¹ Now Jacob, hearing that there was grain in Egypt, said to his sons, Why are you looking at one another?

² And he said, I have had news that there is grain in Egypt: go down there and get grain for us, so that life and not death may be ours.

³ So Joseph's ten brothers went down to get grain from Egypt.

⁴ But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with them, for fear, as he said, that some evil might come to him.

⁵ And the sons of Israel came with all the others to get grain: for they were very short of food in the land of Canaan.

⁶ Now Joseph was ruler over all the land, and it was he who gave out the grain to all the people of the land; and Joseph's brothers came before him and went down on their faces to the earth.

⁷ And when Joseph saw his brothers, it was clear to him who they were, but he made himself strange to them, and talking roughly to them, said, Where do you come from? And they said, From the land of Canaan, to get food.

⁸ Now though Joseph saw that these were his brothers, they had no idea who he was.

⁹ Then the memory of his dreams about them came back to Joseph, and he said to them, You have come secretly to see how poor the land is.

¹⁰ And they said to him, Not so, my lord: your servants have come with money to get food.

¹¹ We are all one man's sons, we are true men; we have not come with any secret purpose.

¹² And he said to them, No, but you have come to see how poor the land is.

¹³ Then they said, We your servants are twelve brothers, sons of one man in the land of Canaan; the youngest of us is now with our father, and one is dead.

¹⁴ And Joseph said, It is as I said; you have come with some secret purpose;

¹⁵ But in this way will you be put to the test: by the life of Pharaoh, you will not go away from this place till your youngest brother comes here.

¹⁶ Send one of your number to get your brother, and the rest of you will be kept in prison, so that your words may be tested to see if you are true; if not, by the life of Pharaoh, your purpose is certainly secret.

¹⁷ So he put them in prison for three days.

¹⁸ And on the third day Joseph said to them, Do this, if you would keep your lives: for I am a god-fearing man:

¹⁹ If you are true men, let one of you be kept in prison, while you go and take grain for the needs of your families;

²⁰ And come back to me with your youngest brother, so that your words may be seen to be true, and you will not be put to death. This is what you are to do.

²¹ And they said to one another, Truly, we did wrong to our brother, for we saw his grief of mind, and we did not give ear to his prayers; that is why this trouble has come on us.

²² And Reuben said to them, Did I not say to you, Do the child no wrong? but you gave no attention; so now, punishment has come on us for his blood.

²³ They were not conscious that the sense of their words was clear to Joseph, for he had been talking to them through one who had knowledge of their language.

²⁴ And turning away from them, he was overcome with weeping; then he went on talking to them again and took Simeon and put chains on him before their eyes.

²⁵ Then Joseph gave orders for their bags to be made full of grain, and for every man's money to be put back into his bag, and for food to be given them for the journey: which was done.

²⁶ Then they put the bags of grain on their asses and went away.

²⁷ Now at their night's resting-place one of them, opening his bag to give his ass some food, saw his money in the mouth of the bag.

²⁸ And he said to his brothers, My money has been given back: it is in my bag; then their hearts became full of fear, and turning to one another they said, What is this which God has done to us?

²⁹ So when they came to Jacob their father, in the land of Canaan, they gave him an account of all their experiences, saying,

³⁰ The man who is the ruler of the country was rough with us and put us in prison, saying that we had come with a secret evil purpose.

³¹ And we said to him, We are true men, we have no evil designs;

³² We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is dead, and the youngest is now with our father in the land of Canaan.

³³ And the ruler of the land said, In this way I may be certain that you are true men; let one of you be kept here with me, while you go and take grain for the needs of your families;

³⁴ And come back to me with your youngest brother: then I will be certain that you are true men, and I will give your brother back to you and let you do trade in the land.

³⁵ And when they took the grain out of their bags, it was seen that every man's parcel of money was in his bag; and when they and their father saw the money, they were full of fear.

³⁶ And Jacob their father said to them, You have taken my children from me: Joseph is gone and Simeon is gone, and now you would take Benjamin away; all these things have come on me.

³⁷ And Reuben said, Put my two sons to death if I do not come back to you with him; let him be in my care and I will give him safely back to you.

³⁸ And he said, I will not let my son go down with you; for his brother is dead and he is all I have: if evil overtakes him on the journey, then through you will my grey head go down to the underworld in sorrow.

¹ Then he gave orders to the servant who was over his house, saying, Put as much food into the men's bags as will go into them, and Put every man's money in the mouth of his bag;

² And put my cup, my silver cup, in the youngest one's bag, with his money. So he did as Joseph said.

³ And at dawn the men, with their asses, were sent away.

⁴ And when they had gone only a little way out of the town, Joseph said to the servant who was over his house, Go after them; and when you overtake them, say to them, Why have you done evil in reward for good?

⁵ Is not this the cup from which my lord takes wine and by which he gets knowledge of the future? Truly, you have done evil.

⁶ So he overtook them and said these words to them.

⁷ And they said to him, Why does my lord say such words as these? far be it from your servants to do such a thing:

⁸ See, the money which was in the mouth of our bags we gave back to you when we came again from Canaan: how then might we take silver or gold from your lord's house?

⁹ If it comes to light that any of your servants has done this, let him be put to death, and we will be your lord's servants.

¹⁰ And he said, Let it be as you say: he in whose bag it is seen will become my servant; and you will not be responsible.

¹¹ Then every man quickly got his bag down and undid it.

¹² And he made a search, starting with the oldest and ending with the youngest; and the cup was in Benjamin's bag.

¹³ Then in bitter grief they put the bags on the asses again and went back to the town.

¹⁴ So Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house; and he was still there: and they went down on their faces before him.

¹⁵ And Joseph said, What is this thing which you have done? had you no thought that such a man as I would have power to see what is secret?

¹⁶ And Judah said, What are we to say to my lord? how may we put ourselves right in his eyes? God has made clear the sin of your servants: now we are in your hands, we and the man in whose bag your cup was seen.

¹⁷ Then he said, Far be it from me to do so: but the man who had my cup will be my servant; and you may go back to your father in peace.

¹⁸ Then Judah came near him, and said, Let your servant say a word in my lord's ears, and let not your wrath be burning against your servant: for you are in the place of Pharaoh to us.

¹⁹ My lord said to his servants, Have you a father or a brother?

²⁰ And we said to my lord, We have an old father and a young child, whom he had when he was old; his brother is dead and he is the only son of his mother, and is very dear to his father.

²¹ And you said to your servants, Let him come down to me with you, so that I may see him.

²² And we said to my lord, His father will not let him go; for if he went away his father would come to his death.

²³ But you said to your servants, If your youngest brother does not come with you, you will not see my face again.

²⁴ And when we went back to your servant, our father, we gave him an account of my lord's words.

²⁵ And our father said, Go again and get us a little food.

²⁶ And we said, Only if our youngest brother goes with us will we go down; for we may not see the man's face again if our youngest brother is not with us.

²⁷ And our father said to us, You have knowledge that my wife gave me two sons;

²⁸ The one went away from me, and I said, Truly he has come to a violent death; and from that time I have not seen him,

²⁹ If now you take this one from me, and some evil comes to him, you will make my grey head go down in sorrow to the underworld.

³⁰ If then I go back to your servant, my father, without the boy, because his life and the boy's life are one,

³¹ When he sees that the boy is not with us, he will come to his death, and our father's grey head will go down in sorrow to the underworld.

³² For I made myself responsible for the boy to my father, saying, If I do not give him safely back to you, let mine be the sin for ever.

³³ So now let me be my lord's servant here in place of the boy, and let him go back with his brothers.

³⁴ For how may I go back to my father without the boy, and see the evil which will come on my father?