¹When Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, “Why are you staring at each other?” ²And he said, “Look, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy us some from there, so we live and don't die.” ³So Joseph's brothers went down, ten of them, to buy corn from Egypt. ⁴But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with his brothers, for he said, “I am concerned in case misfortune should befall him.” ⁵So Israel's sons came to buy grain among those who came, for the famine came to the land of Canaan. ⁶Now Joseph was the governor over the land; he was the seller of grain to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came, and they bowed down to him with the face to the ground. ⁷And Joseph saw his brothers, and he recognized them, but he feigned not recognizing them, and he spoke harshly with them, and he said to them, “Where have you come from?” And they said, “From the land of Canaan to buy food.” ⁸And Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. ⁹And Joseph remembered the dreams which he had had about them, and he said to them, “You are spies. You have come to look at the vulnerability of the land.” ¹⁰And they said to him, “Not so, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. ¹¹We are all the sons of one man; we are upright – your servants are not spies.” ¹²Then he said to them, “No, for you have come to look at the vulnerability of the land.” ¹³Then they said, “Your servants are twelve brothers; we are the sons of one man, in the land of Canaan, and actually the youngest is with our father today, and one of us is not to be found.” ¹⁴Then Joseph said to them, “As for what I said to you when I said, ‘You are spies’, ¹⁵this is the means by which you will be put to the test: by the life of Pharaoh, you certainly will not depart from here unless your youngest brother comes here. ¹⁶Send one of you to bring your brother, but you will be kept in prison, and your words will be put to the test to see if you are truthful, and if not, by the life of Pharaoh, it will show that you are spies.” ¹⁷And he rounded them up under guard for three days. ¹⁸And Joseph said this to them on the third day: “Do this and live, for I fear God. ¹⁹If you are upright, let one of your brothers be kept imprisoned in the prison building you are in, while you go and take grain for the famine of your households. ²⁰And bring your youngest brother to me, and your words will be proved true, and you will not die.” And they did so. ²¹And they said to one another, “Doubtless we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw his impassioned distress when he pleaded with us, and we did not take any notice. That is why this distress has come upon us.” ²²Then Reuben answered them and said, “Did I not say this to you when I said, ‘Do not sin against the lad’? But you did not listen, and look, his blood is duly required.” ²³And they did not know that Joseph was listening, for there was an interpreter between them. ²⁴And he turned aside from them and wept, then he returned to them and spoke to them, and he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. ²⁵And Joseph gave orders to fill their vessels with corn, and to restore each one's money in his sack, and to give them provision for the journey. This is what he did with them. ²⁶So they lifted their grain onto their donkeys and departed from there. ²⁷Then when one opened his sack to give fodder to his donkey at an inn, he saw his money, and there it was at the opening of his bag, ²⁸and he said to his brothers, “My money has been returned to me, and here it really is, in my bag.” And their heart fainted, and they trembled and said to each other, “What is this that God has done to us?” ²⁹And they came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan, and they told him everything that had happened to them and said, ³⁰“The man who is the lord of the land spoke harshly with us and considered us spies on the land. ³¹And we said to him, ‘We are upright; we are not spies. ³²We are twelve brothers, the sons of our father. One of us is not to be found, and the youngest is with our father in the land of Canaan today.’ ³³Then the man who is the lord of the land said to us, ‘Here is how I will know that you are upright. Leave one of your brothers with me, and take relief for the famine of your households and go, ³⁴and bring your youngest brother to me so that I know that you are not spies – that you are upright. Then I will give you back your brother, and you can trade in the land.’ ” ³⁵And it came to pass when they emptied their sacks that for each one there was his money-purse in his sack, and they saw their money-purses, they and their father, and they were afraid. ³⁶Then Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me: Joseph is not to be found, and Simeon is not around, and you want to take Benjamin away. All these things are against me.” ³⁷Then Reuben spoke to his father and said, “You can kill my two sons if I do not bring him to you. Put him in my charge, and I will bring him back to you.” ³⁸But he said, “My son will not go down with you, for his brother is dead and he alone remains, and if misfortune were to befall him on the way you are going, then you would bring my old age down to the grave in grief.”