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^IAnd Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, “Why do you look at each other?” ²And he said, “Here I’ve heard that there’s grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy grain for us from there, and we’ll live and not die.” ³And ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt, ⁴and Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers because, he said, “In case some harm will happen to him.”

⁵And the sons of Israel came to buy among those who were coming, because the famine was in the land of Canaan. ⁶And Joseph was the one in charge over the land; he was the one who sold grain to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed to him, noses to the ground. ⁷And Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he made himself unrecognizable to them, and he spoke with them in hard tones. And he said to them, “From where have you come?”

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 that he had had about them. And he said to them, “You’re spies. You came to see the land exposed.”

¹⁰And they said to him, “No, my lord, your servants came to buy food. “We’re all sons of one man. We’re honest men. Your servants weren’t spying.”

¹²And he said to them, “No, but you’ve come to see the land exposed.”

¹³And they said, “Your servants are twelve brothers. We’re sons of one man in the land of Canaan, and, here, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more.”

¹⁴And Joseph said to them, “It’s as I spoke to you, saying: you’re spies. ¹⁵By this you’ll be tested: by Pharaoh’s life, you won’t go out of here except by your youngest brother’s coming here. ¹⁶Send one from among you, and let him get your brother, and you remain in prison, and your words will be tested: is the truth with you? And if not, then by Pharaoh’s life you’re spies.” ¹⁷And he gathered them under watch for three days. ¹⁸And Joseph said to them on the third day, “Do this and live, as I fear God: ¹⁹If you’re honest, one brother from among you will be held at the place where you’re under watch; and you, go, bring grain for the famine in your houses. ²⁰And you will bring your youngest brother to me, and your words will be confirmed, and you won’t die.” And they did so.

²¹And they said, each to his brother, “But we’re guilty over our brother, because we saw his soul’s distress when he implored us and we didn’t listen. On account of that this distress has come to us!”

²²And Reuben answered them, saying, “Didn’t I say to you, saying, ‘Don’t sin against the boy’? And you didn’t listen. And his blood, too, is required here!”

²³And they did not know that Joseph was listening, because an interpreter was between them. ²⁴And he turned from them and wept. And he came back to them and spoke to them and took Simeon from them and shackled him before their eyes. ²⁵And Joseph commanded that they fill their containers with grain and to put their silver back in each man’s sack and to give them provisions for the road. And he did that for them.

²⁶And they loaded their grain on their asses and went from there.

²⁷And one opened his sack to give fodder to his ass at a lodging place, and he saw his silver, and here it was in the mouth of his bag. ²⁸And he said to his brothers, “My silver’s been put back, and here it is in my bag, too.”

And their heart went out, and the brothers trembled to one another, saying, “What is this that God has done to us?”

²⁹And they came to Jacob, their father, to the land of Canaan, and told him all the things that happened to them, saying, ³⁰“The man, the lord of the land, spoke with us hard and accused us of spying on the land. ^3IAnd we said to him, ‘We’re honest. We weren’t spying. ³²We’re twelve brothers, our father’s sons, one is no more, and the youngest is with our father in the land of Canaan today.’ ³³And the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘By this I’ll know that you’re honest: leave one brother from among you with me, and take for the famine in your houses and go, ³⁴and bring your youngest brother to me, so I may know that you aren’t spies, that you’re honest. I’ll give you your brother, and you’ll go around in the land.’”

³⁵And it was: they were emptying their sacks, and here was each man’s bundle of silver in his sack, and they saw the bundles of their silver, they and their father, and they were afraid. ³⁶And their father, Jacob, said to them, “You’ve bereaved me! Joseph is gone, and Simeon’s gone, and you’ll take Benjamin. All these have happened to me!”

³⁷And Reuben said to his father, saying, “Kill my two sons if I don’t bring him back to you. Put him in my hand, and I’ll bring him back to you.”

³⁸And he said, “My son will not go down with you. Because his brother’s dead, and he’s left by himself, and if some harm would happen to him on the way in which you’re going then you’ll bring down my gray hair in anguish to Sheol.”