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Genesis 42

1Jacob learned that there was grain for sale in Egypt. Jacob said to his sons, “Why do you keep looking at each other?” 2He said, “Look, I have heard there is grain for sale in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us there, so that we may live and not die.” 3Ten of Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. 4But Jacob did not send Joseph's brother Benjamin with his brothers, because he thought, “Some harm might happen to him.” 5The sons of Israel came among those coming to buy grain, because there was famine in the land of Canaan. 6Joseph was the ruler over the land; he was the one selling grain to all the people of the land. Joseph's brothers came and bowed down to him with their faces to the ground. 7Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he made himself 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. 9Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them. He said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see the nakedness 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 have never been spies.” 12He said to them, “No! You have come to see the nakedness of the land.” 13They said, “Your servants are twelve brothers, sons of one man in the land of Canaan. Look, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more.” 14Joseph said to them, “It is just as I told you: you are spies. 15By this you will be tested: as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave here unless your youngest brother comes here. 16Send one of you to get your brother. The rest of you will be confined, and your words will be tested to see whether you speak truth. If not, as Pharaoh lives, you are spies.” 17He put them 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, let one of your brothers remain confined in the house where you are held. The rest of you, go and take grain for your hungry households. 20Bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words may be confirmed and you will not die.” They did so. 21They said to one another, “Surely we are guilty concerning our brother. We saw his life's distress when he pleaded with us, and we would not listen. That is why 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. Now, look, his blood is being required of us.” 23They did not know that Joseph understood, because the interpreter was between them. 24He turned away from them and wept. Then he returned and spoke to them. He took Simeon from among them and bound him before their eyes. 25Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to return each man's silver to his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. This was done for them.

26They loaded their grain on their donkeys and left there. 27At the overnight lodging, one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder and saw his silver: there it was in the mouth of his bag. 28He said to his brothers, “My silver has been returned! Look, it is in my bag!” Their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, “What is this God has done to us?” 29They came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan and told him everything that had happened to them: 30“The man, the lord of the land, spoke harshly to us and treated us as spies of the land. 31We said to him, ‘We are honest men. We have never been spies. 32We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One is no more, and the youngest is with our father today in the land of Canaan.’ 33The man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘By this I will know you are honest: leave one of your brothers with me, take grain for your hungry households, and go. 34Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I will know that you are honest men, not spies. I will give your brother back to you, and you may trade in the land.’” 35As they emptied their sacks, each man's bundle of silver was in his sack. They and their father saw their bundles of silver and were afraid. 36Their father Jacob said to them, “You have bereaved me! Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you would take Benjamin. All these things are against me.” 37Reuben said to his father, “You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hand, and I will return him to you.” 38But he said, “My son will not go down with you. His brother is dead, and he alone is left. If harm happens to him on the road you travel, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.”

Translation notes 5

42:9, 12 — Nakedness of the land. This bodily image describes the land's exposed or vulnerable places, which spies might identify. It is preserved rather than replaced with a modern military term.

42:13, 36–38 — No more. The brothers and Jacob speak from their stated knowledge or beliefs. Jacob's assertion that Joseph is dead is not a new statement by the narrator about Joseph's actual condition.

42:21–22 — Distress and blood. The brothers recall Joseph's pleas, a detail not reported in the earlier scene. Reuben speaks of accountability for his blood; the translation does not insert a specific punishment or make their interpretation an explicit divine announcement.

42:27–35 — The silver. One brother discovers silver during the journey; all the bundles are seen when the sacks are emptied at home. The brothers' later account retells the discovery differently in its details. The translation does not rewrite these accounts to make their sequence identical.

42:37 — Reuben's pledge. Reuben offers the lives of his two sons as a guarantee. The severe proposal is preserved as his speech; Jacob does not accept it.