Genesis 42

¹ Jacob, seeing that there was grain for sale in Egypt, said to his sons, ‘Why do you stand looking at one another?

² I hear’ he said ‘that there is grain for sale in Egypt. Go down and buy grain for us there, that we may survive and not die.’

³ So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt.

⁴ But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers. ‘Nothing must happen to him’ he said.

⁵ Israel’s sons with others making the same journey went to buy grain, for there was famine in the land of Canaan.

⁶ It was Joseph, as the man in authority over the country, who sold the grain to all comers. So Joseph’s brothers went and bowed down before him, their faces touching the ground.

⁷ When Joseph saw his brothers he recognised them. But he did not make himself known to them, and he spoke harshly to them. ‘Where have you come from?’ he asked. ‘From the land of Canaan to buy food’ they replied.

⁸ So Joseph recognised his brothers, but they did not recognise him.

⁹ Joseph, remembering the dreams he had had about them, said to them, ‘You are spies. You have come to discover the country’s weak points.’

¹⁰ ‘No, my lord,’ they told him ‘your servants have come to buy food.

¹¹ We are all sons of the same man. We are honest men, your servants are not spies.’

¹² ‘Not so!’ he replied ‘It is the country’s weak points you have come to discover.’

¹³ ‘Your servants are twelve brothers,’ they said ‘sons of the same man, from the land of Canaan. The youngest, we should explain, is at present with our father, and the other one is no more.’

¹⁴ Joseph answered them, ‘It is as I said, you are spies.

¹⁵ This is the test you are to undergo: as sure as Pharaoh lives you shall not leave unless your youngest brother comes here.

¹⁶ Send one of your number to fetch your brother; you others will remain under arrest, so that your statements can be tested to see whether or not you are honest. If not, then as sure as Pharaoh lives you are spies.’

¹⁷ Then he kept them all in custody for three days.

¹⁸ On the third day Joseph said to them, ‘Do this and you shall keep your lives, for I am a man who fears God.

¹⁹ If you are honest men let one of your brothers be kept in the place of your detention; as for you, go and take grain to relieve the famine of your families.

²⁰ You shall bring me your youngest brother; this way your words will be proved true, and you will not have to die!’ This they did.

²¹ They said to one another, ‘Truly we are being called to account for our brother. We saw his misery of soul when he begged our mercy, but we did not listen to him and now this misery has come home to us.’

²² Reuben answered them, ‘Did I not tell you not to wrong the boy? But you did not listen, and now we are brought to account for his blood.’

²³ They did not know that Joseph understood, because there was an interpreter between them.

²⁴ He left them and wept. Then he went back to them and spoke to them. Of their number he took Simeon and had him bound while they looked on.

²⁵ Joseph gave the order to fill their panniers with corn, to put back each man’s money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. This was done for them.

²⁶ They loaded the grain on their donkeys and went away.

²⁷ But when they camped for the night one of them opened his corn-sack to give fodder to his donkey and saw his money in the mouth of his sack.

²⁸ He said to his brothers, ‘My money has been put back; here it is in my corn-sack’. Their hearts sank, and they looked at one another in panic, saying, ‘What is this that God has done to us?’

²⁹ Returning to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they gave him a full report of what had happened to them,

³⁰ ‘The man who is lord of the land spoke harshly to us, taking us for men spying on the country.

³¹ We told him, “We are honest men, we are not spies.

³² We are twelve brothers, sons of the same father. One of us is no more, and the youngest is at present with our father in the land of Canaan.”

³³ But the man who is lord of the land said to us, “This is how I shall know if you are honest: leave one of your brothers with me. Take the grain your families stand in need of and go.

³⁴ But bring me back your youngest brother and then I shall know that you are not spies but honest men. Then I will hand over your brother to you, and you can trade in the country.”‘

³⁵ As they emptied their sacks, each discovered his bag of money in his sack. On seeing their bags of money they were afraid, and so was their father.

³⁶ Then their father Jacob said to them, ‘You are robbing me of my children; Joseph is no more; Simeon is no more; and now you want to take Benjamin. All this I must bear.’

³⁷ Then Reuben said to his father, ‘You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my care and I will bring him back to you.’

³⁸ But he replied, ‘My son is not going down with you, for now his brother is dead he is the only one left. If any harm came to him on the journey you are to undertake, you would send me down to Sheol with my white head bowed in grief.’