Genesis 42

1 When Jacob saw that grain was being sold in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why are you sitting idle? 2 Look — I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy us a little food, so that we may live and not die.” 3 So Joseph’s ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. 4 But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with his brothers — for he said, “Some illness might strike him.” 5 So the sons of Israel came to buy along with the others who were coming, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. 6 Now Joseph was ruler of the land — it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down to him, faces to the ground. 7 When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them — but he made himself a stranger to them and spoke hard words to them. He said to them, “Where have you come from?” And they said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.” 8 Joseph knew his brothers — but they did not know him. 9 And Joseph remembered the dreams he had seen, and he said to them, “You are spies. You have come to observe the tracks of the land.” 10 But they said, “No, sir. We, your servants, have come to buy food. 11 We are all sons of one man. We are men of peace — your servants are not spies.” 12 And he said to them, “No — you have come to see the tracks of the land.” 13 And they said, “We, your servants, are twelve brothers, in the land of Canaan. The youngest is with our father today — and the other one is gone.” 14 And Joseph said to them, “It is just as I told you: you are spies. 15 This is how you will be tested — by the health of Pharaoh, you shall not leave here unless your younger brother comes here. [a] 16 Send one of you to get your brother, and the rest of you go to prison, until your words are proved — whether you are telling the truth or not. If not, then by the health of Pharaoh, you certainly are spies.” 17 And he put them in prison for three days.

18 On the third day he said to them, “Do this, and you shall live — for I fear God. 19 If you are men of peace, let one of your brothers be kept in the prison, and the rest of you go, and carry back the grain you have bought. 20 Then bring your youngest brother to me, and your words will be believed — and if not, you shall die.” And they did so. 21 And each one said to his brother, “Yes — truly we are in sin over our brother. We disregarded the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.” 22 And Reuben answered them, “Didn’t I say to you, ‘Do not harm the boy’ — and you would not listen? And now, look: his blood is being required.” 23 They did not know that Joseph understood them, for there was an interpreter between them. 24 And Joseph turned away from them and wept. Then he came back to them and spoke to them — and he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. 25 And Joseph gave orders to fill their containers with grain, and to put each man’s money back into his sack, and to give them provisions for the road. And so it was done for them. 26 They loaded the grain on their donkeys and departed. 27 But when one of them opened his sack to give his donkeys fodder at the place where they stopped for the night, he saw his bundle of money — there it was, at the mouth of his sack. 28 And he said to his brothers, “My money has been returned — look, here it is in my sack!” And their hearts were stunned, and they turned to one another in alarm, saying, “What is this that God has done to us?”

29 When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they reported to him everything that had happened to them: 30 “The man who is lord of the land spoke harsh words to us and put us in prison as spies of the land. 31 And we said to him, ‘We are men of peace — we are not spies. 32 We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One is gone, and the youngest is with his father today in the land of Canaan.’ 33 And the man who is lord of the land said to us, ‘This is how I will know that you are men of peace: leave one brother here with me, take the grain you have bought for your family, and go. 34 Then bring your youngest brother to me, and I will know that you are not spies but men of peace — and I will give you back your brother, and you may trade in the land.’” 35 Then, as they were emptying their sacks, there in each man’s sack was his bundle of money. And when they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. 36 And their father Jacob said to them, “You have left me childless. Joseph is gone. Simeon is gone. And now you would take Benjamin? All of this has fallen on me.” 37 And Reuben said to his father, “Kill my own two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.” 38 But he said, “My son shall not go down with you. His brother is dead, and he alone is left. If he falls ill on the road you travel, you will bring my old age down to Hades in sorrow.” [b]