his brother; so Joseph made haste and sought somewhere to weep. And he went into his chamber and ^ywept there. ³¹Then he washed his face and came out; and he restrained himself, and said, “Serve the ^zbread.”

³²So they set him a place by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves; because the Egyptians could not eat food with the ^aHebrews, for that is ^ban abomination to the Egyptians. ³³And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his ^cbirthright and the youngest according to his youth; and the men looked in…