Genesis 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.”

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Genesis 42

CHAPTER 42

1Forsooth Jacob heard that foods were sold in Egypt, and he said to his sons, Why be ye negligent?

2I [have] heard that wheat is sold in Egypt; go ye down, and buy ye necessaries to us, that we may live, and be not wasted by neediness.

3Therefore ten brethren of Joseph went down to buy wheat in Egypt,

4and Benjamin was withholden of Jacob at home, that said to his brethren, Lest peradventure in the way he suffer any evil.

5Soothly they entered into the land of Egypt, with other men that went thither to buy corn; forsooth hunger was in the land of Canaan.

6And Joseph was the prince of Egypt, and at his will wheats were sold to [the] peoples. And when his brethren had worshipped or honoured him,

7and he had known them, he spake harder to them, as to aliens, and asked them, From whence came ye? Which answered, From the land of Canaan, that we buy necessaries to our lifelode.

8And nevertheless he knew his brethren, and he was not known of them,

9and he bethought on the dreams which he saw sometime. And he said to them, Ye be spyers [or spies], ye came to see the feebler things of the land.

10Which said, Lord, it is not so, but thy servants came to buy meats;

11all we be [the] sons of one man, we came hither peaceably, and thy servants imagine not any evil.

12To which he answered, It is in other manner, ye came to see the feeble things of the land.

13And they said, We thy servants be twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; the youngest is with our father, another is not alive.

14This it is, he said, that I spake to you, ye be spyers [or spies],

15right now I shall take experience or very knowing of you; by the health of Pharaoh ye shall not go from hence, till your least brother come hither;

16send ye one of you, that he bring him, forsooth ye shall be in bonds till those things that ye said be proved, whether those [or they] be false or true; else, by the health of Pharaoh, ye be spies.

17Therefore he betook them into keeping three days;

18soothly in the third day, when they were led out of prison, Joseph said, Do ye that that I said, and ye shall live, for I dread God;

19if ye be peaceable, one brother of you be bound in prison; forsooth the rest go ye, and bear the wheat, which ye have bought, into your houses,

20and bring ye your youngest brother to me, that I may prove your words, and ye die not. They did as he said,

21and they spake together, Worthily we suffer these things, for we sinned against our brother, and we saw the anguish of his soul, while he prayed us, and we heard him not; therefore this tribulation cometh on us.

22Of which one, Reuben, said, Whether I said not to you, Do not ye sin against the child, and ye heard not me? lo! his blood is sought.

23Soothly they knew not that Joseph understood them, for he spake to them by an interpreter or an expounder.

24And he turned away himself a little, and wept; and he turned again, and spake to them. And he took Simeon, and bound him, while they were present;

25and he commanded the servants, that they should fill their sacks with wheat, and that they should put all their money in their bags, and over this give to them meats in the way; which did so.

26And they bare [the] wheats on their asses, and went forth,

27and when the sack of one of them was opened that he should give meat to the work beast in the inn, he beheld the money in the mouth of the bag,

28and he said to his brethren, My money is yielded to me, lo! it is had in the bag; and they were astonied, and troubled, and said together, What thing is this that God hath done to us?

29And they came to Jacob, their father, in the land of Canaan, and told to him all things that befelled to them, and said,

30The lord of the land spake hard to us, and guessed that we were spyers [or spies] of the province;

31to whom we answered, We be peaceable, neither we purpose any treasons;

32we be twelve brethren, engendered of one father, one is not alive, the youngest dwelleth with the father in the land of Canaan.

33And he said to us, Thus I shall prove that ye be peaceable; leave ye one brother of you with me, and take ye meats needful to your houses, and go ye,

34and bring ye to me your youngest brother, that I know that ye be not spyers [or spies], and that ye may receive this brother which is holden in bonds, and that from thenceforth ye have license to buy what things ye will.

35While these things were said, when they all poured out the wheats, they found the money bound in the mouths of their sacks. And when they altogether were afeared,

36their father Jacob said, Ye have made me to be without children; Joseph is not alive, Simeon is holden in bonds, ye shall take away from me Benjamin; all these evils have fallen in on me.

37To whom Reuben answered, Slay thou my two sons, if I shall not bring him again to thee; take thou him in mine hand, and I shall restore him to thee.

38And Jacob said, My son shall not go down with you; his brother is dead, he alone is left; if any adversity shall befall to him in the land to which ye shall go, ye shall lead forth mine hoar hairs with sorrow to hell.

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