Genesis 42:1-38 - Joseph's Brothers Go To Egypt For Food
1 When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt,
5 The sons of Israel were among those who came to buy grain, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. 6 Joseph was in charge of the country; he sold grain to all its people. His brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the ground.
“Where do you come from?” he asked.
“From the land of Canaan to buy food,” they replied.
8 Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. 9 Joseph remembered his dreams about them
10 “No, my lord. Your servants have come to buy food,” they said. 11 “We are all sons of one man. We are honest; your servants are not spies.”
12 “No,” he said to them. “You have come to see the weakness of the land.”
13 But they replied, “We, your servants, were 12 brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now
14 Then Joseph said to them, “I have spoken:
18 On the third day Joseph said to them, “I fear God
21 Then they said to each other, “Obviously, we are being punished for what we did to our brother. We saw his deep distress when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this trouble has come to us.”
22 But Reuben replied: “Didn’t I tell you not to harm the boy?
23 They did not realize that Joseph understood them, since there was an interpreter between them. 24 He turned away from them and wept. Then he turned back and spoke to them. He took Simeon from them and had him bound before their eyes. 25 Joseph then gave orders to fill their containers with grain, return each man’s money to his sack, and give them provisions for their journey. This order was carried out. 26 They loaded the grain on their donkeys and left there.
27 At the place where they lodged for the night, one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey, and he saw his money there at the top of the bag. 28 He said to his brothers, “My money has been returned! It’s here in my bag.” Their hearts sank. Trembling, they turned to one another and said, “What is this that God has done to us?”
29 When they reached their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them: 30 “The man who is the lord of the country spoke harshly to us and accused us of spying on the country. 31 But we told him: We are honest and not spies. 32 We were 12 brothers, sons of the same
35 As they began emptying their sacks, there in each man’s sack was his bag of money! When they and their father saw their bags of money, they were afraid.
36 Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my sons. Joseph is gone and Simeon is gone. Now you want to take Benjamin. Everything happens to me!” 37 Then Reuben said to his father, “You can kill my two sons if I don’t bring him back to you. Put him in my care,
38 But Jacob answered, “My son will not go down with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left.