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¹ Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, Why do you look one on another?² And he said, Look, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt: you get down there, and buy for us from there; that we may live, and not die.³ And Joseph's ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.⁴ But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob didn't send with his brothers; for he said, If I do perhaps harm will befall him.⁵ And the sons of Israel came to buy among those that came: for the famine was in the land of Canaan.⁶ And Joseph was the governor over the land; it was he that sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came, and bowed down themselves to him with their faces to the earth.

⁷ And Joseph saw his brothers, and he knew them, but made himself strange to them, and spoke roughly with them; and he said to them. From where do you come? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food.⁸ And Joseph knew his brothers, but they didn't know him.⁹ And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said to them, You are spies; to see the nakedness of the land you have come.¹⁰ And they said to him, No, my lord, but to buy food have your slaves come.¹¹ We are all sons of one man; we are true men, your slaves are no spies.¹² And he said to them, No, but to see the nakedness of the land you have come.¹³ And they said, We your slaves are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, look, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not.¹⁴ And Joseph said to them, That is it that I spoke to you, saying, You are spies:¹⁵ hereby you shall be proved: by the life of Pharaoh you shall not go forth from here, except your youngest brother come here.¹⁶ Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and you shall be bound, that your words may be proved, whether there is truth in you: otherwise by the life of Pharaoh surely you are spies.¹⁷ And he put them all together into ward three days.¹⁸ And Joseph said to them the third day, Do this, and live: for I fear God:¹⁹ if you are true men, let one of your brothers be bound in your prison-house; but you go, carry grain for the famine of your houses:²⁰ and bring your youngest brother to me; so shall your words be verified, and you shall not die. And they did so.

²¹ And they said one to another, We are truly guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he pled with us for mercy, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come on us.²² And Reuben answered them, saying, Didn't I speak to you, saying, Don't sin against the child; and you would not hear? therefore also, look, his blood is required.²³ And they didn't know that Joseph understood them; for there was an interpreter 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 grain, and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give them provisions for the way: and thus was it done to them.²⁶ And they loaded their donkeys with their grain, and departed there.²⁷ And as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder in the lodging-place, he noticed his money; and, look, it was in the mouth of his sack.²⁸ And he said to his brothers, My money is restored; and, look, it is even in my sack: and their heart failed them, and they turned trembling one to another, saying, What is this that God has done to us?

²⁹ And they came to Jacob their father to 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 to him, We are true men; we are no spies:³² we are twelve brothers, 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 to us, Hereby shall I know that you are true men: leave one of your brothers with me, and take [grain for] the famine of your houses, and go your way;³⁴ and bring your youngest brother to me: then I shall know that you are no spies, but that you are true men: so I will deliver you your brother, and you shall traffic in the land.³⁵ And it came to pass as they emptied their sacks, that, look, 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 to them, You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and you will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me.³⁷ And Reuben spoke to his father, saying, Slay my two sons, if I don't bring him to you: deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to you again.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 you go, then you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.