Genesis 42
42
Joseph’s Brothers Go to Egypt
1#Ac 7:12Now when Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” 2#Ge 43:8And he said, “I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.”
3Joseph’s ten brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. 4#Ge 42:38But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with his brothers for he said, “Perhaps some harm might happen to him.” 5#Ge 12:10; 41:57Thus the sons of Israel came to buy grain among those who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
6Now Joseph was the governor over the land, and it was he who sold to all the people of the land. So Joseph’s brothers came and bowed themselves down before him with their faces to the ground. 7#Ge 42:30Joseph saw his brothers, and he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger to them and spoke harshly to them. He said to them, “From where do you come?”
And they said, “From the land of Canaan to buy food.”
8Joseph knew his brothers, but they did not know him. 9#Ge 37:5–9Joseph also remembered the dreams that he had dreamed of them. He said to them, “You are spies! You came to see the nakedness of the land!”
10#Ge 37:8They said to him, “No, my lord, your servants have come only to buy food. 11#Ge 42:19We are all one man’s sons. We are honest men. Your servants are not spies.”
12But he said to them, “No, you have come to see the nakedness of the land!”
13#Ge 37:30; 42:32They said, “Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is with our father today, and one is no longer living.”
14Joseph said to them, “It is as I said to you, ‘You are spies!’ 15#1Sa 17:55Here is how you will be tested. By the life of Pharaoh, you will not leave here unless your youngest brother comes here. 16Send one of you, and let him get your brother, and you will be kept in prison, so that your words may be tested, whether there be any truth in you. Or else, by the life of Pharaoh, you are surely spies.” 17#Ge 40:4; 40:7He put them all together in custody for three days.
18#Lev 25:43; Ne 5:15Joseph said to them the third day, “Do this and live, for I fear God. 19If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in your prison house. The rest of you go and carry grain for the famine of your households. 20#Ge 42:34; 43:5Nevertheless, bring your youngest brother to me so that your words may be verified and you shall not die.” And they did so.
21#Hos 5:15; Ge 37:23–28Then they said one to another, “We are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. Therefore, this distress has come upon us.”
22#1Ki 2:32; 2Ch 24:22Reuben answered them, saying, “Did I not speak to you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen? Therefore, his blood is now required of us.” 23They did not know that Joseph understood them, for he spoke to them through an interpreter.
24#Ge 43:30He turned himself away from them and wept, but then turned back to them again and spoke with them. Then he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.
25#1Pe 3:9Joseph then gave the command to fill their sacks with grain and to restore every man’s money to his sack and to give them provisions for the way. And it was done for them.
Joseph’s Brothers Return Home
26They loaded their donkeys with the grain and departed from there.
27#Ex 4:24As one of them opened his sack to give his donkey feed in the lodging place, he saw his money. It was in the mouth of his sack. 28And he said to his brothers, “My money has been returned. Here it is in my sack!”
Then their hearts sank, and they were afraid, saying to one another, “What is this that God has done to us?”
29They came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them, saying, 30#Ge 42:7“The man, the lord of the land, spoke harshly to us and took us for spies of the country. 31And we said to him, ‘We are honest men. We are not spies. 32We are twelve brothers, all sons of our father. One is no longer living, and the youngest is with our father today in the land of Canaan.’
33#Ge 42:19–20; 42:15“The man, the lord of the country, said to us, ‘Here is how I may know that you are honest men. Leave one of your brothers here with me, take food for the famine of your households, and be gone. 34#Ge 34:10; 34:21But bring your youngest brother back to me. Then I will know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. Then I will deliver your brother to you, and you may trade in the land.’ ”
35#Ge 43:21As they emptied their sacks, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack. When both they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. 36#Ge 43:14Then Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children! Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you will take Benjamin away. All these things are against me.”
37#Ge 46:9Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “Kill my two sons if I fail to bring him to you. Put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.”
38#Ge 37:35; 37:33; 42:4But Jacob said, “My son must not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If harm should happen to him on the journey you are to make, then you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.”
Currently Selected:
Genesis 42: MEV
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Military Bible Association
Genesis 42
42
The Dreams Come True
1Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, so he said to his sons, “Why are you just sitting here looking at one another? 2I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy grain for us to eat, so that we will live and not die.”
3So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. 4But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with them, because he was afraid that something terrible might happen to him. 5Along with many other people, the sons of Israel went to Egypt to buy grain, because the people in the land of Canaan were also hungry.
6Now Joseph was governor over Egypt. He was the one who sold the grain to people who came to buy it. So Joseph’s brothers came to him and bowed facedown on the ground before him. 7When Joseph saw his brothers, he knew who they were, but he acted as if he didn’t know them. He asked unkindly, “Where do you come from?”
They answered, “We have come from the land of Canaan to buy food.”
8Joseph knew they were his brothers, but they did not know who he was. 9And Joseph remembered his dreams about his brothers bowing to him. He said to them, “You are spies! You came to learn where the nation is weak!”
10But his brothers said to him, “No, my master. We come as your servants just to buy food. 11We are all sons of the same father. We are honest men, not spies.”
12Then Joseph said to them, “No! You have come to learn where this nation is weak!”
13And they said, “We are ten of twelve brothers, sons of the same father, and we live in the land of Canaan. Our youngest brother is there with our father right now, and our other brother is gone.”
14But Joseph said to them, “I can see I was right! You are spies! 15But I will give you a way to prove you are telling the truth. As surely as the king lives, you will not leave this place until your youngest brother comes here. 16One of you must go and get your brother. The rest of you will stay here in prison. We will see if you are telling the truth. If not, as surely as the king lives, you are spies.” 17Then Joseph put them all in prison for three days.
18On the third day Joseph said to them, “I am a God-fearing man. Do this and I will let you live: 19If you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here in prison while the rest of you go and carry grain back to feed your hungry families. 20Then bring your youngest brother back here to me. If you do this, I will know you are telling the truth, and you will not die.”
The brothers agreed to this. 21They said to each other, “We are being punished for what we did to our brother. We saw his trouble, and he begged us to save him, but we refused to listen. That is why we are in this trouble now.”
22Then Reuben said to them, “I told you not to harm the boy, but you refused to listen to me. So now we are being punished for what we did to him.”
23When Joseph talked to his brothers, he used an interpreter, so they did not know that Joseph understood what they were saying. 24Then Joseph left them and cried. After a short time he went back and spoke to them. He took Simeon and tied him up while the other brothers watched. 25Joseph told his servants to fill his brothers’ bags with grain and to put the money the brothers had paid for the grain back in their bags. The servants were also to give them what they would need for their trip back home. And the servants did this.
26So the brothers put the grain on their donkeys and left. 27When they stopped for the night, one of the brothers opened his sack to get food for his donkey. Then he saw his money in the top of the sack. 28He said to the other brothers, “The money I paid for the grain has been put back. Here it is in my sack!”
The brothers were very frightened. They said to each other, “What has God done to us?”
The Brothers Return to Jacob
29The brothers went to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan and told him everything that had happened. 30They said, “The master of that land spoke unkindly to us. He accused us of spying on his country, 31but we told him that we were honest men, not spies. 32We told him that we were ten of twelve brothers—sons of one father. We said that one of our brothers was gone and that our youngest brother was with our father in Canaan.
33“Then the master of the land said to us, ‘Here is a way I can know you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain to feed your hungry families, and go. 34And bring your youngest brother to me so I will know you are not spies but honest men. Then I will give you back your brother whom you leave with me, and you can move about freely in our land.’ ”
35As the brothers emptied their sacks, each of them found his money in his sack. When they and their father saw it, they were afraid.
36Their father Jacob said to them, “You are robbing me of all my children. Joseph is gone, Simeon is gone, and now you want to take Benjamin away, too. Everything is against me.”
37Then Reuben said to his father, “You may put my two sons to death if I don’t bring Benjamin back to you. Trust him to my care, and I will bring him back to you.”
38But Jacob said, “I will not allow Benjamin to go with you. His brother is dead, and he is the only son left from my wife Rachel. I am afraid something terrible might happen to him during the trip to Egypt. Then I would be sad until the day I die.”
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.