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¹ Now Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, and Jacob said unto his sons: 'Why do ye look one upon another?'² And he said: 'Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt. Get you down thither, and buy for us from thence; that we may live, and not die.'³ And Joseph's ten brethren went down to buy corn from Egypt.⁴ But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said: 'Lest peradventure harm befall him.'⁵ And the sons of Israel came to buy among those that came; for the famine was in the land of Caanan.⁶ And Joseph was the governor over the land; he it was that sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brethren came, and bowed down to him with their faces to the earth.

⁷ And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spoke roughly with them; and he said unto them: 'Whence come ye?' And they said: 'From the land of Canaan to buy food.'⁸ And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew him not.⁹ And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them: 'Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.'¹⁰ And they said unto him: 'Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come.¹¹ We are all one man's sons; we are upright men, thy servants are no spies.'¹² And he said unto them: 'Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.'¹³ And they said: 'We thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not.'¹⁴ And Joseph said unto them: 'That is it that I spoke unto you, saying: Ye are spies.¹⁵ Hereby ye shall be proved, as Pharaoh liveth, ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither.¹⁶ Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be bound, that your words may be proved, whether there be truth in you; or else, as Pharaoh liveth, surely ye are spies.'¹⁷ And he put them all together into ward three days.¹⁸ And Joseph said unto them the third day. 'This do, and live; for I fear God:¹⁹ if ye be upright men, let one of your brethren be bound in your prison-house; but go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses;²⁰ and bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die.' And they did so.

²¹ And they said one to another: 'We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.'²² And Reuben answered them, saying: 'Spoke I not unto you, saying: Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore also, behold, his blood is required.'²³ And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for the interpreter was between them.²⁴ And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and he returned to them, and spoke to them, and took Simeon from among them, and bound him before their eyes.²⁵ Then Joseph commanded to fill their vessels with corn, and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way; and thus was it done unto them.²⁶ And they laded their asses with their corn, and departed thence.²⁷ And as one of them opened his sack to give his ass provender in the lodging-place, he espied his money; and, behold, it was in the mouth of his sack.²⁸ And he said unto his brethren: 'My money is restored; and, lo, it is even in my sack.' And their heart failed them, and they turned trembling one to another, saying: 'What is this that God hath done unto us?'

²⁹ And they came unto Jacob their father unto the land of Canaan, and told him all that had befallen them, saying:³⁰ 'The man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly with us, and took us for spies of the country.³¹ And we said unto him: We are upright men; we are no spies.³² We are twelve brethren, sons of our father; one is not, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.³³ And the man, the lord of the land, said unto us: Hereby shall I know that ye are upright men: leave one of your brethren with me, and take corn for the famine of your houses, and go your way.³⁴ And bring your youngest brother unto me; then shall I know that ye are no spies, but that ye are upright men; so will I deliver you your brother, and ye shall traffic in the land.'³⁵ And it came to pass as they emptied their sacks, that, behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid.³⁶ And Jacob their father said unto them: 'Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away; upon me are all these things come.'³⁷ And Reuben spoke unto his father, saying: 'Thou shalt slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee; deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him back to thee.'³⁸ And he said: 'My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he only is left; if harm befall him by the way in which ye go, then will ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.