Joseph’s Brothers Sent to Egypt
And Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, “Why do you keep looking at one another?”
And he said, “Look, 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.”
And Joseph’s brothers — ten of them — went down to buy grain from Egypt.
But Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, Jacob did not send with his brothers — for he said, “Or harm might meet him.”
And the sons of Israel came to buy among those who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
Now Joseph — he was the ruler over the land; he was the one selling to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down to him, faces to the ground.
And Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them — but he made himself a stranger to them and spoke harshly with them. And he said to them, “Where have you come from?” And they said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.”
And Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him.
And Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them. And he said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see the nakedness of the land.”
And they said to him, “No, my lord — your servants have come to buy food.
We are all sons of one man. We are honest men; your servants have never been spies.”
And he said to them, “No — you have come to see the nakedness of the land.”
And they said, “Your servants are twelve brothers, sons of one man in the land of Canaan. And look, the youngest is with our father today — and one is no more.”
And Joseph said to them, “It is just as I spoke to you: you are spies.
By this you shall be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here.
Send one of you to take your brother, while you remain bound — that your words may be tested, whether the truth is with you. And if not, by the life of Pharaoh, you are spies.”
And he gathered them into custody for three days.
And Joseph said to them on the third day, “Do this and live — I fear God:
if you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay bound in your house of custody, and you — go, bring grain for the hunger of your houses.
And bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words may be verified, and you shall not die.” And they did so.
And they said to one another, “Truly we are guilty concerning our brother — we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not listen. That is why this distress has come to us.”
And Reuben answered them: “Did I not say to you, ‘Do not sin against the boy’ — and you would not listen? And now, look, his blood is required.”
And they did not know that Joseph was listening, for the interpreter was between them.
And he turned away from them and wept. And he returned to them and spoke to them, and took Simeon from them, and bound him before their eyes.
Joseph’s Brothers Return to Canaan
And Joseph gave orders, and they filled their vessels with grain, and returned each man’s silver into his sack, and gave them provisions for the way. And so it was done for them.
And they loaded their grain on their donkeys and went from there.
And one of them opened his sack to give his donkey feed at the lodging place — and he saw his silver; and look, it was in the mouth of his sack.
And he said to his brothers, “My silver has been returned — and look, it is right here in my sack!” And their hearts went out of them, and they turned trembling to one another: “What is this that God has done to us?”
And they came to Jacob their father, to the land of Canaan, and they told him all that had happened to them:
“The man, the lord of the land, spoke harshly with us, and took us for spies of the land.
And we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we have never been spies.
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.’
And the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘By this I will know that you are honest: leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for the hunger of your houses, and go.
And bring your youngest brother to me, so that I may know that you are not spies, that you are honest men. I will give you back your brother, and you may trade in the land.’”
And it happened, as they were emptying their sacks — look, each man’s bundle of silver was in his sack. And they saw their bundles of silver, they and their father, and they were afraid.
And Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me. Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin. All of this has come upon me.”
And 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 hand, and I will return him to you.”
And he said, “My son shall not go down with you — for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If harm meets him on the way you are going, you will bring my gray head down in sorrow to Sheol.”