¹ Now when Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, Why do ye look one upon another?

² And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt: go down there, and buy for us from there; that we may live, and not die.

³ And Joseph’s ten brethren went down to buy grain in Egypt.

⁴ But Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said, Lest perhaps harm shall befall him.

⁵ And the sons of Israel came to buy grain among those that came: for the famine was in the land of Canaan.

⁶ And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph’s brethren came, and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the earth.

⁷ And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange to them, and spoke roughly to them; and he said to them, Where do you come from? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food.¹

1. roughly...: Heb. hard things with them

⁸ And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him.

⁹ And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said to them, Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land have ye come.

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

¹¹ We are all one man’s sons; we are honest men, thy servants are no spies.

¹² And he said to them, No, but to see the nakedness of the land have ye come.

¹³ And they said, Thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not.

¹⁴ And Joseph said to them, That is what I spoke to you, saying, Ye are spies:

¹⁵ By this ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth from here, except your youngest brother shall come here.

¹⁶ Send one of you, and let him bring your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there is any truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies.¹

1. kept...: Heb. bound

¹⁷ And he put them all together into prison three days.¹

1. put: Heb. gathered

¹⁸ And Joseph said to them the third day, This do, and live; for I fear God:

¹⁹ If ye are honest men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry grain for the famine of your houses:

²⁰ But bring your youngest brother to me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so.

²¹ And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.

²² And Reuben answered them, saying, Did I not speak to you, saying, Do not sin against the young man; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required.

²³ And they knew not that Joseph understood them ; for he spoke to them by an interpreter.¹

1. he spake...: Heb. an interpreter was between them

²⁴ And he turned himself away from them, and wept; and returned to them again, and spoke with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes.

²⁵ Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with grain, and to restore every man’s money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way: and thus did he to them.

²⁶ And they loaded their donkeys with the grain, and departed from there.

²⁷ And as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey feed at the inn, he discovered his money; for, behold, it was in his sack’s mouth.

²⁸ And he said to his brethren, My money is restored; and, see, it is even in my sack: and their heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying one to another, What is this that God hath done to us?¹

1. failed...: Heb. went forth

²⁹ And they came to Jacob their father to the land of Canaan, and told him all that befell them; saying,

³⁰ The man, who is the lord of the land, spoke roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country.¹

1. roughly...: Heb. with us hard things

³¹ And we said to him, We are honest men ; we are no spies:

³² We are twelve brethren, sons of our father; one is not, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.

³³ And the man, the lord of the country, said to us, By this shall I know that ye are honest men ; leave one of your brethren here with me, and take food for the famine of your households, and depart:

³⁴ And bring your youngest brother to me: then shall I know that ye are no spies, but that ye are honest men: then will I deliver to you your brother, and ye shall trade in the land.

³⁵ And it came to pass 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 afraid.

³⁶ And Jacob their father said to them, Me have ye bereaved: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away : all these things are against me.

³⁷ And Reuben spoke to his father, saying, Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee: deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to thee again.

³⁸ And he said, My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he is left alone: if harm shall befall him by the way in which ye go, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.