¹Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt , and Jacob said to his sons , “Why do you look at one another ?”

²He 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 .”

³Joseph ’s ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt .

⁴But Jacob didn’t send Benjamin , Joseph ’s brother, with his brothers; for he said, “Lest perhaps harm happen to him .”

⁵The sons of Israel came to buy amongst those who came , for the famine was in the land of Canaan .

⁶Joseph 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.

⁷Joseph saw his brothers, and he recognised 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.”

⁸Joseph recognised his brothers, but they didn’t recognise him .

⁹Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamt about them , and said to them , “You are spies ! You have come to see the nakedness of the land.”

¹⁰They said to him, “No , my lord, but your servants have come to buy food.

¹¹We are all one man ’s sons ; we are honest men . Your servants are not spies .”

¹²He said to them , “No , but you have come to see the nakedness of the land!”

¹³They 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.”

¹⁴Joseph said to them , “It is like I told you , saying , ‘You are spies !’

¹⁵By this you shall be tested. By the life of Pharaoh , you shall not go out from here , unless your youngest brother comes here .

¹⁶Send 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 .”

¹⁷He put them all together into custody for three days .

¹⁸Joseph said to them the third day , “Do this , and live , for I fear God.

¹⁹If 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 .

²⁰Bring your youngest brother to me ; so will your words be verified, and you won’t die .”

They did so .

²¹They 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 .”

²²Reuben 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 .”

²³They didn’t know that Joseph understood them ; for there was an interpreter between them .

²⁴He turned himself away from them , and wept . Then he returned to them , and spoke to them , and took Simeon from amongst them , and bound him before their eyes .

²⁵Then 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 .

²⁶They loaded their donkeys with their grain , and departed from there .

²⁷As 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 .

²⁸He 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 ?”

²⁹They 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.

³¹We said to him , ‘We are honest men. We are no spies .

³²We are twelve brothers , sons of our father ; one is no more, and the youngest is today with our father in the land of Canaan .’

³³The 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 .

³⁴Bring 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.’”

³⁵As 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 .

³⁶Jacob , 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 .”

³⁷Reuben 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 .”

³⁸He 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 grey hairs with sorrow to Sheol .”[#42:38 Sheol is the place of the dead.]