Genesis 42:2-25

2Then he said, “Look! I’ve heard that there’s grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some grain for us there so that we’ll live and not die.”

3So Joseph’s brothers went down, ten of them, to buy grain from Egypt.

4But Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, Jacob did not send, for he said, “An accident might happen to him.”

5The sons of Israel went to buy grain among the others who were coming, because the famine was in the land of Canaan.

6Now Joseph was the ruler over the land. He was the provider of grain for all the people of the earth.

7Then Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down to him with faces to the ground. When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he made himself unrecognizable to them. Then he spoke harshly and said to them, “Where have you come from?” “From the land of Canaan,” they said, “to buy grain as food.”

8Though Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him.

9Then Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them. He said to them, “You’re spies! You’ve come to see the undefended places in the land.”

10“No, my lord!” they said to him. “Your servants came to buy grain as food.

11All of us—we are sons of one man. We’re honest. Your servants have never been spies.”

12“Not so,” he said to them. “Rather, you’ve come to see the undefended places in the land.”

13But they said, “We your servants are twelve brothers, sons of one man in the land of Canaan. Look, the youngest is with our father today and the other one is no more.”

14Joseph said to them, “It’s just like I told you when I said, ‘You’re spies.’

15By this you’ll be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you’ll not leave from here until your youngest brother comes here!

16Send one from among yourselves to get your brother, while you remain confined, in order to test your words, to see whether the truth is with you. If not, by the life of Pharaoh, you’re definitely spies!”

17So he put them together in custody for three days.

18Then Joseph said to them on the third day, “Do this and you will live. I fear God.

19If you’re honest, let one of your brothers remain as a prisoner in the guardhouse where you’ve been, while you, go and bring grain for the hunger in your homes.

20And your youngest brother, bring to me so that your words can be verified—and you won’t die.” So they did.

21Then each man said to his brother, “We’re truly guilty for our brother. We saw the distress of his soul when he begged us for mercy, but we didn’t listen. That’s why this distress has come to us.”

22Reuben answered them and said, “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t sin against the boy’? But you didn’t listen. Now, see how his blood is now being accounted for.”

23They did not know that Joseph was listening, since there was an interpreter between them.

24He turned away from them and wept. When he turned back to them and spoke to them, he took Simeon from them and tied him up before their eyes.

25Then 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. So it was done for them.