Chapter 42

Chapter 42

1 When Jacob learned that there were food supplies available in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, “Why do you keep looking at one another?”

2 He added, “Look!, I have heard that there are food supplies available in Egypt; go down there and buy some for us, so that we may survive and not die.”

3 So 10 of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.

4 But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin along with his brothers, for he thought to himself, “Otherwise, tragedy might happen to him.”

5 Thus the sons of Israel arrived to buy food among the others who were coming, because the food shortage was severe in the land of Canaan.

6 Now Joseph was the governor over the land; he was the one who sold grain to all the people of the region. When Joseph’s brothers arrived, they bowed low before him with their faces to the ground.

7 Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he disguised his identity from them and spoke harshly to them. He asked them, “Where have you come from?” And they replied, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.”

8 Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him.

9 Then Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them, and he said to them, “You are spies! You have come to inspect the vulnerable spots of our region!”

10 But they said to him, “No, my master! Your servants have come strictly to buy food.”

11 “We are all the sons of one man; we are honest men. Your servants have never been spies.”

12 But he said to them, “No! You have come strictly to inspect the vulnerable spots of our region!”

13 They replied, “Your servants are 12, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and Look!, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more.”

14 Joseph said to them, “It is exactly as I spoke to you, saying, ‘You are spies!’

15 By this you shall be tested: as Pharaoh lives, you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here.

16 Send one of you to fetch your brother, while the rest of you remain bound in prison, so that your words may be tested to see if there is truth in you. Otherwise, as Pharaoh lives, you are surely spies!”

17 So he threw them all into custody together for three days.

18 On the third day, Joseph said to them, “Do this and you will live, for I revere The All-Powerful One:

19 If you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain bound here in your prison house, while the rest of you go and carry back food for your starving households.

20 But you must bring your youngest brother directly to me, so that your words may be verified and you will not die.” And they did so.

21 Then they said to one another, “Surely we are being punished for what we did to our brother; we saw his deep distress when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this trouble has come upon us.”

22 Reuben spoke up and said to them, “Did I not tell you, ‘Do not sin against the boy’? But you would not listen! Now Look!, an accounting for his blood is being demanded.”

23 They did not realize that Joseph understood them, because he was using an interpreter between them.

24 Joseph turned away from them and wept; then he returned to them and spoke to them directly. He took Simeon from among them and had him bound right before their eyes.

25 Joseph then gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to return each man’s money directly into his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. And this was done for them.

26 They loaded their food supplies onto their donkeys and departed from there.

27 At the lodging place, as one of them opened his sack to feed his donkey, Look! He saw his money right there at the mouth of his sack!

28 He said to his brothers, “My money has been returned! Look! It is right here inside my sack!” Their hearts sank, and they turned to one another trembling, saying, “What is this that The All-Powerful One has done to us?”

29 When they came back to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they recounted to him everything that had happened to them, saying:

30 “The man who is the governor over the region spoke harshly to us and treated us as if we were scouting out the country.”

31 “But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we have never been spies.

32 We are 12 brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is with our father today in the land of Canaan.’

33 Then the man who is the governor over the region said to us, ‘By this I will know if you are honest men: leave one of your brothers here with me, take food for your starving households, and go.

34 But bring your youngest brother back to me, so I will know that you are not spies but honest men. Then I will return your brother to you, and you can trade freely throughout the region.’”

35 As they were emptying their sacks, Look! Every man’s pouch of money was right there inside his sack! When they and their father saw the pouches of money, they were terrified.

36 Their father Jacob said to them, “You have robbed me of my children! Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and now you want to take Benjamin! Everything is falling back on me!”

37 Reuben spoke directly to his father, saying, “You may put my own two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you! Put him under my care, and I will return him to you.”

38 But Jacob replied, “My son will not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If a tragedy happens to him on the journey you are taking, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in agonizing grief.”