Genesis 42
42
1-2When Jacob learned that there was food in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you sit around here and look at one another? I’ve heard that there is food in Egypt. Go down there and buy some so that we can survive and not starve to death.”
3-5Ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to Egypt to get food. Jacob didn’t send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with them; he was afraid that something bad might happen to him. So Israel’s sons joined everyone else that was going to Egypt to buy food, for Canaan, too, was hit hard by the famine.
6-7Joseph was running the country; he was the one who gave out rations to all the people. When Joseph’s brothers arrived, they treated him with honor, bowing to him. Joseph recognized them immediately, but treated them as strangers and spoke roughly to them.
He said, “Where do you come from?”
“From Canaan,” they said. “We’ve come to buy food.”
8Joseph knew who they were, but they didn’t know who he was.
9Joseph, remembering the dreams he had dreamed of them, said, “You’re spies. You’ve come to look for our weak spots.”
10-11“No, master,” they said. “We’ve only come to buy food. We’re all the sons of the same man; we’re honest men; we’d never think of spying.”
12He said, “No. You’re spies. You’ve come to look for our weak spots.”
13They said, “There were twelve of us brothers—sons of the same father in the country of Canaan. The youngest is with our father, and one is no more.”
14-16But Joseph said, “It’s just as I said, you’re spies. This is how I’ll test you. As Pharaoh lives, you’re not going to leave this place until your younger brother comes here. Send one of you to get your brother while the rest of you stay here in jail. We’ll see if you’re telling the truth or not. As Pharaoh lives, I say you’re spies.”
17Then he threw them into jail for three days.
18-20On the third day, Joseph spoke to them. “Do this and you’ll live. I’m a God-fearing man. If you’re as honest as you say you are, one of your brothers will stay here in jail while the rest of you take the food back to your hungry families. But you have to bring your youngest brother back to me, confirming the truth of your speech—and not one of you will die.” They agreed.
21Then they started talking among themselves. “Now we’re paying for what we did to our brother—we saw how terrified he was when he was begging us for mercy. We wouldn’t listen to him and now we’re the ones in trouble.”
22Reuben broke in. “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t hurt the boy’? But no, you wouldn’t listen. And now we’re paying for his murder.”
23-24Joseph had been using an interpreter, so they didn’t know that Joseph was understanding every word. Joseph turned away from them and cried. When he was able to speak again, he took Simeon and had him tied up, making a prisoner of him while they all watched.
25Then Joseph ordered that their sacks be filled with grain, that their money be put back in each sack, and that they be given rations for the road. That was all done for them.
26They loaded their food supplies on their donkeys and set off.
27-28When they stopped for the night, one of them opened his sack to get food for his donkey; there at the mouth of his bag was his money. He called out to his brothers, “My money has been returned; it’s right here in my bag!” They were puzzled—and frightened. “What’s God doing to us?”
29-32When they got back to their father Jacob, back in the land of Canaan, they told him everything that had happened, saying, “The man who runs the country spoke to us roughly and accused us of being spies. We told him, ‘We are honest men and in no way spies. There were twelve of us brothers, sons of one father; one is gone and the youngest is with our father in Canaan.’
33-34“But the master of the country said, ‘Leave one of your brothers with me, take food for your starving families, and go. Bring your youngest brother back to me, proving that you’re honest men and not spies. And then I’ll give your brother back to you and you’ll be free to come and go in this country.’”
35As they were emptying their food sacks, each man came on his purse of money. On seeing their money, they and their father were upset.
36Their father said to them, “You’re taking everything I’ve got! Joseph’s gone, Simeon’s gone, and now you want to take Benjamin. If you have your way, I’ll be left with nothing.”
37Reuben spoke up: “I’ll put my two sons in your hands as hostages. If I don’t bring Benjamin back, you can kill them. Trust me with Benjamin; I’ll bring him back.”
38But Jacob refused. “My son will not go down with you. His brother is dead and he is all I have left. If something bad happens to him on the road, you’ll put my gray, sorrowing head in the grave.”
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Genesis 42
42
1Now when Ya’akov (he who holds onto the heel of) saw that there was corn in Mitzrayim [Egypt] (Double Distress or Double Stronghold, Black Land), Ya’akov said unto his sons, Why do youf look one upon another?
2And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Mitzrayim [Egypt]: get you down there, and buy for us from there; that we may live, and not die.
3Yosef’s (Increaser; May God the Powerful One add [Yah]) ten brethren went down to buy corn in Mitzrayim [Egypt] (Double Distress or Double Stronghold, Black Land).
4But Binyamin (This Son Is Strength), Yosef’s (Increaser; May God the Powerful One add [Yah]) brother, Ya’akov (he who holds onto the heel of) sent not with his brethren; for he said, Lest perhaps mischief befall him.
5And the sons of Isra’el (he who holds onto God-The Creator) came to buy [corn] among those that came: for the famine was in the land of Kena’an (merchant; trader; or that humbles and subdues).
6And Yosef [was] the governor over the land, [and] he [it was] that sold to all the people of the land: and Yosef’s brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him [with] their faces to the earth.
7And Yosef saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spoke roughly unto them; and he said unto them, Whence come youf? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food.
8And Yosef knew his brethren, but they knew not him.
9And Yosef remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, You1sf [are] spies; to see the nakedness of the land you1sf are come.
10And they said unto him, No, my lord, but to buy food are youri servants come.
11We [are] all one man’s sons; we [are] true [men], youri servants are no spies.
12And he said unto them, No, but to see the nakedness of the land youf are come.
13And they said, youri servants [are] twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Kena’an (merchant; trader; or that humbles and subdues); and, behold, the youngest [is] this day with our father, and one [is] not.
14And Yosef (Increaser; May God the Powerful One add [Yah]) said unto them, That [is it] that I spoke unto you, saying, You1sf [are] spies:
15Hereby you1sf shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh (Great House) you1sf shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come to this place (till this point in time).
16Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and you1sf shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether [there be any] tin you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely you1sf [are] spies.
17And he put them all to (to do entirely, do wholly) gether into ward (in custody, with a guard; prison) three days.
18And Yosef said unto them the third day, This do, and live; [for] I fear God-Elōhīm [The Living Word - The Many Powered]:
19If you1sf [be] true [men], let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go you1sf, carry corn for the famine of your houses:
20But bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and youf shall not die. And they did so.
21And they said one to another, We [are] truly guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.
22And Re’uven (behold a son) answered them, saying, Spoke I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and youf would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required.
23And they knew not that Yosef (Increaser; May God the Powerful One add [Yah]) understood [them]; for he spoke unto them by an interpreter.
24And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Shim’on (heard; he who hears; man of hearing), and bound him before their eyes.
25Then Yosef (Increaser; May God the Powerful One add [Yah]) commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man’s money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way: and in this way did he unto them.
26And they laded their donkeys with the corn, and departed there.
27And as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey provender (food for livestock or cattle) in the inn, he discovered (spied out; examined) his money; for, behold, it [was] in his sack’s mouth.
28And he said unto his brethren, My money is restored; and, lo, [it is] even in my sack: and their heart failed [them], and they were afraid, saying one to another, What [is] this [that] God-Elōhīm [The Living Word - The Many Powered] has done unto us?
29And they came unto Ya’akov (he who holds onto the heel of) their father unto the land of Kena’an (merchant; trader; or that humbles and subdues), and told him all that befell unto them; saying,
30The man, [who is] the lord of the land, spoke roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country.
31And we said unto him, We [are] true [men]; we are no spies:
32We [be] twelve brethren, sons of our father; one [is] not, and the youngest [is] this day with our father in the land of Kena’an (merchant; trader; or that humbles and subdues).
33And the man, the lord of the country, said unto us, Hereby shall I know that you1sf [are] true [men]; leave one of yourf brethren [here] with me, and take [food for] the famine of yourf households, and be gone:
34And bring your youngest brother unto me: then shall I know that you1sf [are] not spies, but [that] you1sf [are] true [men: so] will I deliver [to] youf yourf brother, and you1sf shall traffick (trade; do business) [engage in illegal activity] in the land.
35And it came to pass as they emptied their sacks, that, behold, every man’s bundle of money [was] in his sack: and when [both] they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid.
36And Ya’akov (he who holds onto the heel of) their father said unto them, Me have youf bereaved [of my children]: Yosef (Increaser; May God the Powerful One add [Yah]) [is] not, and Shim’on (heard; he who hears; man of hearing) [is] not, and you1sf will take Binyamin (This Son Is Strength) [away]: all these things are against me.
37And Re’uven (behold a son) spoke unto his father, saying, Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to youi: deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to youi again.
38And he said, My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he is left alone: if mischief befall him by the way in the which you1sf go, then shall you1sf bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.
Text copyright © 2000-2018 TOV Rose
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