42
Joseph’s brothers went to Egypt country
1 Joseph’s father Jacob, he lived in Canaan country with his other sons. At that time, there was no rain and no food plants growing in Canaan country. Then somebody said to Jacob, “There is lots of food in Egypt country.”
So Jacob talked to his sons, and he said to them, “Don’t just stand around doing nothing.
2 Somebody told me that there is lots of food in Egypt country. Go there and buy food for all of us. If you don’t go and buy food for us, we will die.”
3 So 10 of Jacob’s sons left Canaan country, and they went to Egypt country to buy food there. Those 10 men were Joseph’s half-brothers. They had the same father as Joseph, but different mothers.
4 You know, Joseph had one other brother too. His name was Benjamin. Joseph and Benjamin had the same father and mother. Their father Jacob really loved Benjamin. So Jacob didn’t want Benjamin to go to Egypt with his brothers. He thought, “Benjamin might get hurt, or he might die.” So Benjamin stayed at home with his father.
5 In Egypt country, Jacob’s sons went to buy food, and there were lots of other people from Canaan country there too. You see, there was no rain and no food plants growing anywhere in Canaan, so the Canaan people had to go to Egypt to buy food.
Joseph pretended that he didn’t know his brothers
6 At that time, Joseph was in charge of Egypt country, and he was the one that sold food to everybody. So Joseph’s brothers came to him, and they got down on their knees and put their faces near the ground, to show him respect.
7-8 But they didn’t know that he was their brother Joseph. They thought that he was one of the Egypt people.
Joseph looked at those men, and he saw that they were his brothers. But Joseph pretended that he didn’t know them. He talked to them in the Egypt language, and somebody else talked to Joseph’s brothers in their own language and told them the things Joseph said. And Joseph talked in a rough way to them. He said, “Where do you mob come from?”
His brothers said, “We come from Canaan country. We want to buy food here in Egypt.”
9 Then Joseph remembered those dreams that he had a long time before. Those dreams showed that one day, Joseph’s brothers will all bend down in front of him, to show him respect.
Joseph kept on pretending that he didn’t know them. He said to his brothers, “I reckon you mob are lying to me. I reckon you are my enemies. You came here to find out about our country, so that your people can attack us.”
10 But they said to him, “No, sir, that’s not true. We respect you. We came here to buy food.
11 You know, we are all brothers, with the same father. We are good men, and we don’t tell lies. We are not your enemies.”
12 Joseph said, “I don’t believe you. I reckon you came here to find out about our country, so that your people can attack us.”
13 They said, “No, sir. Those things that we told you, they are true. We are from a family of 12 brothers. We all have the same father, and he lives in Canaan country. Our youngest brother stayed at home with our father, and our other brother isn’t with us any more.”
14 But Joseph said, “Stop talking, you mob. I know for sure that you are my enemies.
15 So I’m going to test you mob, to see if you are lying. You said, ‘Our youngest brother is with our father in Canaan country.’ All right, I want your youngest brother to come here, so that I can see him. I’m telling you strongly, if your brother doesn’t come here, I will not let you leave this place. Pharaoh, the big boss of this country, he is the one that gives me the power to promise that.”
16 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “This is how I am going to test you mob. One of you has to go back to your home country and get your youngest brother, then bring him back here. The rest of you mob have to stay here, and I will put you in jail. If your youngest brother comes here, then I will know that you told me the true story, and I will let you go free. But if he doesn’t come, then I will know that you are my enemies. I will be really sure, just like I’m really sure that Pharaoh is alive.”
17 Then Joseph put his brothers in jail, and they stayed there for 3 days.
18 At the end of those 3 days, Joseph talked to his brothers again. He said to them, “You know, I respect God and I want to do the right thing. So if you do what I say, I will not kill you.”
19 Then Joseph said to them, “You told me that you are good men, and you don’t tell lies. So listen, this is what you have to do. Pick one man from your mob, and I will keep that man here in jail. The rest of you mob, you can go back to your home country. You can take food with you, and you can give that food to your families, because they are really hungry.
20 Then get your youngest brother, and bring him here to me. Then I will know that you told me the true story, and I will not kill you.”
So Joseph’s brothers agreed to do what he said. But they still didn’t know that he was their brother Joseph. They still thought he was an Egypt man.
21 Then Joseph’s brothers talked to each other in their own language. They said, “You know, a long time ago, we made bad trouble for our brother Joseph. We chucked him into a big hole in the ground, and then we sold him to some men from the Midian tribe. At that time, we saw that he was really frightened, and he asked us strongly to be good to him, but we didn’t listen. That’s the reason why we’ve got this bad trouble now. God is punishing us for those things that we did to Joseph.”
22 Then Joseph’s oldest brother Reuben, he said to the others, “You know, I told you mob not to hurt Joseph, but you didn’t listen to me. And look, now God is doing payback to us.”
23 Joseph listened to his brothers, and he understood what they said, because he knew their language. But Joseph’s brothers didn’t know that he understood them. You see, Joseph always talked to his brothers in the Egypt language, then somebody else talked to them in their own language and told them what Joseph said. So they thought he only talked the Egypt language.
24 When Joseph heard his brothers say those things, he wanted to cry. So he went to a place where they couldn’t see him, and he cried.
After a while, Joseph stopped crying. Then he went back to his brothers, and he talked to them in the Egypt language again. And Joseph picked his brother Simeon to stay in Egypt country. He told his men to tie up Simeon, and they tied him up in front of his brothers.
Joseph’s brothers went back to Canaan country
25 Then Joseph got ready to send his brothers back to Canaan country. He said to his workers, “Fill up these men’s bags with food, so that they can take it home to their families. And give them some food to eat on the way home too.” And those workers did what Joseph said.
Joseph’s brothers already paid for that food, but Joseph talked secretly to his workers, and he said, “Get the money that those men paid us, and hide it in their food bags.” So those workers did what Joseph said. Then they gave those food bags to Joseph’s brothers, with the money inside. But Joseph’s brothers didn’t know that their money was in those bags.
26 Then Joseph’s brothers put their food bags on their donkeys, and they left that place and started to go back towards Canaan country.
27 Later that day, they stopped in another place, to camp there that night. One of Joseph’s brothers wanted food for his donkey, so he opened his food bag. Then he saw his money in there on top of the food, and he got a shock.
28 He said to his brothers, “Somebody gave my money back. They hid it in my bag. Look, here it is, on top of the food.”
Then Joseph’s brothers got really worried. They thought, “Those Egypt people will think that we stole this money.” They were really frightened, and their bodies started to shake. They said to each other, “This thing that happened to us, it’s really bad. God is punishing us.”
29 The next day, they kept going towards Canaan country, and they kept on camping along the way. When they got to Canaan country, they went to their father Jacob, and they told him about the things that happened to them in Egypt country.
30 They said, “The man that is in charge of Egypt country, he talked in a rough way to us. He thought we were his enemies, and he said to us, ‘I reckon you came here to find out about our country, so that your people can attack us.’
31 But we said to him, ‘We are good men, and we don’t tell lies. We are not your enemies.
32 We are from a family of 12 brothers, and we all have the same father. One brother isn’t with us any more, and our youngest brother is with our father in Canaan country.’
33 Then that man, the one that is in charge in Egypt, he said to us, ‘I’m going to test you mob, to see if those things you said are true. This is what you have to do. You have to pick one of your brothers to stay here with me. The rest of you mob can go back to your home country. You can take food with you, and give it to your families, because they are really hungry.
34 After that, you have to get your youngest brother, and you have to bring him here to me. Then I will know that you are not my enemies. Yes, I will know that you are good men, and you didn’t lie to me. Then I will give your other brother back to you, the one that stayed here in Egypt country. And then I will let you buy and sell things in my country.’ ”
35 After Joseph’s brothers told their father those things, they all opened their bags, and they started to take out the food. Then all of them saw their money in those bags. And their father Jacob saw that money too. They all got a shock, and they were frightened.
Jacob didn’t let his sons take Benjamin to Egypt country
36 Jacob’s sons wanted to take their brother Benjamin back to Egypt country, just like Joseph told them to. That made Jacob sad. So Jacob said to his sons, “I don’t want to lose any more of my kids. My son Joseph isn’t here any more, and my son Simeon isn’t here any more. And now you want to take my son Benjamin away from me too. All those things are really sad for me.”
37 Then Reuben, Jacob’s oldest son, he talked to his father Jacob. Reuben said, “Let me take Benjamin to Egypt country. I will look after him, and I promise that I will bring him back to you. If I don’t bring him back to you, then you can kill my 2 sons.”
38 But Jacob said, “No. I will not let Benjamin go with you mob to Egypt country. You know that I really loved Benjamin’s mother Rachel. We had 2 sons together, Joseph and Benjamin. Now Joseph is dead, and Benjamin is the only one left. If I let him go with you, he might get hurt, or he might die. You know, I am an old man. If you mob take Benjamin to Egypt country, and something bad happens to him, I will be so sad that I will die.”