Genesis 42

Revised Geneva Translation

42 Then Jacob saw that there was food in Egypt; and Jacob said to his sons, “Why do you stare at each other?”

² And he said, “Behold, I have heard that there is food in Egypt. Go down there and buy us food, so that we may live and not die.”3 So, Joseph’s ten brothers went down to buy corn from the Egyptians.

⁴ But Jacob would not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with his brothers. For he said, “Lest death should befall him.”

⁵ And the sons of Israel came to buy food among those who came. For there was famine in the land of Canaan.

⁶ Now Joseph was governor of the land, who sold to all the people of the land. Then Joseph’s brothers came and bowed their faces to the ground before him.

⁷ And when Joseph saw his brothers, he knew them. But he acted as a stranger toward them, and spoke to them roughly, and said to them, “From where have you come?” Who answered, “Out of the land of Canaan, to buy food.”

⁸ Now Joseph knew his brothers, but they did not know him.

⁹ And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them; and he said to them, “You are spies, come to see the weakness of the land!”

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

¹¹ “We are all one man’s sons. We are honest! And your servants are not spies.”

¹² But he said to them, “No, but you have come to see the weakness of the land!”

¹³ And they said, “We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. And behold, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more.”

¹⁴ Again Joseph said to them, “This is that which I spoke to you, saying, ‘You are spies.’

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

¹⁶ “Send one of you to fetch your brother; and you shall be kept in prison, so that your words may be tested (whether there is truth in you). Or else, by the life of Pharaoh, you are but spies!”

¹⁷ So, he put them in prison for three days.

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

¹⁹ “If you are true men, let one of your brothers be bound in your prison house; and you go and carry food for the famine of your houses.

²⁰ “But, bring your younger brother to me, so that your words may be tested and that you do not die.” And they did so.

²¹ And they said to one another, “Truly, we have sinned against our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us and we would not hear him. Therefore, this trouble has come upon us.”

²² And Reuben answered them, saying, “Did I not warn you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the child,’ and you would not hear? And lo, his blood is now required.”

²³ And they were not aware that Joseph understood them. For he spoke to them through an interpreter.

²⁴ Then, he turned from them and wept, and turned to them again and communed with them, and took Simeon from among them and bound him before their eyes.

²⁵ So, Joseph commanded that they should fill their sacks with wheat and put every man’s money back in his sack and give them food for the journey. And he did this to them.

²⁶ And they laid their food upon their donkeys and left there.

²⁷ And, as one of them opened his sack to feed his donkey at the inn, he saw his money (for lo, it was in his sack’s mouth).

²⁸ Then he said to his brothers, “My money is restored! For lo, it is here in my sack!” And their hearts failed them; and they were astonished and said to one another, “What is this that God has done to us?”

²⁹ And they came to Jacob, their father (to the land of Canaan) and told him all that had befallen them, saying,

³⁰ “The man who is lord of the land spoke roughly to us and put us in prison as spies of the country.

³¹ “And we said to him, ‘We are honest men, and are not spies.

³² ‘We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One is no more and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.’

³³ “Then the lord of the country said to us, ‘By this I shall know if you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers with me and take food for the famine of your houses and depart;

³⁴ ‘and bring your youngest brother to me, so that I may know that you are not spies, but honest men. Then I will release your brother and you shall occupy the land.’”

³⁵ And as they emptied their sacks, behold, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack. And when they and their father saw the bundles of their money, they were afraid.

³⁶ Then Jacob, their father, said to them, “You have robbed me of my children! Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more! And you would take Benjamin! All these things are against me!”

³⁷ Then Reuben answered his father, saying, “Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hands and I will bring him back to you.”

³⁸ But he said, “My son shall not go down with you. For his brother is dead; and he is left alone. If death comes to him by the way which you go, then you shall bring my gray head to the grave with sorrow.”