1Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, so Jacob said to his sons, "Why are you looking at one another?"2He said, "Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy grain for us from there, so that we may live and not die."3So ten of Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.4Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with his brothers, because he said, "Lest harm should meet him."5The sons of Israel came among those who came to buy grain, because the famine was in the land of Canaan.6Joseph was the one in authority over the land; he was the one who sold grain to all the people of the land. The brothers came and bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.7Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he treated them as strangers and spoke harshly to them. He said to them, "Where have you come from?" They said, "From the land of Canaan, to buy food."8Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him.9Joseph remembered the dreams about them, and he said to them, "You are spies who have come to see the nakedness of the land."10They said to him, "No, my lord; your servants have come to buy food."11We are all sons of one man; we are honest men. Your servants are not spies."12He said to them, "No, you have come to see the nakedness of the land."13They said, "Your servants are twelve brothers, sons of one man in the land of Canaan. Behold, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more."14Joseph said to them, "It is just as I told you when I said, 'You are spies.'"15You shall be tested by this: as surely as Pharaoh lives, you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here.16Send one of you to get your brother, and you shall be imprisoned so that your words may be tested to see whether truth is in you. If not, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies."17He put them all in custody for three days.18On the third day Joseph said to them, "Do this and live, for I fear God.19If you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain bound in the house of your custody while you go and bring grain for the famine in your households.20Bring your youngest brother to me, and your words will be verified, and you shall not die." They did so.21They said to one another, "Truly we are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us and we would not listen; therefore this distress has come upon us."22Reuben answered them, "Did I not speak to you and say, 'Do not sin against the boy,' and you would not listen? Now his blood is required."23They did not know that Joseph understood them, because an interpreter was between them.24He turned away from them and wept. Then he returned and spoke to them, and he took Simeon from among them and bound him before their eyes.25Joseph ordered their sacks filled with grain, to return each man's silver to his sack, and to give them food for their journey; and this was done for them.26They loaded their grain on their donkeys and departed from there.27At the lodging place one of them opened his sack to give fodder to his donkey and saw his money; behold, it was in the mouth of the sack.28He said to his brothers, "My money has been returned, and see, it is in my sack." They turned trembling to one another, saying, "What has God done to us?"29When they came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying:30"The man who is lord of the land spoke harshly to us and treated us as spies of the land.31We said to him, 'We are honest men; we are not spies.32We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is today with our father in the land of Canaan.'33The man who is lord of the land said to us, 'By this I shall know that you are honest men: leave one brother with me, take grain for the famine of your houses, and go.34Bring your youngest brother to me, and I shall know that you are not spies but honest men; I will give your brother back to you, and you may trade in the land.'"35As they were emptying their sacks, each man found his bundle of money in his sack. When they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid.36Jacob their father said to them, "You have bereaved me: Joseph is gone, Simeon is gone, and now you would take Benjamin; all these things are against me."37Reuben said to his father, "If I do not bring him back to you, then kill my two sons. Entrust him to me, and I will return him to you."38But he said, "My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. If harm should befall him on the journey you are taking, you would bring my grey head down to Sheol in sorrow."