48 S Genesis 42:29
Their hearts sank and they t urned to each other trembling and said, “What
is this that God has done to us?”
29 When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told
him all that had happened to them. They said, 30 “The man who is lord over
the land spoke harshly to us and treated us as though we were spying on the
land. 31 But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we are not spies. 32 We were
twelve brothers, sons of one father. One is no more, and the youngest is now
with our father in Canaan.’
33 “Then the man who is lord over the land said to us, ‘This is how I will
know whether you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with me,
and take food for your starving households and go. 34 But bring your youngest
brother to me so I will know that you are not spies but honest men. Then I will
give your brother back to you, and you can trade a in the land.’ ”
35 As they were emptying t heir s acks, t here in each m
an’s sack was his
pouch of silver! When they and t heir father saw the money pouches, they
were frightened. 36 Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of
my children. Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more, and now you want to
take Benjamin. Everything is against me!”
37 Then Reuben said to his father, “You may put both of my sons to death if
I do not bring him back to you. Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him
back.”
38 But Jacob said, “My son will not go down there with you; his brother is
dead and he is the only one left. If harm c omes to him on the journey you are
taking, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in sorrow.”
The Second Journey to Egypt
43
Now the famine was s till severe in the land. 2 So when they had eaten all
the grain they had b
rought from Egypt, t heir father said to them, “Go
back and buy us a little more food.”
3 But Judah said to him, “The man warned us solemnly, ‘You will not see
my face a
gain unless your brother is with you.’ 4 If you will send our brother
along with us, we will go down and buy food for you. 5 But if you will not send
him, we will not go down, because the man said to us, ‘You will not see my
face a
gain unless your brother is with you.’ ”
6 Israel a
sked, “Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man
you had another brother?”
7 They replied, “The man questioned us closely about ourselves and our
family. ‘Is your father still living?’ he asked us. ‘Do you have another brother?’
We simply answered his questions. How were we to know he would say, ‘Bring
your brother down here’?”
8 Then Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy along with me and we
will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die. 9 I
myself will guarantee his safety; you can hold me personally responsible for
him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him here before you, I will bear
the b
lame before you all my life. 10 As it is, if we had not delayed, we c ould
have gone and returned twice.”
11 Then t heir father Israel said to them, “If it must be, then do this: Put
some of the best products of the land in your bags and take them down to the
man as a gift — a little balm and a little honey, some spices and myrrh, some
pistachio nuts and almonds. 12 Take double the amount of silver with you, for
you must return the silver that was put back into the mouths of your sacks.
Perhaps it was a mistake. 13 Take your brother also and go back to the man at
once. 14 And may God Almighty b grant you mercy before the man so that he
will let your other brother and Benjamin come back with you. As for me, if I
am bereaved, I am bereaved.”
15 So the men took the gifts and double the amount of silver, and Benja
min also. They hurried down to Egypt and presented themselves to Joseph.
16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house,
a 34 Or
move about freely b 14 Hebrew El-Shaddai