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. Then 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. Jacob was afraid that something terrible might happen to Benjamin. 5Along with many other people, the sons of Jacob, also called Israel, went to Egypt to buy grain. This was because the people in the land of Canaan were hungry also.
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. They 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 10 of 12 brothers. We are sons of the same father. 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 thing, and I will let you live: 19If you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here in prison. 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. Then 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. 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. They were to put the money the brothers had paid for the grain back in their bags. They were to give them things 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. He was going 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. They 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 10 of 12 brothers—sons of one father. We said that 1 of our brothers was gone. And we said 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 1 of your brothers with me. Take back grain to feed your hungry families, and go. 34And bring your youngest brother to me. Then I will know that you are not spies but honest men. And I will give you back your brother whom you leave with me. And you can move about freely in our land.’”
35Then the brothers emptied their sacks. And 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 2 sons to death if I don’t bring Benjamin back to you. Trust him to my care. I will bring him back to you.”
38But Jacob said, “I will not allow Benjamin to go with you. His brother is dead. 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.”
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Genesis 42: ICB
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Berĕshith (Genesis) 42
42
1And when Ya‛aqoḇ saw that there was grain in Mitsrayim, Ya‛aqoḇ said to his sons, “Why do you look at each other?”
2And he said, “See, I have heard that there is grain in Mitsrayim. Go down to that place and buy for us there, and let us live and not die.”
3And Yosĕph’s ten brothers went down to buy grain in Mitsrayim.
4But Ya‛aqoḇ did not send Yosĕph’s brother Binyamin with his brothers, for he said, “Lest some harm come to him.”
5And the sons of Yisra’ĕl went to buy grain among those who journeyed, for the scarcity of food was in the land of Kena‛an.
6And Yosĕph was the governor over the land, he was the one who sold to all the people of the land. And Yosĕph’s brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the earth.
7And Yosĕph saw his brothers and recognised them, but he acted as a stranger to them and spoke to them harshly, and said to them, “Where do you come from?” And they said, “From the land of Kena‛an to buy food.”
8So Yosĕph recognised his brothers, but they did not recognise him.
9And Yosĕph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed about them, and said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see the nakedness of the land!”
10And they said to him, “No, my master, but your servants have come to buy food.
11We are all one man’s sons, we are trustworthy, your servants are not spies.
12But he said to them, “No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land.”
13And they said, “Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Kena‛an. And see, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more.”
14And Yosĕph said to them, “It is as I spoke to you, saying, ‘You are spies!’
15“By this you shall be proven: By the life of Pharaoh, you do not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here.
16“Send one of you, and let him bring your brother, while you are kept in prison. So let your words be proven to see whether there is any truth in you, or else, by the life of Pharaoh, you are spies!”
17And he put them all together in prison for three days.
18Now Yosĕph said to them the third day, “Do this and live, for I fear Elohim:
19“If you are trustworthy, let one of your brothers be confined to your prison house, and you, go, bring grain for the scarcity of food of your houses.
20“And bring your youngest brother to me, and let your words be confirmed, and you do not die.” And so they did.
21And they said to each other, “Truly, we are guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the distress of his life when he pleaded with us, yet we did not listen, that is why this distress has come upon us.”
22And Re’uḇĕn answered them, saying, “Did I not speak to you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the boy,’ and you would not listen? And see, his blood is now required of us.”
23And they did not know that Yosĕph understood them, for he spoke to them through an interpreter.
24And he turned himself away from them and wept, but came back to them and spoke to them. And he took Shim‛on from them and bound him before their eyes.
25And Yosĕph commanded and they filled their sacks with grain, also to put back every man’s silver to his sack, and to give them food for the journey. And thus it was done for them.
26So they loaded their donkeys with the grain and went from there.
27And as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place, he saw his silver, for there it was in the mouth of his sack!
28And he said to his brothers, “My silver has been returned, and there it is, in my sack!” And their hearts sank and they were afraid, saying to each other, “What is this that Elohim has done to us?”
29So they came to Ya‛aqoḇ their father in the land of Kena‛an and reported to him all that befell them, saying,
30“The man, the master of the land, spoke to us harshly, and took us for spies of the land.
31But we said to him, ‘We are trustworthy, we are not spies.
32We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One is no more, and the youngest is today with our father in the land of Kena‛an.’
33“And the man, the master of the land, said to us, ‘By this I know that you are trustworthy: Leave one of your brothers here with me, and take food for the scarcity of food of your households, and go.
34And bring your youngest brother to me, then I know that you are not spies, but that you are trustworthy – I give your brother to you, and you move about in the land.’ ”
35And it came to be as they emptied their sacks, that look, the bundle of each man’s silver was in his sack! And when they and their father saw the bundles of silver, they were afraid.
36And Ya‛aqoḇ their father said to them, “You have bereaved me – Yosĕph is no more, and Shim‛on is no more, and you would take Binyamin! All this is against me.”
37So Re’uḇĕn spoke to his father, saying, “Take the lives of my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hands, and I myself bring him back to you.”
38But he said, “My son is not going down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is left alone. If any harm should come to him along the way in which you go, then you would bring down my grey hair with sorrow to She’ol.”
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