1 Now Jacob saw that there was grain in
Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, “Why do
you look at one another?”
2 He said, “Behold, I have heard that
there is grain in Egypt. Go down there, and
buy for us from there, so that we may live,
and not die.” 3 Joseph’s ten brothers went down to buy
grain from Egypt.
4 But Jacob didn’t send Benjamin,
Joseph’s brother, with his brothers; for he
said, “Lest perhaps harm happen to him.”
5 The sons of Israel came to buy among
those who came, for the famine was in the
land of Canaan.
6 Joseph was the governor over the land.
It was he who sold to all the people of the
land. Joseph’s brothers came, and bowed
themselves down to him with their faces to
the earth.
7 Joseph saw his brothers, and he recognized
them, but acted like a stranger to
them, and spoke roughly with them. He
said to them, “Where did you come from?”
They said, “From the land of Canaan, to
buy food.”
8 Joseph recognized his brothers, but
they didn’t recognize him.
9 Joseph remembered the dreams which
he dreamed about them, and said to them,
“You are spies! You have come to see the
nakedness of the land.”
10 They said to him, “No, my lord, but
your servants have come to buy food.
11 We are all one man’s sons; we are
honest men. Your servants are not spies.”
12 He said to them, “No, but you have
come to see the nakedness of the land!” 13 They said, “We, your servants, are
twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the
land of Canaan; and behold, the youngest
is today with our father, and one is no
more.” 14 Joseph said to them, “It is like I told
you, saying, ‘You are spies!’
15 By this you shall be tested. By the life
of Pharaoh, you shall not go out from here,
unless your youngest brother comes here.
16 Send one of you, and let him get your
brother, and you shall be bound, that your
words may be tested, whether there is
truth in you, or else by the life of Pharaoh
surely you are spies.”
17 He put them all together into custody
for three days.
18 Joseph said to them the third day, “Do
this, and live, for I fear God.
19 If you are honest men, then let one of
your brothers be bound in your prison; but
you go, carry grain for the famine of your
houses.
20 Bring your youngest brother to me; so
will your words be verified, and you won’t
die.”
They did so.
21 They said to one another, “We are
certainly guilty concerning our brother,
in that we saw the distress of his soul,
when he begged us, and we wouldn’t listen.
Therefore this distress has come upon
us.” 22 Reuben answered them, saying,
“Didn’t I tell you, saying, ‘Don’t sin against
the child,’ and you wouldn’t listen? Therefore
also, behold, his blood is required.”
23 They didn’t know that Joseph understood
them; for there was an interpreter
between them.
24 He turned himself away from them,
and wept. Then he returned to them,
and spoke to them, and took Simeon from
among them, and bound him before their
eyes.
25 Then Joseph gave a command to fill
their bags with grain, and to restore each
man’s money into his sack, and to give
them food for the way. So it was done to
them.
26 They loaded their donkeys with their
grain, and departed from there.
27 As one of them opened his sack to give
his donkey food in the lodging place, he
saw his money. Behold, it was in the mouth
of his sack.
28 He said to his brothers, “My money is
restored! Behold, it is in my sack!” Their
hearts failed them, and they turned trembling
to one another, saying, “What is this
that God has done to us?” 29 They came to Jacob their father, to the
land of Canaan, and told him all that had
happened to them, saying,
30 “The man, the lord of the land, spoke
roughly with us, and took us for spies of the
country.
31 We said to him, ‘We are honest men.
We are no spies.
32 We are twelve brothers, sons of our
father; one is no more, and the youngest
is today with our father in the land of
Canaan.’ 33 The man, the lord of the land, said
to us, ‘By this I will know that you are
honest men: leave one of your brothers
with me, and take grain for the famine of
your houses, and go your way.
34 Bring your youngest brother to me.
Then I will know that you are not spies, but
that you are honest men. So I will deliver
your brother to you, and you shall trade in
the land.’ ”
35 As they emptied their sacks, behold,
each man’s bundle of money was in his
sack. When they and their father saw their
bundles of money, they were afraid.
36 Jacob, their father, said to them, “You
have bereaved me of my children! Joseph
is no more, Simeon is no more, and you
want to take Benjamin away. All these
things are against me.”
37 Reuben spoke to his father, saying,
“Kill my two sons, if I don’t bring him to
you. Entrust him to my care, and I will
bring him to you again.”
38 He said, “My son shall not go down
with you; for his brother is dead, and he
only is left. If harm happens to him along
the way in which you go, then you will
bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to
Sheol.Ӡ
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