Genesis 42-44

New American Bible (Revised Edition)

Chapter 42

The Brothers’ First Journey to Egypt.^{[a] 1} When Jacob learned that grain rations were for sale in Egypt, he said to his sons: “Why do you keep looking at one another?” ² He went on, “I hear that grain is for sale in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, that we may stay alive and not die.”^{(A) 3} So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. ⁴ But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he thought some disaster might befall him. ⁵ And so the sons of Israel were among those who came to buy grain, since there was famine in the land of Canaan.^(B)

⁶ Joseph, as governor of the country, was the one who sold grain to all the people of the land. When Joseph’s brothers came, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.^{(C) 7} He recognized them as soon as he saw them. But he concealed his own identity from them and spoke harshly to them. “Where do you come from?” he asked them. They answered, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.”

⁸ When Joseph recognized his brothers, although they did not recognize him, ⁹ he was reminded of the dreams he had about them. He said to them: “You are spies.^(D) You have come to see the weak points^[b] of the land.” ¹⁰ “No, my lord,” they replied. “On the contrary, your servants have come to buy food. ¹¹ All of us are sons of the same man. We are honest men; your servants have never been spies.” ¹² But he answered them: “Not so! It is the weak points of the land that you have come to see.” ¹³ “We your servants,” they said, “are twelve brothers, sons of a certain man in Canaan; but the youngest one is at present with our father, and the other one is no more.”^{(E) 14} “It is just as I said,” Joseph persisted; “you are spies. ¹⁵ This is how you shall be tested: I swear by the life of Pharaoh that you shall not leave here unless your youngest brother comes here. ¹⁶ So send one of your number to get your brother, while the rest of you stay here under arrest. Thus will your words be tested for their truth; if they are untrue, as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!” ¹⁷ With that, he locked them up in the guardhouse for three days.

¹⁸ On the third day Joseph said to them: “Do this, and you shall live; for I am a God-fearing man. ¹⁹ If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in this prison, while the rest of you go and take home grain for your starving families. ²⁰ But you must bring me your youngest brother. Your words will thus be verified, and you will not die.” To this they agreed.^{(F) 21} To one another, however, they said: “Truly we are being punished because of our brother. We saw the anguish of his heart when he pleaded with us, yet we would not listen. That is why this anguish has now come upon us.”^{(G) 22} Then Reuben responded, “Did I not tell you, ‘Do no wrong to the boy’? But you would not listen! Now comes the reckoning for his blood.”^{(H) 23} They did not know, of course, that Joseph understood what they said, since he spoke with them through an interpreter. ²⁴ But turning away from them, he wept. When he was able to speak to them again, he took Simeon from among them and bound him before their eyes. ²⁵ Then Joseph gave orders to have their containers filled with grain, their money replaced in each one’s sack, and provisions given them for their journey. After this had been done for them, ²⁶ they loaded their donkeys with the grain and departed.

²⁷ At the night encampment, when one of them opened his bag to give his donkey some fodder, he saw his money there in the mouth of his bag. ²⁸ He cried out to his brothers, “My money has been returned! Here it is in my bag!” At that their hearts sank. Trembling, they asked one another, “What is this that God has done to us?”

²⁹ When they got back to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them. ³⁰ “The man who is lord of the land,” they said, “spoke to us harshly and put us in custody on the grounds that we were spying on the land. ³¹ But we said to him: ‘We are honest men; we have never been spies. ³² We are twelve brothers, sons of the same father; but one is no more, and the youngest one is now with our father in the land of Canaan.’ ³³ Then the man who is lord of the land said to us: ‘This is how I will know if you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, then take grain for your starving families and go. ³⁴ When you bring me your youngest brother, and I know that you are not spies but honest men, I will restore your brother to you, and you may move about freely in the land.’”

³⁵ When they were emptying their sacks, there in each one’s sack was his moneybag! At the sight of their moneybags, they and their father were afraid. ³⁶ Their father Jacob said to them: “Must you make me childless? Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin away! All these things have happened to me!” ³⁷ Then Reuben told his father: “You may kill my own two sons if I do not return him to you! Put him in my care, and I will bring him back to you.” ³⁸ But Jacob replied: “My son shall not go down with you. Now that his brother is dead, he is the only one left. If some disaster should befall him on the journey you must make, you would send my white head down to Sheol in grief.”^(I)

Chapter 43

The Second Journey to Egypt.^{[c] 1} Now the famine in the land grew severe. ² So when they had used up all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little more food.” ³ But Judah replied: “The man strictly warned us, ‘You shall not see me unless your brother is with you.’^{(J) 4} If you are willing to let our brother go with us, we will go down to buy food for you. ⁵ But if you are not willing, we will not go down, because the man told us, ‘You shall not see me unless your brother is with you.’”^{(K) 6} Israel demanded, “Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man that you had another brother?” ⁷ They answered: “The man kept asking about us and our family: ‘Is your father still living? Do you have another brother?’ We answered him accordingly. How could we know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down here’?”

⁸ Then Judah urged his father Israel: “Let the boy go with me, that we may be off and on our way if you and we and our children are to keep from starving to death.^{(L) 9} I myself will serve as a guarantee for him. You can hold me responsible for him. If I fail to bring him back and set him before you, I will bear the blame before you forever.^{(M) 10} Had we not delayed, we could have been there and back twice by now!”

¹¹ Israel their father then told them: “If it must be so, then do this: Put some of the land’s best products in your baggage and take them down to the man as gifts: some balm and honey, gum and resin, and pistachios and almonds.^{(N) 12} Also take double the money along, for you must return the amount that was put back in the mouths of your bags; it may have been a mistake. ¹³ Take your brother, too, and be off on your way back to the man. ¹⁴ May God Almighty grant you mercy in the presence of the man, so that he may let your other brother go, as well as Benjamin. As for me, if I am to suffer bereavement, I shall suffer it.”

¹⁵ So the men took those gifts and double the money and Benjamin. They made their way down to Egypt and presented themselves before Joseph. ¹⁶ When Joseph saw them and Benjamin, he told his steward, “Take the men into the house, and have an animal slaughtered and prepared, for they are to dine with me at noon.” ¹⁷ Doing as Joseph had ordered, the steward conducted the men to Joseph’s house. ¹⁸ But they became apprehensive when they were led to his house. “It must be,” they thought, “on account of the money put back in our bags the first time, that we are taken inside—in order to attack us and take our donkeys and seize us as slaves.” ¹⁹ So they went up to Joseph’s steward and talked to him at the entrance of the house. ²⁰ “If you please, sir,” they said, “we came down here once before to buy food.^{(O) 21} But when we arrived at a night’s encampment and opened our bags, there was each man’s money in the mouth of his bag—our money in the full amount! We have now brought it back.^{(P) 22} We have brought other money to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our bags.” ²³ He replied, “Calm down! Do not fear! Your God and the God of your father must have put treasure in your bags for you. As for your money, I received it.” With that, he led Simeon out to them.

²⁴ The steward then brought the men inside Joseph’s house. He gave them water to wash their feet, and gave fodder to their donkeys. ²⁵ Then they set out their gifts to await Joseph’s arrival at noon, for they had heard that they were to dine there. ²⁶ When Joseph came home, they presented him with the gifts they had brought inside, while they bowed down before him to the ground. ²⁷ After inquiring how they were, he asked them, “And how is your aged father, of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?”^{(Q) 28} “Your servant our father is still alive and doing well,” they said, as they knelt and bowed down. ²⁹ Then Joseph looked up and saw Benjamin, his brother, the son of his mother. He asked, “Is this your youngest brother, of whom you told me?” Then he said to him, “May God be gracious to you, my son!”^{(R) 30} With that, Joseph hurried out, for he was so overcome with affection for his brother that he was on the verge of tears. So he went into a private room and wept there.

³¹ After washing his face, he reappeared and, now having collected himself, gave the order, “Serve the meal.” ³² It was served separately to him,^[d] to the brothers, and to the Egyptians who partook of his board. Egyptians may not eat with Hebrews; that is abhorrent to them. ³³ When they were seated before him according to their age, from the oldest to the youngest, they looked at one another in amazement; ³⁴ and as portions were brought to them from Joseph’s table, Benjamin’s portion was five times as large as^[e] anyone else’s. So they drank freely and made merry with him.

Chapter 44

Final Test.^{[f] 1} Then Joseph commanded his steward: “Fill the men’s bags with as much food as they can carry, and put each man’s money in the mouth of his bag. ² In the mouth of the youngest one’s bag put also my silver goblet, together with the money for his grain.” The steward did as Joseph said. ³ At daybreak the men and their donkeys were sent off. ⁴ They had not gone far out of the city when Joseph said to his steward: “Go at once after the men! When you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why did you repay good with evil? Why did you steal my silver goblet? ⁵ Is it not the very one from which my master drinks and which he uses for divination?^[g] What you have done is wrong.’”

⁶ When the steward overtook them and repeated these words to them, ⁷ they said to him: “Why does my lord say such things? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing! ⁸ We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money that we found in the mouths of our bags. How could we steal silver or gold from your master’s house? ⁹ If any of your servants is found to have the goblet, he shall die, and as for the rest of us, we shall become my lord’s slaves.” ¹⁰ But he replied, “Now what you propose is fair enough, but only the one who is found to have it shall become my slave, and the rest of you can go free.” ¹¹ Then each of them quickly lowered his bag to the ground and opened it; ¹² and when a search was made, starting with the oldest and ending with the youngest, the goblet turned up in Benjamin’s bag. ¹³ At this, they tore their garments. Then, when each man had loaded his donkey again, they returned to the city.

¹⁴ When Judah and his brothers entered Joseph’s house, he was still there; so they flung themselves on the ground before him. ¹⁵ “How could you do such a thing?” Joseph asked them. “Did you not know that such a man as I could discern by divination what happened?” ¹⁶ Judah replied: “What can we say to my lord? How can we plead or how try to prove our innocence? God has uncovered your servants’ guilt.^[h] Here we are, then, the slaves of my lord—the rest of us no less than the one in whose possession the goblet was found.” ¹⁷ Joseph said, “Far be it from me to act thus! Only the one in whose possession the goblet was found shall become my slave; the rest of you may go back unharmed to your father.”

¹⁸ Judah then stepped up to him and said: “I beg you, my lord, let your servant appeal to my lord, and do not become angry with your servant, for you are the equal of Pharaoh. ¹⁹ My lord asked his servants,^[i] ‘Have you a father, or another brother?’ ²⁰ So we said to my lord, ‘We have an aged father, and a younger brother, the child of his old age. This one’s full brother is dead, and since he is the only one by his mother who is left, his father is devoted to him.’^{(S) 21} Then you told your servants, ‘Bring him down to me that I might see him.’ ²² We replied to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father; his father would die if he left him.’ ²³ But you told your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall not see me again.’^{(T) 24} When we returned to your servant my father, we reported to him the words of my lord.

²⁵ “Later, our father said, ‘Go back and buy some food for us.’ ²⁶ So we reminded him, ‘We cannot go down there; only if our youngest brother is with us can we go, for we may not see the man if our youngest brother is not with us.’ ²⁷ Then your servant my father said to us, ‘As you know, my wife bore me two sons. ²⁸ One of them, however, has gone away from me, and I said, “He must have been torn to pieces by wild beasts!” I have not seen him since.^{(U) 29} If you take this one away from me too, and a disaster befalls him, you will send my white head down to Sheol in grief.’

³⁰ “So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father, whose very life is bound up with his, he will die as soon as he sees that the boy is missing; ³¹ and your servants will thus send the white head of your servant our father down to Sheol in grief. ³² Besides, I, your servant, have guaranteed the boy’s safety for my father by saying, ‘If I fail to bring him back to you, father, I will bear the blame before you forever.’^{(V) 33} So now let me, your servant, remain in place of the boy as the slave of my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. ³⁴ How could I go back to my father if the boy were not with me? I could not bear to see the anguish that would overcome my father.”