Genesis 42
42
1When Jacob found out grain was available in Egypt, he asked his sons, “Why do you keep on looking at each other to do something? 2I've heard there's grain in Egypt. Go there and buy some for us so we can stay alive—if not, we're going to die!”
3So ten of Joseph's brothers went to Egypt to buy grain. 4But Jacob did not send Joseph's brother Benjamin with his other brothers, for he said, “I'm afraid something bad might happen to him.” 5So Israel's sons went to buy grain along with everyone else, because there was famine in Canaan too.
6Joseph was the governor of the country and he sold grain to all the people there. So Joseph's brothers went to him, and bowed low before him with their faces to the ground. 7Joseph recognized them as soon as he saw them, but he acted like a stranger towards them and spoke to them in a severe way, saying, “Where are you from?”
“From the country of Canaan,” they replied. “We've come to buy food.”
8Even though Joseph recognized his brothers, they didn't recognize him. 9Joseph thought back to the dreams he'd had about them, and told them, “No! You're spies! You've come to discover our country's weaknesses!”
10“That's not true, my lord!” they responded. “We, your servants, have just come to buy food. 11We're all the sons of one man and we're honest. We're not spies!”
12“No! You've come to find our country's weaknesses!” he insisted.
13“Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man living in the country of Canaan,” they explained. “The youngest is right now with our father, and one has passed away.”
14“As I said before, you're spies!” Joseph declared. 15“This is how your story will be checked. I swear on Pharaoh's life that you'll never leave this country unless your younger brother comes here. 16One of you go back and bring your other brother here. The others of you will be kept here in prison until it's clear that you're telling the truth. If not, then I swear on Pharaoh's life it proves you're spies!”
17So Joseph put all of them in prison for three days. 18On the third day he told them, “Since I'm someone who respects God, do as I tell you and you'll live. 19If you're truly honest, choose one of your brothers to stay here in prison. The rest of you can go back home with grain for your hungry families. 20But you must bring your youngest brother here to me to prove what you're saying is true. If not, you will all die.” They agreed to do this.
21“Clearly we're being punished for what we did to our brother,” they said to each other. “We watched him in agony pleading with us for mercy, but we refused to listen to him. That's why we're in all this trouble.”
22Reuben said to them, “Didn't I tell you, ‘Don't harm the boy!’ But you didn't listen to me. Now we're paying the price for what we did to him.”#42:22. Literally, “Now his blood is required.” The concept is that the blood of the victim cries out for vengeance. 23They didn't realize that Joseph understood what they were saying because they were talking to him through an interpreter. 24Joseph stepped away from them because he started crying. He came back when he was able to speak to them again. He chose Simeon and had him tied up as they watched.
25Joseph gave the order to fill up their sacks with grain, and also to return the money they had paid by placing it in the sacks as well. He also ordered that they should be provided with food for their journey home. All this was done. 26The brothers loaded the grain onto their donkeys and then set off.
27On their way they stopped for the night, and one of them opened up his sack to give his donkey something to eat and saw his money there at the top of the sack. 28He told his brothers, “My money's been returned to me. It's right here at the top of my sack!” They were horrified! Trembling with fear they asked each other, “What is this that God's done to us?”
29When they arrived home in Canaan, they told their father Jacob everything that had happened. 30“The man who is the country's governor spoke to us in a severe way, and accused us of spying on the land,” they explained. 31“We told him, ‘We are honest men. We're not spies! 32We are twelve brothers, the sons of one father. One has passed away and the youngest is right now with our father in the country of Canaan.’ 33Then the man who is the country's governor said to us, ‘This is how I'll find out if you're telling the truth: you are to leave one of your brothers here with me while the rest take grain home for your hungry families. 34Then bring your youngest brother to me. That way I'll know you're not spies but you're telling the truth. I'll release your brother to you, and you can stay in the country and trade.’”
35As they emptied their sacks, each one's money bag was there in his sack! When they and their father saw the money bags, they were horrified. 36Jacob their father accused them, “You have taken Joseph from me—he's gone! Simeon is gone too! Now you want to take Benjamin away! I'm the one who's suffering from all of this!”#42:36. The sentence is literally, “on me are all these things.” The Hebrew construction focuses “on me” making it clear that Jacob is holding them responsible for his suffering.
37“You can kill my two sons if I don't bring him back to you,” Reuben assured him. “Trust me with him, and I will bring him home to you myself.”
38“My son won't go there with you!” Jacob declared. “His brother is dead, and he's the only one I have left. If anything bad happens to him on the journey you're planning, you'll send this old man to his grave in grief.”
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com
Genesis 42
42
CHAPTER 42
1Forsooth Jacob heard that foods were sold in Egypt, and he said to his sons, Why be ye negligent?
2I [have] heard that wheat is sold in Egypt; go ye down, and buy ye necessaries to us, that we may live, and be not wasted by neediness.
3Therefore ten brethren of Joseph went down to buy wheat in Egypt,
4and Benjamin was withholden of Jacob at home, that said to his brethren, Lest peradventure in the way he suffer any evil.
5Soothly they entered into the land of Egypt, with other men that went thither to buy corn; forsooth hunger was in the land of Canaan.
6And Joseph was the prince of Egypt, and at his will wheats were sold to [the] peoples. And when his brethren had worshipped or honoured him,
7and he had known them, he spake harder to them, as to aliens, and asked them, From whence came ye? Which answered, From the land of Canaan, that we buy necessaries to our lifelode.
8And nevertheless he knew his brethren, and he was not known of them,
9and he bethought on the dreams which he saw sometime. And he said to them, Ye be spyers [or spies], ye came to see the feebler things of the land.
10Which said, Lord, it is not so, but thy servants came to buy meats;
11all we be [the] sons of one man, we came hither peaceably, and thy servants imagine not any evil.
12To which he answered, It is in other manner, ye came to see the feeble things of the land.
13And they said, We thy servants be twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; the youngest is with our father, another is not alive.
14This it is, he said, that I spake to you, ye be spyers [or spies],
15right now I shall take experience or very knowing of you; by the health of Pharaoh ye shall not go from hence, till your least brother come hither;
16send ye one of you, that he bring him, forsooth ye shall be in bonds till those things that ye said be proved, whether those [or they] be false or true; else, by the health of Pharaoh, ye be spies.
17Therefore he betook them into keeping three days;
18soothly in the third day, when they were led out of prison, Joseph said, Do ye that that I said, and ye shall live, for I dread God;
19if ye be peaceable, one brother of you be bound in prison; forsooth the rest go ye, and bear the wheat, which ye have bought, into your houses,
20and bring ye your youngest brother to me, that I may prove your words, and ye die not. They did as he said,
21and they spake together, Worthily we suffer these things, for we sinned against our brother, and we saw the anguish of his soul, while he prayed us, and we heard him not; therefore this tribulation cometh on us.
22Of which one, Reuben, said, Whether I said not to you, Do not ye sin against the child, and ye heard not me? lo! his blood is sought.
23Soothly they knew not that Joseph understood them, for he spake to them by an interpreter or an expounder.
24And he turned away himself a little, and wept; and he turned again, and spake to them. And he took Simeon, and bound him, while they were present;
25and he commanded the servants, that they should fill their sacks with wheat, and that they should put all their money in their bags, and over this give to them meats in the way; which did so.
26And they bare [the] wheats on their asses, and went forth,
27and when the sack of one of them was opened that he should give meat to the work beast in the inn, he beheld the money in the mouth of the bag,
28and he said to his brethren, My money is yielded to me, lo! it is had in the bag; and they were astonied, and troubled, and said together, What thing is this that God hath done to us?
29And they came to Jacob, their father, in the land of Canaan, and told to him all things that befelled to them, and said,
30The lord of the land spake hard to us, and guessed that we were spyers [or spies] of the province;
31to whom we answered, We be peaceable, neither we purpose any treasons;
32we be twelve brethren, engendered of one father, one is not alive, the youngest dwelleth with the father in the land of Canaan.
33And he said to us, Thus I shall prove that ye be peaceable; leave ye one brother of you with me, and take ye meats needful to your houses, and go ye,
34and bring ye to me your youngest brother, that I know that ye be not spyers [or spies], and that ye may receive this brother which is holden in bonds, and that from thenceforth ye have license to buy what things ye will.
35While these things were said, when they all poured out the wheats, they found the money bound in the mouths of their sacks. And when they altogether were afeared,
36their father Jacob said, Ye have made me to be without children; Joseph is not alive, Simeon is holden in bonds, ye shall take away from me Benjamin; all these evils have fallen in on me.
37To whom Reuben answered, Slay thou my two sons, if I shall not bring him again to thee; take thou him in mine hand, and I shall restore him to thee.
38And Jacob said, My son shall not go down with you; his brother is dead, he alone is left; if any adversity shall befall to him in the land to which ye shall go, ye shall lead forth mine hoar hairs with sorrow to hell.
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