¹ Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, Why do ye look one upon another?

² And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt: go down thither, and buy for us from thence; that we may live, and not die.

³ And Joseph's ten brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt.

⁴ But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren: for he said, Lest perhaps mischief shall befall him.

⁵ And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came: for the famine was in the land of Canaan.

⁶ And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph's brethren came, and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the earth.

⁷ And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange to them, and spoke roughly to them; and he said to them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food.

⁸ And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him.

⁹ And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said to them, Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land have ye come.

¹⁰ And they said to him, No, my lord, but to buy food have thy servants come.

¹¹ We are all one man's sons; we are true men; thy servants are no spies.

¹² And he said to them, No, but to see the nakedness of the land have ye come.

¹³ And they said, 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 And Joseph said to them, That is what I spoke to you, saying, Ye are spies:

¹⁵ By this ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother shall come hither.

¹⁶ Send one of you, and let him bring your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there is any truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies.

¹⁷ And he put them all together into custody three days.

¹⁸ And Joseph said to them the third day, This do, and live; for I fear God:

¹⁹ If ye are true men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses:

²⁰ But bring your youngest brother to me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so.

²¹ And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.

²² And Reuben answered them, saying, Did I not speak to you, saying, Do not sin against the young man; and ye would not hear? therefore behold also his blood is required.

²³ And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spoke to them by an interpreter.

²⁴ And he turned himself away from them, and wept; and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes.

²⁵ Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way: and thus did he to them.

²⁶ And they loaded their asses with the corn, and departed thence.

²⁷ And as one of them opened his sack to give his ass provender in the inn, he espied his money: for behold, it was in his sack's mouth.

²⁸ And he said to his brethren, My money is restored; and see it is even in my sack: and their heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying one to another, What is this that God hath done to us?

²⁹ And they came to Jacob their father to the land of Canaan, and told him all that befell them, saying,

³⁰ The man who is the lord of the land, spoke roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country.

³¹ And we said to him, We are true men; we are no spies:

³² We are twelve brethren, sons of our father: one is not, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.

³³ And the man, the lord of the country, said to us, By this shall I know that ye are true men: leave one of your brethren here with me, and take food for the famine of your households, and depart:

³⁴ And bring your youngest brother to me: then shall I know that ye are no spies, but that ye are true men: then will I deliver to you your brother, and ye shall traffick in the land.

³⁵ And it came to pass as they emptied their sacks, that behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid.

³⁶ And Jacob their father said to them, Me have ye bereaved: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me.

³⁷ And Reuben spoke to his father, saying, Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee: deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to thee again.

³⁸ And he said, My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he is left alone: if mischief shall befall him by the way in which ye go, then will ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.

¹ And the famine was severe in the land.

² And it came to pass, when they had consumed the corn which they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, Go again, buy us a little food.

³ And Judah spoke to him, saying, The man did solemnly protest to us, saying, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you.

⁴ If thou wilt send our brother with us, we will go down and buy thee food:

⁵ But if thou wilt not send him, we will not go down, for the man said to us, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you.

⁶ And Israel said, Why dealt ye so ill with me, as to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother?

⁷ And they said, The man asked us strictly concerning our state, and our kindred, saying, Is your father yet alive? have ye another brother? and we told him according to the tenor of these words: Could we certainly know that he would say, Bring your brother down?

⁸ And Judah said to Israel, his father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go; that we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, and also our little ones.

⁹ I will be surety for him; of my hand shalt thou require him: if I bring him not to thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever:

¹⁰ For except we had delayed, surely now we had returned this second time.

¹¹ And their father Israel said to them, If it must be so now, do this; take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry to the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds:

¹² And take double money in your hand; and the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks, carry it again in your hand; it may be it was an oversight:

¹³ Take also your brother, and arise, go again to the man:

¹⁴ And God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your other brother, and Benjamin: If I be bereaved, I am bereaved.

¹⁵ And the men took that present, and they took double money in their hand, and Benjamin; and arose, and went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph.

¹⁶ And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the ruler of his house, Bring these men home, and slay, and make ready: for these men shall dine with me at noon.

¹⁷ And the man did as Joseph commanded: and the man brought the men into Joseph's house.

¹⁸ And the men were afraid, because they were brought into Joseph's house; and they said, Because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time, are we brought in; that he may seek occasion against us, and fall upon us, and take us for bond-men, and our asses.

¹⁹ And they came near to the steward of Joseph's house, and they communed with him at the door of the house,

²⁰ And said, O sir, we came down indeed at the first time to buy food:

²¹ And it came to pass, when we came to the inn, that we opened our sacks, and behold, every man's money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight: and we have brought it again in our hand.

²² And other money have we brought down in our hands to buy food: we cannot tell who put our money in our sacks.

²³ And he said, Peace be to you, fear not: your God, and the God of your father, hath given you treasure in your sacks: I had your money. And he brought Simeon out to them.

²⁴ And the man brought the men into Joseph's house, and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their asses provender.

²⁵ And they made ready the present against Joseph should come at noon: for they heard that they should eat bread there.

²⁶ And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed themselves to him to the earth.

²⁷ And he asked them of their welfare, and said, Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spoke? Is he yet alive?

²⁸ And they answered, Thy servant, our father, is in good health, he is yet alive: and they bowed their heads and made obeisance.

²⁹ And he lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, Is this your younger brother, of whom ye spoke to me? And he said, God be gracious to thee, my son.

³⁰ And Joseph made haste; for his bowels yearned towards his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there.

³¹ And he washed his face, and went out, and refrained himself, and said, Set on bread.

³² And they set on for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians who ate with him, by themselves; because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews; for that is an abomination to the Egyptians.

³³ And they sat before him, the first-born according to his birth-right, and the youngest according to his youth: and the men wondered one at another.

³⁴ And he took and sent messes to them from before him: but Benjamin's mess was five times so much as any of theirs. And they drank, and were merry with him.

²⁰ But bring your youngest brother to me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so.