1 Now AActs 7:12Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, “Why are you staring at one another?” 2 He said, “Behold, AActs 7:12I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down there and buy some for us 1Lit from therefrom that place, BGen 43:8; Ps 33:18, 19so that we may live and not die.” 3 Then ten brothers of Joseph went down to buy grain from Egypt. 4 But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother AGen 35:24Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, “BGen 42:38I am afraid that harm may befall him.” 5 So the sons of Israel came to buy grain among those who were coming, AGen 12:10; 26:1; 41:57; Acts 7:11for the famine was in the land of Canaan also.

6 Now AGen 41:41, 55Joseph was the ruler over the land; he was the one who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and BGen 37:7-10; 41:43; Is 60:14bowed down to him with their faces to the ground. 7 When Joseph saw his brothers he recognized them, but he disguised himself to them and AGen 42:30spoke to them harshly. And he said to them, “Where have you come from?” And they said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.”

8 But Joseph had recognized his brothers, although AGen 37:2; 41:46they did not recognize him. 9 Joseph AGen 37:6-9remembered the dreams which he 1Lit had dreamedhad about them, and said to them, “You are spies; you have come to look at the 2Lit nakedness of the landundefended parts of our land.” 10 Then they said to him, “No, AGen 37:8my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. 11  “We are all sons of one man; we are AGen 42:16, 19, 31, 34honest men, your servants are not spies.” 12 Yet he said to them, “No, but you have come to look at the 1Lit nakedness of the landundefended parts of our land!” 13 But they said, “Your servants are twelve brothers in all, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and behold, the youngest is with AGen 43:7our father today, and BGen 37:30; 42:32; 44:20one is no longer alive.” 14 Joseph said to them, “It is as I said 1Lit to you, sayingto you, you are spies; 15 by this you will be tested: A1 Sam 17:55by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here! 16  “Send one of you that he may get your brother, while you remain confined, that your words may be tested, whether there is AGen 42:11truth in you. But if not, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies.” 17 So he put them all together in AGen 40:4, 7prison for three days.

18 Now Joseph said to them on the third day, “Do this and live, for AGen 39:9; Lev 25:43; Neh 5:15I fear God: 19 if you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in 1Lit the house of your prisonyour prison; but as for the rest of you, go, carry grain for the famine of your households, 20 and AGen 42:34; 43:5; 44:23bring your youngest brother to me, so your words may be verified, and you will not die.” And they did so. 21 Then they said to one another, “AGen 37:26-28; 45:3; Hos 5:15Truly we are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, yet we would not listen; therefore this distress has come upon us.” 22 Reuben answered them, saying, “AGen 37:21, 22Did I not tell 1Lit you sayingyou, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen? 2Lit And behold, his blood also is requiredBGen 9:5, 6; 1 Kin 2:32; 2 Chr 24:22; Ps 9:12Now comes the reckoning for his blood.” 23 They did not know, however, that Joseph understood, for there was an interpreter between them. 24 He turned away from them and AGen 43:30; 45:14, 15wept. But when he returned to them and spoke to them, he BGen 43:14, 23took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. 25 AGen 44:1; Rom 12:17, 20, 21; 1 Pet 3:9Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain and to restore every man’s money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. And thus it was done for them.

26 So they loaded their donkeys with their grain and departed from there. 27 As one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place, he saw his AGen 43:21, 22money; and behold, it was in the mouth of his sack. 28 Then he said to his brothers, “My money has been returned, and behold, it is even in my sack.” And their hearts 1Lit went outsank, and they turned 2Lit trembledtrembling to one another, saying, “AGen 43:23What 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, saying, 30 “The man, the lord of the land, AGen 42:7spoke harshly with us, and took us for spies of the country. 31  “But we said to him, ‘We are AGen 42:11honest men; we are not spies. 32  ‘We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no longer alive, and the youngest is with our father today in the land of Canaan.’ 33  “The man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘AGen 42:19, 20By this I will know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me and take grain for the famine of your households, and go. 34  ‘But bring your youngest brother to me that I may know that you are not spies, but 1Lit you are honesthonest men. I will give your brother to you, and you may AGen 34:10trade in the land.’ ”

35 Now it came about as they were emptying their sacks, that behold, AGen 43:12, 15, 21every man’s bundle of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were dismayed. 36 Their father Jacob said to them, “You have AGen 43:14bereaved 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 spoke to his father, saying, “You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my 1Lit handcare, and I will return him to you.” 38 But 1Lit heJacob said, “My son shall not go down with you; for his AGen 37:33, 34; 42:13; 44:27, 28brother is dead, and he alone is left. BGen 42:4If harm should befall him on the journey 2Lit on which you are goingyou are taking, then you will CGen 37:35; 44:29, 31bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.”