JPS - Genesis - 42

42:1  Now Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, and Jacob said unto his sons: 'Why do ye look one upon another?'

42:2  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.'

42:3  And Joseph's ten brethren went down to buy corn from Egypt.

42:4  But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said: 'Lest peradventure harm befall him.'

42:5  And the sons of Israel came to buy among those that came; for the famine was in the land of Caanan.

42:6  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.

42:7  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.'

42:8  And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew him not.

42:9  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.'

42:10  And they said unto him: 'Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come.

42:11  We are all one man's sons; we are upright men, thy servants are no spies.'

42:12  And he said unto them: 'Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.'

42:13  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.'

42:14  And Joseph said unto them: 'That is it that I spoke unto you, saying: Ye are spies.

42:15  Hereby ye shall be proved, as Pharaoh liveth, ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither.

42:16  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.'

42:17  And he put them all together into ward three days.

42:18  And Joseph said unto them the third day. 'This do, and live; for I fear G-d:

42:19  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;

42:20  and bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die.' And they did so.

42:21  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.'

42:22  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.'

42:23  And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for the interpreter was between them.

42:24  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.

42:25  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.

42:26  And they laded their asses with their corn, and departed thence.

42:27  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.

42:28  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 G-d hath done unto us?'

42:29  And they came unto Jacob their father unto the land of Canaan, and told him all that had befallen them, saying:

42:30  'The man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly with us, and took us for spies of the country.

42:31  And we said unto him: We are upright men; we are no spies.

42:32  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.

42:33  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.

42:34  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.'

42:35  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.

42:36  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.'

42:37  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.'

42:38  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.