Joseph’s brothers returned to Egypt with Benjamin, to buy more grain

43 The famine in Canaan got worse. 2 Finally, when Jacob and his family had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, Jacob said to them, “Go back to Egypt and buy some more grain for us!” 3 But Judah said to him, “The man who sold us the grain warned us sternly, ‘I will not let you see me [SYN] again if you come and your younger brother is not with you.’ 4 So, if you will send our younger brother with us, we will go down to Egypt and buy some grain for you. 5 But if you will not send him, we will not go down there, because that man said to us, ‘I will not let you see me again if your younger brother is not with you.’ ” 6 Jacob asked, “Why did you cause me to have this trouble by telling the man that you had a younger brother?” 7 One of them replied, “The man asked about us and about our family. He said, ‘Is your father still living? Do you have another brother?’ We had to answer his questions. ◄We could not know that he would say, ‘The next time that you come down here, bring your brother with you!’/How could we know that he would say, ‘The next time that you come down here, bring your brother with you!’►” [RHQ]

8 Then Judah said to his father Jacob, “Send the boy with me, and we will go immediately, in order that we and you and our children may get grain and not die from hunger. 9 I myself will guarantee that he will return. You can require me to do what I am promising [IDM]. If I do not bring him back to you safely, you can say forever that ◄I am to blame/it was my fault that he did not return to you►. 10 If we had not ◄wasted so much time/waited so long►, by now we could have gone there and returned two times!”

11 Then their father Jacob said to them, “If there is no other way, do this: Put in your sacks some of the best things that are grown in this land, and take them down to the man as a gift. Take some balm/perfume and honey and spices and myrrh/ointment, some pistachio nuts, and almonds. 12 Take twice as much money as you took the previous time, because you must return the silver that someone put in the tops of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake that it was put in your sacks. 13 Take your younger brother and go back to that man. 14 I will pray that God Almighty will cause that man to act mercifully toward you, so that he will let your other brother, as well as Benjamin, come back here with you. But as for me, if my sons are taken from me, then I will not have my sons!”

15 So the men took the gifts that Jacob said that they should take, and twice the amount of money that the grain would cost, and they also took Benjamin. They went down quickly to Egypt, and they stood in front of Joseph. 16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the man who ◄was in charge of/supervised► things in his house, “Take these men to my house. Slaughter an animal and prepare a meal, because I want them to eat with me at noon.” And he told him in what order they were to be seated.

17 The man did as Joseph said. And he took them to Joseph’s house. 18 But they were afraid because he was taking them to Joseph’s house. They were thinking, “He is taking us here because of the silver that was put in our sacks the first time that we came here. While we are eating, he will have his servants attack us and seize us and cause us to become his slaves, and also take our donkeys.”