Genesis Chapter 42

Genesis Chapter 42
1 Then Jacob saw that there was food in
Egypt, and Jacob said unto his sons,
Why gaze ye one upon another?
2 And he said, Behold, I have heard that
there is food in Egypt, Get you down
thither, and buy us food thence, that we
may live and not die.
3 So went Joseph’s ten brethren down to
buy corn of the Egyptians. 4 But
Benjamin Joseph’s brother would not
Jacob send with his brethren: for he
said, Lest death should befall him.
5 And the sons of Israel came to buy
food among them that came: for there
was famine in the land of Canaan.
6 Now Joseph was governor of the land,
who sold to all the people of the land:
then Joseph’s brethren came, and bowed
their face to the ground before him.
7 And when Joseph saw his brethren, he
knew them, and made himself strange
toward them, and spake to them roughly,
and said unto them, Whence come ye?
Who answered, Out of the land of
Canaan, to buy victuals. 8 (Now Joseph
knew his brethren, but they knew not
him.
9 And Joseph remembered the dreams,
which he dreamed of them) and he said
unto them, Ye are spies, and are come to
see the weakness of the land. 10 But they
said unto him, Nay, my lord, but to buy
victual thy servants are come.
11 We are all one man’s sons: we mean
truly, and thy servants are no spies. 12
But he said unto them, Nay, but ye are
come to see the weakness of the land.
13 And they said, We 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 Again Joseph said unto them, This is
it that I spake unto you, saying, Ye are
spies.
15 Hereby ye shall be proved: by the
life of Pharaoh, ye shall not go hence,
except your youngest brother come
hither.
16 Send one of you which may fetch
your brother, and ye shall be kept in
prison, that your words may be proved,
whether there be truth in you: or else by
the life of Pharaoh ye are but spies.
17 So he put them in ward three days.
18 Then Joseph said unto them the third
day, This do, and live: for I fear God. 19
If ye be true men, let one of your
brethren be bound in your prison house,
and go ye, carry food for the famine of
your houses: 20 But bring your younger
brother unto me, that your words may be
tried, and that ye die not: and they did
so.
21 And they said one to another, We
have verily sinned against our brother, in
that we saw the anguish of his soul,
when he besought us, and we would not
hear him: therefore is this trouble come
upon us.
22 And Reuben answered them, saying,
Warned I not you, saying, Sin not against
the child, and ye would not hear? and lo,
his blood is now required. 23 (And they
were not aware that Joseph understood
them: for he spake unto them by an
interpreter.)
24 Then he turned from them, and wept,
and turned to them again, and communed
with them, and took Simeon from among
them, and bound him before their eyes.
25 So Joseph commanded that they
should fill their sacks with wheat, and
put every man’s money again in his sack,
and give them victual for the journey:
and thus did he unto them.
26 And they laid their victual upon their
asses, and departed thence. 27 And as
one of them opened his sack for to give
his ass provender in the inn, he spied his
money: for lo, it was in his sack’s
mouth.
28 Then he said unto his brethren, My
money is restored: for lo, it is even in
my sack. And their heart failed them, and
they were astonished, and said one to
another, What is this, that God hath done
unto us?
29 And they came unto Jacob their father
unto the land of Canaan, and told him all
that had befallen them, saying,
30The man, who is Lord of the land,
spake roughly to us, and put us in prison
as spies of the country.
31 And we said unto him, We are true
men, and are no spies. 32 We be twelve
brethren, sons of our father: one is not,
and the youngest is this day with our
father in the land of Canaan. 33 Then the
Lord of the country said unto us, Hereby
shall I know if ye be true men: Leave
one of your brethren with me, and take
food for the famine of your houses and
depart,
34 And bring your youngest brother unto
me, that I may know that ye are no spies,
but true men: so will I deliver you your
brother, and ye shall occupy in the land.
35 And as they emptied their sacks,
behold, every man’s bundle of money
was in his sack: and when they and their
father saw the bundles of their money,
they were afraid.
36 Then Jacob their father said to them,
Ye have robbed me of my children:
Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye
will take Benjamin: all these things are
against me.
37 Then Reuben answered his father,
saying, Slay my two sons, if I bring him
not to thee again: deliver him to mine
hand, and I will bring him to thee again.
38 But he said, My son shall not go
down with you: for his brother is dead,
and he is left alone: if death come unto
him by the way, which ye go, then ye
shall bring my gray head with sorrow
unto the grave.