Genesis 42Book 1 of 66 · 38 verses · MBT primary, NKJV fallback where MBT pending
When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, "Why do you keep staring at one another?"
And he said, "I have heard that there is grain for sale in Egypt; go down there and buy some for us, that we may live and not die."
So Joseph's ten brothers went down to Egypt to buy grain.
But Jacob did not send Joseph's brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he feared that some calamity might befall him.
And the sons of Israel went to buy grain among the others who journeyed, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
Now Joseph was governor over the land, and he was the one who sold grain to all the people of the land, and Joseph's brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the ground.
Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he disguised himself to them and spoke harshly to them, and he said to them, "Where do you come from?" And they said, "From the land of Canaan to buy food."
So Joseph recognized his brothers, although they did not recognize him.
Then Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed about them, and said to them, "You are spies! You have come to see the weakness of the land!"
And they said to him, "No, my lord, your servants have simply come to buy food."
We are all one man's sons; we are honest men, sir; your servants are not spies.
But he said to them, "No, you have come to see how vulnerable and undefended the land is."
And they said, "Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan, and the youngest is now with our father, and one is no longer living."
But Joseph said to them, "It is just as I told you, saying, 'You are spies!'
In this manner you shall be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here.
Send one of you, and let him get your brother; and you shall be kept in prison, that your words may be tested to see whether there is any truth in you; or else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies!
So he put them all together in custody for three days.
On the third day Joseph said to them, "Do this and you will live, for I am a God-fearing man:
If you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined in your prison house, but as for the rest of you, go and carry grain to relieve the famine of your households.
And bring your youngest brother to me; so your words will be verified, and you shall not die, and they consented to this.
Then they said to one another, "We are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us for his life, and we would not listen; therefore this distress has come upon us."
And Reuben answered them, saying, "Did I not tell you not to sin against the boy, and you would not listen? Therefore behold, now comes the reckoning for his blood."
But they did not realize that Joseph understood them, for he spoke to them through an interpreter.
Joseph turned away from them and wept, then he returned to them and spoke to them, and he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.
Then Joseph gave orders to fill their containers with grain, to restore every man's money to his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey, and thus it was done for them.
So they loaded their donkeys with the grain and headed for home.
But as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey feed at the lodging place, he saw his money; and there it was, in the mouth of his sack.
So he said to his brothers, "My money has been restored, and there it is, in my sack!" Then their hearts sank and they turned trembling to one another, saying, "What is this that God has done to us?"
When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him everything that had happened to them, saying:
The man who is lord of the land spoke harshly to us and accused us of being spies of the country.
But we said to him, We are true men; we are not spies.
We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no longer alive, and the youngest is with our father today in the land of Canaan.
Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, 'By this I will know that you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with me, take grain for the famine of your households, and go your way.
And bring your youngest brother to me; then I shall know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. I will deliver your brother to you, and you may trade in the land.
Then it happened as they emptied their sacks, that behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack, and when they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were terrified.
And Jacob their father said to them, "You have robbed me of my children: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin. All these things are against me."
Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, "You may kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my care, and I will return him to you."
But he said, "My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If any harm should befall him along the journey in which you go, then you would bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave."