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GENESIS
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Chapter 42
Gene NETfree 42:1  When Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, "Why are you looking at each other?"
Gene NETfree 42:2  He then said, "Look, I hear that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy grain for us so that we may live and not die."
Gene NETfree 42:3  So ten of Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.
Gene NETfree 42:4  But Jacob did not send Joseph's brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, "What if some accident happens to him?"
Gene NETfree 42:5  So Israel's sons came to buy grain among the other travelers, for the famine was severe in the land of Canaan.
Gene NETfree 42:6  Now Joseph was the ruler of the country, the one who sold grain to all the people of the country. Joseph's brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the ground.
Gene NETfree 42:7  When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger to them and spoke to them harshly. He asked, "Where do you come from?" They answered, "From the land of Canaan, to buy grain for food."
Gene NETfree 42:8  Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him.
Gene NETfree 42:9  Then Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them, and he said to them, "You are spies; you have come to see if our land is vulnerable!"
Gene NETfree 42:10  But they exclaimed, "No, my lord! Your servants have come to buy grain for food!
Gene NETfree 42:11  We are all the sons of one man; we are honest men! Your servants are not spies."
Gene NETfree 42:12  "No," he insisted, "but you have come to see if our land is vulnerable."
Gene NETfree 42:13  They replied, "Your servants are from a family of twelve brothers. We are the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is with our father at this time, and one is no longer alive."
Gene NETfree 42:14  But Joseph told them, "It is just as I said to you: You are spies!
Gene NETfree 42:15  You will be tested in this way: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not depart from this place unless your youngest brother comes here.
Gene NETfree 42:16  One of you must go and get your brother, while the rest of you remain in prison. In this way your words may be tested to see if you are telling the truth. If not, then, as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!"
Gene NETfree 42:18  On the third day Joseph said to them, "Do as I say and you will live, for I fear God.
Gene NETfree 42:19  If you are honest men, leave one of your brothers confined here in prison while the rest of you go and take grain back for your hungry families.
Gene NETfree 42:20  But you must bring your youngest brother to me. Then your words will be verified and you will not die." They did as he said.
Gene NETfree 42:21  They said to one other, "Surely we're being punished because of our brother, because we saw how distressed he was when he cried to us for mercy, but we refused to listen. That is why this distress has come on us!"
Gene NETfree 42:22  Reuben said to them, "Didn't I say to you, 'Don't sin against the boy,' but you wouldn't listen? So now we must pay for shedding his blood!"
Gene NETfree 42:23  (Now they did not know that Joseph could understand them, for he was speaking through an interpreter.)
Gene NETfree 42:24  He turned away from them and wept. When he turned around and spoke to them again, he had Simeon taken from them and tied up before their eyes.
Gene NETfree 42:25  Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to return each man's money to his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. His orders were carried out.
Gene NETfree 42:26  So they loaded their grain on their donkeys and left.
Gene NETfree 42:27  When one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey at their resting place, he saw his money in the mouth of his sack.
Gene NETfree 42:28  He said to his brothers, "My money was returned! Here it is in my sack!" They were dismayed; they turned trembling one to another and said, "What in the world has God done to us?"
Gene NETfree 42:29  They returned to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan and told him all the things that had happened to them, saying,
Gene NETfree 42:30  "The man, the lord of the land, spoke harshly to us and treated us as if we were spying on the land.
Gene NETfree 42:31  But we said to him, 'We are honest men; we are not spies!
Gene NETfree 42:32  We are from a family of twelve brothers; we are the sons of one father. One is no longer alive, and the youngest is with our father at this time in the land of Canaan.'
Gene NETfree 42:33  "Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, 'This is how I will find out if you are honest men. Leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for your hungry households and go.
Gene NETfree 42:34  But bring your youngest brother back to me so I will know that you are honest men and not spies. Then I will give your brother back to you and you may move about freely in the land.'"
Gene NETfree 42:35  When they were emptying their sacks, there was each man's bag of money in his sack! When they and their father saw the bags of money, they were afraid.
Gene NETfree 42:36  Their father Jacob said to them, "You are making me childless! Joseph is gone. Simeon is gone. And now you want to take Benjamin! Everything is against me."
Gene NETfree 42:37  Then Reuben said to his father, "You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my care and I will bring him back to you."
Gene NETfree 42:38  But Jacob replied, "My son will not go down there with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. If an accident happens to him on the journey you have to make, then you will bring down my gray hair in sorrow to the grave."