Genesis 42-45

Genesis 42

¹Now Jacob, hearing that there was grain in Egypt, said to his sons, Why are you looking at one another?

²And he said, I have had news that there is grain in Egypt: go down there and get grain for us, so that life and not death may be ours.

³So Joseph's ten brothers went down to get grain from Egypt.

⁴But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with them, for fear, as he said, that some evil might come to him.

⁵And the sons of Israel came with all the others to get grain: for they were very short of food in the land of Canaan.

⁶Now Joseph was ruler over all the land, and it was he who gave out the grain to all the people of the land; and Joseph's brothers came before him and went down on their faces to the earth.

⁷And when Joseph saw his brothers, it was clear to him who they were, but he made himself strange to them, and talking roughly to them, said, Where do you come from? And they said, From the land of Canaan, to get food.

⁸Now though Joseph saw that these were his brothers, they had no idea who he was.

⁹Then the memory of his dreams about them came back to Joseph, and he said to them, You have come secretly to see how poor the land is.

¹⁰And they said to him, Not so, my lord: your servants have come with money to get food.

¹¹We are all one man's sons, we are true men; we have not come with any secret purpose.

¹²And he said to them, No, but you have come to see how poor the land is.

¹³Then they said, We your servants are twelve brothers, sons of one man in the land of Canaan; the youngest of us is now with our father, and one is dead.

¹⁴And Joseph said, It is as I said; you have come with some secret purpose;

¹⁵But in this way will you be put to the test: by the life of Pharaoh, you will not go away from this place till your youngest brother comes here.

¹⁶Send one of your number to get your brother, and the rest of you will be kept in prison, so that your words may be tested to see if you are true; if not, by the life of Pharaoh, your purpose is certainly secret.

¹⁷So he put them in prison for three days.

¹⁸And on the third day Joseph said to them, Do this, if you would keep your lives: for I am a god-fearing man:

¹⁹If you are true men, let one of you be kept in prison, while you go and take grain for the needs of your families;

²⁰And come back to me with your youngest brother, so that your words may be seen to be true, and you will not be put to death. This is what you are to do.

²¹And they said to one another, Truly, we did wrong to our brother, for we saw his grief of mind, and we did not give ear to his prayers; that is why this trouble has come on us.

²²And Reuben said to them, Did I not say to you, Do the child no wrong? but you gave no attention; so now, punishment has come on us for his blood.

²³They were not conscious that the sense of their words was clear to Joseph, for he had been talking to them through one who had knowledge of their language.

²⁴And turning away from them, he was overcome with weeping; then he went on talking to them again and took Simeon and put chains on him before their eyes.

²⁵Then Joseph gave orders for their bags to be made full of grain, and for every man's money to be put back into his bag, and for food to be given them for the journey: which was done.

²⁶Then they put the bags of grain on their asses and went away.

²⁷Now at their night's resting-place one of them, opening his bag to give his ass some food, saw his money in the mouth of the bag.

²⁸And he said to his brothers, My money has been given back: it is in my bag; then their hearts became full of fear, and turning to one another they said, What is this which God has done to us?

²⁹So when they came to Jacob their father, in the land of Canaan, they gave him an account of all their experiences, saying,

³⁰The man who is the ruler of the country was rough with us and put us in prison, saying that we had come with a secret evil purpose.

³¹And we said to him, We are true men, we have no evil designs;

³²We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is dead, and the youngest is now with our father in the land of Canaan.

³³And the ruler of the land said, In this way I may be certain that you are true men; let one of you be kept here with me, while you go and take grain for the needs of your families;

³⁴And come back to me with your youngest brother: then I will be certain that you are true men, and I will give your brother back to you and let you do trade in the land.

³⁵And when they took the grain out of their bags, it was seen that every man's parcel of money was in his bag; and when they and their father saw the money, they were full of fear.

³⁶And Jacob their father said to them, You have taken my children from me: Joseph is gone and Simeon is gone, and now you would take Benjamin away; all these things have come on me.

³⁷And Reuben said, Put my two sons to death if I do not come back to you with him; let him be in my care and I will give him safely back to you.

³⁸And he said, I will not let my son go down with you; for his brother is dead and he is all I have: if evil overtakes him on the journey, then through you will my grey head go down to the underworld in sorrow.

Genesis 43

¹Now the land was in bitter need of food.

²And when the grain which they had got in Egypt was all used up, their father said to them, Go again and get us a little food.

³And Judah said to him, The man said to us with an oath, You are not to come before me again without your brother.

⁴If you will let our brother go with us, we will go down and get food:

⁵But if you will not send him, we will not go down: for the man said to us, You are not to come before me if your brother is not with you.

⁶And Israel said, Why were you so cruel to me as to say to him that you had a brother?

⁷And they said, The man put a number of questions to us about ourselves and our family, saying, Is your father still living? have you another brother? And we had to give him answers; how were we to have any idea that he would say, Come back with your brother?

⁸Then Judah said to Israel, his father, Send the boy with me, and let us be up and going, so that we and you and our little ones may not come to destruction.

⁹Put him into my care and make me responsible for him: if I do not give him safely back to you, let mine be the sin for ever.

¹⁰Truly, if we had not let the time go by, we might have come back again by now.

¹¹Then their father Israel said to them, If it has to be so, then do this: take of the best fruits of the land in your vessels to give the man, perfumes and honey and spices and nuts:

¹²And take twice as much money with you; that is to say, take back the money which was put in your bags, for it may have been an error;

¹³And take your brother and go back to the man:

¹⁴And may God, the Ruler of all, give you mercy before the man, so that he may give you back your other brother and Benjamin. If my children are to be taken from me; there is no help for it.

¹⁵So they took what their father said for the man, and twice as much money in their hands, and Benjamin, and went on their journey to Egypt, and came before Joseph.

¹⁶And when Joseph saw Benjamin, he said to his chief servant, Take these men into my house, and make ready a meal, for they will take food with me in the middle of the day.

¹⁷And the servant did as Joseph said, and took the men into Joseph's house.

¹⁸Now the men were full of fear because they had been taken into Joseph's house and they said, It is because of the money which was put back in our bags the first time; he is looking for something against us, so that he may come down on us and take us and our asses for his use.

¹⁹So they went up to Joseph's chief servant at the door of the house,

²⁰And said, O my lord, we only came down the first time to get food;

²¹And when we came to our night's resting-place, on opening our bags we saw that every man's money was in the mouth of his bag, all our money in full weight: and we have it with us to give it back;

²²As well as more money, with which to get food: we have no idea who put our money in our bags.

²³Then the servant said, Peace be with you: have no fear: your God, even the God of your father, has put wealth in your bags for you: I had your money. Then he let Simeon come out to them.

²⁴And the servant took them into Joseph's house, and gave them water for washing their feet; and he gave their asses food.

²⁵And they got ready the things for Joseph before he came in the middle of the day: for word was given to them that they were to have a meal there.

²⁶And when Joseph came in, they gave him the things which they had for him, and went down to the earth before him.

²⁷And he said, How are you? is your father well, the old man of whom you were talking to me? is he still living?

²⁸And they said, Your servant, our father, is well, he is still living. And they went down on their faces before him.

²⁹Then, lifting up his eyes, he saw Benjamin, his brother, his mother's son, and he said, Is this your youngest brother of whom you gave me word? And he said, God be good to you, my son.

³⁰Then Joseph's heart went out to his brother, and he went quickly into his room, for he was overcome with weeping.

³¹Then, after washing his face, he came out, and controlling his feelings said, Put food before us.

³²And they put a meal ready for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians who were with him by themselves; because the Egyptians may not take food with the Hebrews, for that would make them unclean.

³³And they were all given their seats before him in order of birth, from the oldest to the youngest: so that they were looking at one another in wonder.

³⁴And Joseph sent food to them from his table, but he sent five times as much to Benjamin as to any of the others. And they took wine freely with him.

Genesis 44

¹Then he gave orders to the servant who was over his house, saying, Put as much food into the men's bags as will go into them, and put every man's money in the mouth of his bag;

²And put my cup, my silver cup, in the youngest one's bag, with his money. So he did as Joseph said.

³And at dawn the men, with their asses, were sent away.

⁴And when they had gone only a little way out of the town, Joseph said to the servant who was over his house, Go after them; and when you overtake them, say to them, Why have you done evil in reward for good?

⁵Is not this the cup from which my lord takes wine and by which he gets knowledge of the future? Truly, you have done evil.

⁶So he overtook them and said these words to them.

⁷And they said to him, Why does my lord say such words as these? far be it from your servants to do such a thing:

⁸See, the money which was in the mouth of our bags we gave back to you when we came again from Canaan: how then might we take silver or gold from your lord's house?

⁹If it comes to light that any of your servants has done this, let him be put to death, and we will be your lord's servants.

¹⁰And he said, Let it be as you say: he in whose bag it is seen will become my servant; and you will not be responsible.

¹¹Then every man quickly got his bag down and undid it.

¹²And he made a search, starting with the oldest and ending with the youngest; and the cup was in Benjamin's bag.

¹³Then in bitter grief they put the bags on the asses again and went back to the town.

¹⁴So Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house; and he was still there: and they went down on their faces before him.

¹⁵And Joseph said, What is this thing which you have done? had you no thought that such a man as I would have power to see what is secret?

¹⁶And Judah said, What are we to say to my lord? how may we put ourselves right in his eyes? God has made clear the sin of your servants: now we are in your hands, we and the man in whose bag your cup was seen.

¹⁷Then he said, Far be it from me to do so: but the man who had my cup will be my servant; and you may go back to your father in peace.

¹⁸Then Judah came near him, and said, Let your servant say a word in my lord's ears, and let not your wrath be burning against your servant: for you are in the place of Pharaoh to us.

¹⁹My lord said to his servants, Have you a father or a brother?

²⁰And we said to my lord, We have an old father and a young child, whom he had when he was old; his brother is dead and he is the only son of his mother, and is very dear to his father.

²¹And you said to your servants, Let him come down to me with you, so that I may see him.

²²And we said to my lord, His father will not let him go; for if he went away his father would come to his death.

²³But you said to your servants, If your youngest brother does not come with you, you will not see my face again.

²⁴And when we went back to your servant, our father, we gave him an account of my lord's words.

²⁵And our father said, Go again and get us a little food.

²⁶And we said, Only if our youngest brother goes with us will we go down; for we may not see the man's face again if our youngest brother is not with us.

²⁷And our father said to us, You have knowledge that my wife gave me two sons;

²⁸The one went away from me, and I said, Truly he has come to a violent death; and from that time I have not seen him,

²⁹If now you take this one from me, and some evil comes to him, you will make my grey head go down in sorrow to the underworld.

³⁰If then I go back to your servant, my father, without the boy, because his life and the boy's life are one,

³¹When he sees that the boy is not with us, he will come to his death, and our father's grey head will go down in sorrow to the underworld.

³²For I made myself responsible for the boy to my father, saying, If I do not give him safely back to you, let mine be the sin for ever.

³³So now let me be my lord's servant here in place of the boy, and let him go back with his brothers.

³⁴For how may I go back to my father without the boy, and see the evil which will come on my father?

Genesis 45

¹Then Joseph, unable to keep back his feelings before those who were with him, gave orders for everyone to be sent away, and no one was present when he made clear to his brothers who he was.

²And so loud was his weeping, that it came to the ears of the Egyptians and all Pharaoh's house.

³And Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph: is my father still living? But his brothers were not able to give him an answer for they were troubled before him.

⁴Then Joseph said to his brothers, Come near to me. And they came near, And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom you sent into Egypt.

⁵Now do not be troubled or angry with yourselves for sending me away, because God sent me before you to be the saviour of your lives.

⁶For these two years have been years of need, and there are still five more years to come in which there will be no ploughing or cutting of grain.

⁷God sent me before you to keep you and yours living on earth so that you might become a great nation.

⁸So now it was not you who sent me here, but God: and he has made me as a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

⁹Now go quickly to my father, and say to him, Your son Joseph says, God has made me ruler over all the land of Egypt: come down to me straight away:

¹⁰The land of Goshen will be your living-place, and you will be near me; you and your children and your children's children, and your flocks and herds and all you have:

¹¹And there I will take care of you, so that you and your family may not be in need, for there are still five bad years to come.

¹²Now truly, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth which says these things to you.

¹³Give my father word of all my glory in Egypt and of all you have seen; and come back quickly with my father.

¹⁴Then, weeping, he took Benjamin in his arms, and Benjamin himself was weeping on Joseph's neck.

¹⁵Then he gave a kiss to all his brothers, weeping over them; and after that his brothers had no fear of talking to him.

¹⁶And news of these things went through Pharaoh's house, and it was said that Joseph's brothers were come; and it seemed good to Pharaoh and his servants.

¹⁷And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Say to your brothers, Put your goods on your beasts and go back to the land of Canaan;

¹⁸And get your father and your families and come back to me: and I will give you all the good things of Egypt, and the fat of the land will be your food.

¹⁹And say to them, This you are to do: take carts from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and get your father and come back.

²⁰And take no thought for your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.

²¹And the children of Israel did as he said; and Joseph gave them carts as had been ordered by Pharaoh, and food for their journey.

²²To every one of them he gave three changes of clothing; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred bits of silver and five changes of clothing.

²³And to his father he sent ten asses with good things from Egypt on their backs, and ten she-asses with grain and bread and food for his father on the journey.

²⁴And he sent his brothers on their way, and said to them, See that you have no argument on the road.

²⁵So they went up from Egypt and came to the land of Canaan, to their father Jacob.

²⁶And they said to him, Joseph is living, and is ruler over all the land of Egypt. And at this word Jacob was quite overcome, for he had no faith in it.

²⁷And they gave him an account of everything Joseph had said to them; and when he saw the carts which Joseph had sent for them, his spirit came back to him:

²⁸And Israel said, It is enough: Joseph my son is still living; I will go and see him before my death.