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Genesis 42:1-38 — Joseph's Brothers Go to Egypt

Gen.42.1-38

¹When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, “Why do you keep looking at one another?” ²He said, “Look, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us from there, so that we may live and not die.” ³So Joseph's ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. ⁴But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with his brothers, for he said, “Something might happen to him.” ⁵So the sons of Israel came to buy grain among the others who were coming, because the famine was in the land of Canaan. ⁶Now Joseph was the governor of the land; he was the one who sold grain to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came and bowed low before him with their faces to the ground. ⁷When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he made himself seem like a stranger to them and spoke harshly with them. He said to them, “Where have you come from?” They said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.” ⁸Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. ⁹Then Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed about them, and he said to them, “You are spies. You have come to see the undefended parts of the land .” ¹⁰They said to him, “No, my lord. Your servants have come to buy food.” ¹¹We are all sons of one man. We are honest men. Your servants are not spies." ¹²But he said to them, “No. You have come to see the undefended parts of the land.” ¹³They said, “We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with our father, and one is no more.” ¹⁴But Joseph said to them, “It is just as I told you: you are spies.” ¹⁵By this you will be tested: By the life of Pharaoh , you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. ¹⁶Send one of you to bring your brother, while you remain confined, so that your words may be tested whether there is truth in you. But if not, then by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies." ¹⁷So he put them all together in custody for three days. ¹⁸On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do this and live, for I fear God.” ¹⁹If you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined in your place of custody, while you go and carry grain for the hunger of your households. ²⁰Then bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words will be proved true, and you will not die." And they did so. ²¹Then they said to one another, “Surely we are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not listen. Therefore this distress has come upon us.” ²²Reuben answered them, “Did I not tell you, 'Do not sin against the boy'? But you would not listen. And now his blood is being required.” ²³They did not know that Joseph understood them, because the interpreter was between them. ²⁴Then he turned away from them and wept. Afterward he returned to them and spoke with them, and he took Simeon from among them and bound him before their eyes. ²⁵Then Joseph gave orders to fill their containers with grain, to return each man's silver into his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. And so it was done for them. ²⁶So they loaded their grain on their donkeys and went away from there. ²⁷At the lodging place one of them opened his sack to give feed to his donkey, and he saw his silver there at the mouth of his bag. ²⁸And he said to his brothers, “My silver has been returned, and here it is in my bag.” Then their hearts failed them, and trembling they said to one another, “What is this that God has done to us?” ²⁹When they came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying, ³⁰"The man, the lord of the land, spoke harshly with us and treated us as spies of the land. ³¹But we said to him, 'We are honest men; we are not spies.' ³²We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One is no more, and the youngest is now with our father in the land of Canaan.' ³³Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, 'By this I will know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, take grain for the hunger of your households, and go. ³⁴Then bring your youngest brother to me, and I will know that you are not spies but honest men. I will give your brother back to you, and you may trade in the land.'" ³⁵As they were emptying their sacks, there was each man's bundle of silver in his sack. When they and their father saw their bundles of silver, they were afraid. ³⁶Then Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children. Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin. All these things have come upon me.” ³⁷Then Reuben said to his father, “You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Put him into my care, and I will return him to you.” ³⁸But he said, “My son will not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If harm happens to him on the way that you go, then you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.”

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4/11/2026

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