Genesis 42:1-10

New King James Version

Joseph’s Brothers Go to Egypt

42 When ^(A)Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” ² And he said, “Indeed I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down to that place and buy for us there, that we may ^(B)live and not die.”

³ So Joseph’s ten brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. ⁴ But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, ^(C)“Lest some calamity befall him.” ⁵ And the sons of Israel went to buy grain among those who journeyed, for the famine was ^(D)in the land of Canaan.

⁶ Now Joseph was governor ^(E)over the land; and it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and ^(F)bowed down before him with their faces to the earth. ⁷ Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he acted as ^(G)a stranger to them and spoke ^[a]roughly to them. Then he said to them, “Where do you come from?”

And they said, “From the land of Canaan to buy food.”

⁸ So Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. ⁹ Then Joseph ^(H)remembered the dreams which he had dreamed about them, and said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see the ^[b]nakedness of the land!”

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