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 He commanded the steward of his house, saying, "Fill the men's sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man's money in his sack's mouth.

² Put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack's mouth of the youngest, with his grain money." He did according to the word that Joseph had spoken.

³ As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their donkeys.

⁴ When they had gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, Joseph said to his steward, "Up, follow after the men. When you overtake them, ask them, 'Why have you rewarded evil for good?

⁵ Isn't this that from which my lord drinks, and by which he indeed divines? You have done evil in so doing.'"

⁶ He overtook them, and he spoke these words to them.

⁷ They said to him, "Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants that they should do such a thing!

⁸ Behold, the money, which we found in our sacks' mouths, we brought again to you out of the land of Canaan. How then should we steal silver or gold out of your lord's house?

⁹ With whoever of your servants it be found, let him die, and we also will be my lord's bondservants."

¹⁰ He said, "Now also let it be according to your words: he with whom it is found will be my bondservant; and you will be blameless."

¹¹ Then they hurried, and each man took his sack down to the ground, and each man opened his sack.

¹² He searched, beginning with the eldest, and ending at the youngest. The cup was found in Benjamin's sack.

¹³ Then they tore their clothes, and each man loaded his donkey, and returned to the city.

¹⁴ Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house, and he was still there. They fell on the ground before him.

¹⁵ Joseph said to them, "What deed is this that you have done? Don't you know that such a man as I can indeed divine?"

¹⁶ Judah said, "What will we tell my lord? What will we speak? Or how will we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants. Behold, we are my lord's bondservants, both we, and he also in whose hand the cup is found."

¹⁷ He said, "Far be it from me that I should do so. The man in whose hand the cup is found, he will be my bondservant; but as for you, go up in peace to your father."

¹⁸ Then Judah came near to him, and said, "Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord's ears, and don't let your anger burn against your servant; for you are even as Pharaoh.

¹⁹ My lord asked his servants, saying, 'Have you a father, or a brother?'

²⁰ We said to my lord, 'We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother; and his father loves him.'

²¹ You said to your servants, 'Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.'

²² We said to my lord, 'The boy can't leave his father: for if he should leave his father, his father would die.'

²³ You said to your servants, 'Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will see my face no more.'

²⁴ It happened when we came up to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord.

²⁵ Our father said, 'Go again, buy us a little food.'

²⁶ We said, 'We can't go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down: for we may not see the man's face, unless our youngest brother is with us.'

²⁷ Your servant, my father, said to us, 'You know that my wife bore me two sons:

²⁸ and the one went out from me, and I said, "Surely he is torn in pieces;" and I haven't seen him since.

²⁹ If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.'

³⁰ Now therefore when I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us; since his life is bound up in the boy's life;

³¹ it will happen, when he sees that the boy is no more, that he will die. Your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant, our father, with sorrow to Sheol.

³² For your servant became collateral for the boy to my father, saying, 'If I don't bring him to you, then I will bear the blame to my father forever.'

³³ Now therefore, please let your servant stay instead of the boy, a bondservant to my lord; and let the boy go up with his brothers.

³⁴ For how will I go up to my father, if the boy isn't with me?--lest I see the evil that will come on my father."