Joseph’s brothers went to Egypt to buy grain, but didn’t realize they were buying it from their brother

42 When someone told Jacob that there was grain in Egypt that people could buy, he said to his sons, “◄Why do you just sit there looking at each other?/Do not just sit there looking at each other!► [RHQ] We need some grain!” 2 He said to them, “Someone told me that there is grain for sale in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, in order that we will not die!”

3 So Joseph’s ten older brothers went down to Egypt to buy some grain. 4 But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s younger brother, to go with the others, because he was afraid/worried that something terrible might happen to him like what happened to Joseph. 5 So Jacob’s other sons went down from Canaan to Egypt to buy grain, and others from there went too, because there was a famine in Canaan also.

6 At that time Joseph was the governor of Egypt. He was the one who sold grain to people who came from all over Egypt and from many other countries [HYP] to buy grain. So when Joseph’s brothers arrived, they were told that it was necessary for them to talk with Joseph. So they went to him and prostrated themselves before him with their faces to the ground. 7 As soon as Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them. But he pretended that he did not know them. He spoke harshly to them, saying, “Where do you come from?” One of them replied, “We have come from Canaan, to buy some grain.”

8 Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. 9 And then Joseph remembered what he had dreamed about them many years previously. But he decided not to tell them yet that he was their younger brother. He said to them, “You are spies! You have come to find out whether we will be able to defend ourselves if you attack us!” 10 One of them replied, “No, sir! We have come to buy grain. 11 We are all sons of one man. We are honest men, not spies.” 12 He said to them, “I do not believe you. You have come just to see whether we would be able to defend ourselves if we were attacked!” 13 But one of them replied, “No, that is not true! Originally there were twelve of us who were brothers, the sons of one man. Our younger brother is with our father. One younger brother has died. [EUP]”

14 Joseph replied, “You are lying! I think it is just as I told you. You are spies! 15 But this is how I will determine whether what you are saying is true. I think that as surely as the king lives, you are spies. And you will not leave this place until your youngest brother comes here! 16 Send one of your group to go and get your younger brother and bring him here. I will put the rest of you in prison, in order that I may test what you have said to find out whether what you are telling me is true. If the one who goes does not bring your younger brother here, then, just as surely as the king lives, it will be clear that you are lying and that you are spies.” 17 Then Joseph put them all in prison for three days.

18 On the third day, Joseph went to the prison and said to them, “I am a man who fears that God will punish me if I do not do what I promise. So do what I tell you, and I will spare your lives. 19 If you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here in prison, and the rest of you can take some grain back to your families who are very hungry because of the famine. 20 But if you come back here again, you must bring your youngest brother to me, so that you can prove that what you told me is true, and as a result I will not have you executed.” So they agreed to do that.

21 They said to each other, “It is surely because of what we did to our younger brother that ◄we are being punished/God is punishing us►! We saw that he [SYN] was very distressed when he pleaded with us not to harm him. But we did not pay any attention to him, and that is why we are having this trouble!”

22 Reuben said to them, “I told you not to harm the boy [RHQ], but you did not pay attention to what I said! Now we are being ◄paid back/punished► for killing him [MTY]!”

23 While they were talking with Joseph, they were speaking through ◄an interpreter/someone who knew their language and the Egyptian language►, but when they said these things among themselves, they were speaking in their own language, and they did not know that Joseph could understand their language, and that he could understand what they were saying. 24 Because of what they said, Joseph realized that they admitted that what they had done to him many years previously was wrong. He could not keep from crying, and he did not want them to see him crying, so he left them and went outside the room and began to cry. But then he returned to them and talked to them again. Then he took Simeon, and while they were watching, he told his servants to tie him up. He left Simeon in the prison and told the others that they could go.

25 Joseph told his servants to fill the men’s sacks with grain, but he also told them to put the money that each one had paid for the grain in the top of his sack. He also told them to give them food to eat along the way. After the servants did those things for Joseph’s older brothers, 26 his older brothers loaded the sacks of grain on their donkeys and left.