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Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you just keep looking at each other?” 2 He continued, “Look, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down and buy some grain for us, so we may live and not die.”
3 So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. 4 But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he was afraid that harm might come to him. 5 So Israel’s sons were among those who went to buy grain, for the famine was in the land of Canaan also.
6 Now Joseph was the governor of the land; he was the one who sold grain to all its people. So when Joseph’s brothers arrived, they bowed down before him with their faces to the ground. 7 When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke harshly to them.
“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 and said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see where our land is unprotected!”
10 “No, my lord,” they replied. “Your servants have come to buy food. 11 We are all the sons of one man. We are honest men; your servants are not spies.”
12 “No!” he said to them. “You have come to see where our land is unprotected!”
13 But they replied, “Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is with our father this day, and one is no more.”
14 But Joseph said to them, “It is just as I have said to you: ‘You are spies!’ 15 This is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. 16 Send one from among you to get your brother, while the rest of you remain here in prison. Then your words will be tested to see whether you are telling the truth. Otherwise, by the life of Pharaoh, you are definitely spies.” 17 And Joseph imprisoned them together for three days.
18 On the third day, Joseph said to them, “Do this and you will live, for I fear God: 19 If you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined here where you are imprisoned. But the rest of you go, and take grain back for the hunger of your households. 20 But bring your youngest brother to me; so your words may be verified, and you will not die.” And they agreed to do so.
21 They said to one another, “Surely we are being punished for what we did to our brother. We saw how deeply distressed he was when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this trouble has come upon us!”
22 But Reuben replied, “Didn’t I say to you, ‘Do not sin against the boy’? But you would not listen. So now we must give an accounting for his blood.” 23 They did not realise that Joseph understood them, since he was using an interpreter.
24 Joseph turned away from them and wept; then he turned back and spoke to them again. He had Simeon taken from among them, and had him bound before their eyes.
25 Joseph then gave orders to fill their sacks with grain, to put each man’s money back in his sack, and to give them provisions for their journey. After this was done for them, 26 they loaded their grain of the donkeys and left.
27 At the place where they stopped for the night, one of them opened his sack to get some feed for his donkey, and he saw his money at the top of his sack. 28 He said to his brothers, “My money has been returned. It’s here in my sack!”
At this their hearts sank, and they turned to one another trembling and said, “What is this that God has done to us?”
29 When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them. 30 They said, “The man who is lord over the land spoke harshly to us, and accused us of spying on the country. 31 But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we are not spies. 32 We are twelve brothers, the sons of one father. One is no more, and the youngest is now with our father this day in the land of Canaan’.
33 “Then the man who is lord over the land said to us, ‘This is how I will know whether you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with me, take food for your starving households, and go. 34 If you bring your youngest brother to me, then I will know that you are not spies but honest men. Then I will give your brother back to you, and you can trade in the land’.”
35 As they were 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 bereaved me of my children. Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you want to take Benjamin. All these things are against me!”
37 Then Reuben said to his father, “You may put both my sons to death if I don’t bring him back to you. Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him back to you.”
38 But Jacob said, “My son will not go down with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. If harm should come to him on the journey you are taking, you will bring my gray head down to Sheol in sorrow.”