Genesis 42 — Read & Listen Online | Father's Heart Bible™

Jacob Sends His Sons

Chapter 42.

When Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, "Why do you keep looking at one another?" He said, "Look, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us from there, so that we may live and not die." So ten of Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with his brothers, for he feared that harm might come to him. So the sons of Israel came to buy grain among those who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. Now Joseph was the governor over the land; he was the one who sold grain to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came and bowed down to him with their faces to the ground. When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he hid his identity from them and spoke harshly to them. He said to them, "Where do you come from?" They said, "From the land of Canaan, to buy food."

Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. Then Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed about them, and he said to them, "You are spies! You have come to find the vulnerable parts of the land."

But they said to him, "No, my lord, your servants have come to buy food. We are all sons of one man; we are honest men. Your servants have never been spies."

But he said to them, "No, you have come to find the vulnerable parts of the land."

They 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 more."

Joseph said to them, "It is just as I said to you: you are spies. By this you will be tested: as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. Send one of you to bring your brother, while you remain confined, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you. If not, as Pharaoh lives, surely you are spies." And he put them all together in custody for three days. On the third day Joseph said to them, "Do this and live, for I fear our Father. ^a If you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined in your prison, while the rest of you go and carry grain for the famine of your households, and bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words may be verified and you will not die." And they did so.

Then they said to one another, "Truly we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us." And Reuben answered them, "Did I not tell you, 'Do not sin against the boy,' but you would not listen? Now there comes a reckoning for his blood." They did not know that Joseph understood them, for there was an interpreter between them. He turned away from them and wept. Then he returned to them and spoke with them. He took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.

Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to return each man's silver to his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. And this was done for them. Then they loaded their grain on their donkeys and departed from there. And as one of them opened his sack to feed his donkey at the lodging place, he saw his silver in the mouth of his sack. He said to his brothers, "My silver has been returned! Look, it is in my sack!" Their hearts sank, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, "What is this that our Father has done to us?" ^b When they came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying, "The man who is lord of the land spoke harshly to us and took us to be spies of the land. But we said to him, 'We are honest men; we are never spies. We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One is no more, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.' Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, 'By this I shall know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, take grain for the famine of your households, and go. Bring your youngest brother to me, then I will know that you are not spies but honest men. I will release your brother to you, and you may trade in the land.'"

As they were emptying their sacks, there in each man's sack was his bundle of silver. When they and their father saw their bundles of silver, they were afraid. And Jacob their father said to them, "You have bereaved me of my children. Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin. All this has come against me."

Then Reuben said to his father, "You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you."

But he said, "My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If harm should come to him on the journey you are taking, you would bring me, an old man, down to the grave in sorrow."

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