3So Joseph’s ten older brothers went down to Egypt to buy grain.

4But Jacob wouldn’t let Joseph’s younger brother, Benjamin, go with them, for fear some harm might come to him.

5So Jacob’s42:5 Hebrew Israel’s. See note on 35:21. sons arrived in Egypt along with others to buy food, for the famine was in Canaan as well.

6Since Joseph was governor of all Egypt and in charge of selling grain to all the people, it was to him that his brothers came. When they arrived, they bowed before him with their faces to the ground.

7Joseph recognized his brothers instantly, but he pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them. “Where are you from?” he demanded.

8Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they didn’t recognize him.

9And he remembered the dreams he’d had about them many years before. He said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see how vulnerable our land has become.”

10“No, my lord!” they exclaimed. “Your servants have simply come to buy food.

11We are all brothers—members of the same family. We are honest men, sir! We are not spies!”

12“Yes, you are!” Joseph insisted. “You have come to see how vulnerable our land has become.”

13“Sir,” they said, “there are actually twelve of us. We, your servants, are all brothers, sons of a man living in the land of Canaan. Our youngest brother is back there with our father right now, and one of our brothers is no longer with us.”

14But Joseph insisted, “As I said, you are spies!

15This is how I will test your story. I swear by the life of Pharaoh that you will never leave Egypt unless your youngest brother comes here!

16One of you must go and get your brother. I’ll keep the rest of you here in prison. Then we’ll find out whether or not your story is true. By the life of Pharaoh, if it turns out that you don’t have a younger brother, then I’ll know you are spies.”

17So Joseph put them all in prison for three days.

18On the third day Joseph said to them, “I am a God-fearing man. If you do as I say, you will live.

19If you really are honest men, choose one of your brothers to remain in prison. The rest of you may go home with grain for your starving families.

20But you must bring your youngest brother back to me. This will prove that you are telling the truth, and you will not die.” To this they agreed.

21Speaking among themselves, they said, “Clearly we are being punished because of what we did to Joseph long ago. We saw his anguish when he pleaded for his life, but we wouldn’t listen. That’s why we’re in this trouble.”

22“Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy?” Reuben asked. “But you wouldn’t listen. And now we have to answer for his blood!”

23Of course, they didn’t know that Joseph understood them, for he had been speaking to them through an interpreter.

24Now he turned away from them and began to weep. When he regained his composure, he spoke to them again. Then he chose Simeon from among them and had him tied up right before their eyes.

25Joseph then ordered his servants to fill the men’s sacks with grain, but he also gave secret instructions to return each brother’s payment at the top of his sack. He also gave them supplies for their journey home.

26So the brothers loaded their donkeys with the grain and headed for home.

27But when they stopped for the night and one of them opened his sack to get grain for his donkey, he found his money in the top of his sack.

28“Look!” he exclaimed to his brothers. “My money has been returned; it’s here in my sack!” Then their hearts sank. Trembling, they said to each other, “What has God done to us?”

29When the brothers came to their father, Jacob, in the land of Canaan, they told him everything that had happened to them.

30“The man who is governor of the land spoke very harshly to us,” they told him. “He accused us of being spies scouting the land.

31But we said, ‘We are honest men, not spies.

32We are twelve brothers, sons of one father. One brother is no longer with us, and the youngest is at home with our father in the land of Canaan.’

33“Then the man who is governor of the land told us, ‘This is how I will find out if you are honest men. Leave one of your brothers here with me, and take grain for your starving families and go on home.

34But you must bring your youngest brother back to me. Then I will know you are honest men and not spies. Then I will give you back your brother, and you may trade freely in the land.’”

35As they emptied out their sacks, there in each man’s sack was the bag of money he had paid for the grain! The brothers and their father were terrified when they saw the bags of money.

36Jacob exclaimed, “You are robbing me of my children! Joseph is gone! Simeon is gone! And now you want to take Benjamin, too. Everything is going against me!”

37Then Reuben said to his father, “You may kill my two sons if I don’t bring Benjamin back to you. I’ll be responsible for him, and I promise to bring him back.”

38But Jacob replied, “My son will not go down with you. His brother Joseph is dead, and he is all I have left. If anything should happen to him on your journey, you would send this grieving, white-haired man to his grave.42:38 Hebrew to Sheol.”