Genesis 42:18-43:34

Contemporary English Version

¹⁸ before saying to them:

Since I respect God, I'll give you a chance to save your lives. ¹⁹ If you are honest men, one of you must stay here in jail, and the rest of you can take the grain back to your starving families. ²⁰ But you must bring your youngest brother to me. Then I'll know that you are telling the truth, and you won't be put to death.

Joseph's brothers agreed ²¹ and said to one another, “We're being punished because of Joseph. We saw the trouble he was in, but we refused to help him when he begged us. That's why these terrible things are happening.”

^22 (A) Reuben spoke up, “Didn't I tell you not to harm the boy? But you wouldn't listen, and now we have to pay the price for killing him.”

²³ They did not know that Joseph could understand them, since he was speaking through an interpreter. ²⁴ Joseph turned away from them and cried, but soon he turned back and spoke to them again. Then he had Simeon tied up and taken away while they watched.

Joseph's Brothers Return to Canaan

²⁵ Joseph gave orders for his brothers' grain sacks to be filled with grain and for their money^[a] to be put in their sacks. He also gave orders for them to be given food for their journey home. After this was done, ²⁶ they each loaded the grain on their donkeys and left.

²⁷ When they stopped for the night, one of them opened his sack to get some grain for his donkey, and at once he saw his moneybag. ²⁸ “Here's my money!” he told his brothers. “Right here in my sack.”

They were trembling with fear as they stared at one another and asked themselves, “What has God done to us?”^[b]

²⁹ When they returned to the land of Canaan, they told their father Jacob everything that had happened to them:

³⁰ The governor of Egypt was rude and treated us like spies. ³¹ But we told him, “We're honest men, not spies. ³² We come from a family of twelve brothers. The youngest is still with our father in Canaan, and the other is dead.”

³³ Then the governor of Egypt told us, “I'll find out if you really are honest. Leave one of your brothers here with me, while you take the grain to your starving families. ³⁴ But bring your youngest brother to me, so I can be certain that you are honest men and not spies. After that, I'll let your other brother go free, and you can stay here and trade.”

³⁵ When the brothers started emptying their sacks of grain, they found their moneybags in them. They were frightened, and so was their father Jacob, ³⁶ who said, “You have already taken my sons Joseph and Simeon from me. And now you want to take away Benjamin! Everything is against me.”

³⁷ Reuben spoke up, “Father, if I don't bring Benjamin back, you can kill both of my sons. Trust me with him, and I'll bring him back.”

³⁸ But Jacob said, “I won't let my son Benjamin go down to Egypt with the rest of you. His brother is already dead, and he is the only son I have left.^[c] I am an old man, and if anything happens to him on the way, I'll die from sorrow, and all of you will be to blame.”

Joseph's Brothers Return to Egypt with Benjamin

43 The famine in Canaan got worse, ² until finally, Jacob's family had eaten all the grain they had bought in Egypt. So Jacob said to his sons, “Go back and buy some more grain.”

^3-5 Judah replied, “The governor strictly warned us that we would not be allowed to see him unless we brought our youngest brother with us. If you let us take Benjamin along, we will go and buy grain. But we won't go without him!”

⁶ Jacob asked, “Why did you cause me so much trouble by telling the governor you had another brother?”

⁷ They answered, “He asked a lot of questions about us and our family. He wanted to know if you were still alive and if we had any more brothers. All we could do was answer his questions. How could we know he would tell us to bring along our brother?”

⁸ Then Judah said to his father, “Let Benjamin go with me, and we will leave at once, so that none of us will starve to death. ⁹ I promise to bring him back safely, and if I don't, you can blame me as long as I live. ¹⁰ If we had not wasted all this time, we could already have been there and back twice.”

¹¹ Their father said:

If Benjamin must go with you, take the governor a gift of some of the best things from our own country, such as perfume, honey, spices, pistachio nuts, and almonds.^{[d] 12} Also take along twice the amount of money for the grain, because there must have been some mistake when the money was put back in your sacks. ¹³ Take Benjamin with you and leave at once.

¹⁴ When you go in to see the governor, I pray that God All-Powerful will be good to you and that the governor will let your other brother and Benjamin come back home with you. But if I must lose my children, I suppose I must.

¹⁵ The brothers took the gifts, twice the amount of money, and Benjamin. Then they hurried off to Egypt. When they stood in front of Joseph, ¹⁶ he saw Benjamin and told the servant in charge of his house, “Take these men to my house. Slaughter an animal and cook it, so they can eat with me at noon.”

¹⁷ The servant did as he was told and took the brothers to Joseph's house. ¹⁸ But on the way they got worried and started thinking, “We are being taken there because of the money that was put back in our sacks last time. He will arrest us, make us his slaves, and take our donkeys.”

¹⁹ So when they arrived at Joseph's house, they said to the servant in charge, ²⁰ “Sir, we came to Egypt once before to buy grain. ²¹ But when we stopped for the night, we each found in our grain sacks the exact amount we had paid. We have brought that money back, ²² together with enough money to buy more grain. We don't know who put the money in our sacks.”

²³ “It's all right,” the servant replied. “Don't worry. The God you and your father worship must have put the money there, because I received your payment in full.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.

²⁴ The servant took them into Joseph's house and gave them water to wash their feet. He also tended their donkeys. ²⁵ The brothers got their gifts ready to give to Joseph at noon, since they had heard they were going to eat there.

²⁶ When Joseph came home, they gave him the gifts they had brought, and they bowed down to him. ²⁷ After Joseph had asked how they were, he said, “What about your elderly father? Is he still alive?”

²⁸ They answered, “Your servant our father is still alive and well.” And again they bowed down to Joseph.

²⁹ When Joseph looked around and saw his brother Benjamin, he said, “This must be your youngest brother, the one you told me about. God bless you, my son.”

³⁰ Then, because of his love for Benjamin, he rushed off to his room and cried. ³¹ After washing his face and returning, he was able to control himself and said, “Serve the meal!”

³² Joseph was served at a table by himself, and his brothers were served at another. The Egyptians sat at yet another table, because Egyptians felt it was disgusting to eat with Hebrews. ³³ To the surprise of Joseph's brothers, they were seated in front of him according to their ages, from the oldest to the youngest. ³⁴ They were served food from Joseph's table, and Benjamin was given five times as much as each of the others. So Joseph's brothers ate and drank with him and had a good time.