¹And the famine was severe in the land. ²And it came to pass, when they had finished eating the grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little food.” ³Then Judah spoke to him and said, “The man solemnly testified to us and said, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ ⁴If you let our brother go with us, we will go down and buy you food. ⁵But if you don't let him go, we will not go down, for the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ ” ⁶Then Israel said, “Why have you treated me so badly by telling the man that you had another brother?” ⁷And they said, “The man persistently asked about us and our family and said, ‘Is your father still alive? Have you got a brother?’ And we answered him in accordance with these things. How could we possibly know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?” ⁸Then Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the lad with me, and we will get up and go, and we will live and not die, neither us, nor you, nor our little ones. ⁹I will be security for him. You can require it from my hand if I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, for I would be in sin before you all my days. ¹⁰For if it wasn't for us delaying, then we would have been back by now twice over.” ¹¹Then Israel their father said to them, “If it is like this, then do this: take some of the select produce of the land in your vessels and take a gift down to the man – a little balsam and a little honey, spicery and fine myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. ¹²And take double money in your hand, and take back in your hand the money that was restored in the opening of your bags – perhaps it was a mistake. ¹³And take your brother and get up and go back to the man. ¹⁴And may God Almighty give you favour before the man, and may he let you go with your other brother and with Benjamin. And as for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.” ¹⁵So the men took this present, and they took double money in their hand, and Benjamin, and they got up and went down to Egypt, and they stood before Joseph. ¹⁶And Joseph saw Benjamin with them, and he said to him who was over his house, “Bring the men into the house, and butcher meat and prepare it, for the men will dine with me at noon.” ¹⁷Then the man did what Joseph had said, and the man brought the men into Joseph's house. ¹⁸And the men were afraid when they were brought into Joseph's house, and they said, “It is because of the matter of the money which was restored in our bags at the start that we have been brought in, to rush upon us and fall upon us and take us as slaves, and our donkeys.” ¹⁹And they approached the man who was over Joseph's house and spoke to him at the door of the house, ²⁰and they said, “Please, my lord, we really only came down from the start to buy food. ²¹And we came to an inn, and we opened our bags, and what we saw was that each man's money was in the opening of his bag – our money in full weight – and we have brought it back in our hand. ²²And we have brought more money down in our hand to buy food. We don't know who put our money in our bags.” ²³And he said, “Peace to you. Do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your bags. Your money was brought to me.” Then he brought Simeon out to them. ²⁴Then the man brought the men into Joseph's house, and he gave them water, and they washed their feet, and he gave their donkeys fodder. ²⁵Meanwhile they prepared their gift, until Joseph came out at noon, for they had heard that they would eat bread there. ²⁶Then when Joseph came home, they brought the present for him which was in their hand into the house, and they bowed down to him to the ground. ²⁷And he asked them how they were and said, “Is your elderly father whom you spoke of well? Is he still alive?” ²⁸And they said, “Your servant our father is well; he is still alive.” And they bowed the head and bowed down. ²⁹And he raised his eyes, and he saw Benjamin his brother, the son of his mother, and he said, “Is this your youngest brother about whom you spoke to me?” And he said, “God be gracious to you, my son.” ³⁰Then Joseph made haste, for he burned with feelings of compassion towards his brother, and he needed to weep, and he went into a room and wept there. ³¹Then he washed his face and went out, and he restrained himself and said, “Serve bread.” ³²And they served him on his own, and them on their own, and the Egyptians who ate with him on their own, for the Egyptians cannot eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. ³³And they sat before him, the firstborn in the firstborn's place, and the youngest in the youngest's place, and the men looked at each other with astonishment. ³⁴And he had helpings served to them in his presence, and Benjamin's helping was five times bigger than the helping of any of them, and they drank and became inebriated with him.