Joseph’s Brothers, including Benjamin, Return to the Country of Egypt

43:1-34

43 The famine continued to be severe in the region of Canaan. 2 So when Jacob and his family finished eating all the grain that his sons had brought from the country of Egypt, he said to them, “Go back to Egypt and buy some more grain for us and our families.” 3 But his son Judah replied to him, “The governor there sternly warned us that we cannot go to him again to buy grain if our youngest brother is not with us. 4 So if you will allow our youngest brother to go with us, then we can go to Egypt and buy more grain for you. 5 However if you refuse to let him go with us, we cannot go there, because the governor warned us that we cannot go to him again if our youngest brother is not with us.”

6 Then their father Israel asked them, “Why did you cause trouble for me by telling the governor that you have a younger brother?” 7 They answered him, “The governor asked us many questions about ourselves and about our family. He asked us if our father was still alive and if we had another brother. We just answered his questions honestly. There is no way we could have known that he would require us to take our brother down there to him!”

8 Then Judah urged his father Israel about Benjamin, “Entrust the young man to me to take care of so that we can go immediately to Egypt to buy grain. Then all of us, including our children, can survive and not starve to death. 9 I personally promise to keep him safe. You can hold me responsible for him, so that if I do not bring him back to you safely, I will be guilty of this sin against you for the rest of my life. 10 In any case, if we had not waited this long, we could have made two round trips there and back by now.” 11 Then their father Israel said to them, “Since that is how it must be, then do this: Put some of the best things from our land in your sacks, and take them to the governor as gifts. Include some healing salve, some honey, some spices and incense, and some pistachio nuts and almonds. 12 Also take with you twice as much money as you took the first time, because you must take back the money that someone gave back to you in your sacks. Maybe they did that by mistake. 13 So now, take your youngest brother and immediately go back to the governor. 14 I pray that God who is all-powerful will cause him to treat you kindly so that he will let your other brother and Benjamin come back home with you. But if not, and if I must lose them and grieve for them, then I will grieve.”

15 Then the brothers packed those gifts in their sacks along with twice as much money as the grain would cost. Then they took Benjamin with them and quickly traveled down to the country of Egypt and went directly to Joseph. 16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with his other brothers, he commanded his head house-servant, “Escort these men to my house. Then butcher a calf and prepare a feast, because I want them to eat with me today at noon.”

17 The servant did exactly what Joseph had told him to do and escorted the brothers to Joseph’s house. 18 But when the brothers saw that he had taken them to Joseph’s house, they were afraid, and they said to each other, “He has taken us here because of our money that someone gave back to us in our sacks on our first trip here. He intends to have his soldiers attack us and overpower us and make us his servants, along with our donkeys!”

19 Then they approached Joseph’s head house-servant outside the door to his house to speak to him. 20 and said, “Excuse us, sir, one time before this, we traveled all the way down here to Egypt to buy some grain. 21 But on our way home, when we arrived at the place where we lodged for the night, we opened our sacks. There in the top of each of our sacks was the money we had paid to you for the grain! The money was all there! So we brought it all back with us to give to you. 22 We have also brought more money with us so that we can buy some more grain now. We have no idea who put the money in our sacks.” 23 But Joseph’s servant replied to them, “It is all right, so do not worry about it. The God whom you and your father serve must have put the money in your sacks, because I definitely received your money that you paid for the grain.” Then Joseph’s servant brought Simeon out of prison to his brothers.

24 Then Joseph’s servant brought the brothers into Joseph’s house and provided them with water to wash the road dust off their feet. He also fed their donkeys. 25 Meanwhile, Joseph’s brothers got their gifts ready to give to Joseph when he came home at noon, because they had heard that they were going to eat a meal with him there.

26 When Joseph came home, his brothers gave to him the gifts that they had brought with them into the house, and they bowed down before him with their faces to the ground to show respect. 27 Then Joseph asked them how they were doing, and he asked them, “Is your elderly father well whom you mentioned to me? Is he still living?” 28 They answered him, “Yes sir, our father, who highly respects you, is still alive and well.” Then they bowed their heads and bowed down to the ground again.

29 Then Joseph looked around and saw his brother Benjamin, who had the same mother that he had, and he said to them, “So this must be your youngest brother whom you told me about.” Then he said to Benjamin, “I pray that God will be kind to you, young man.” 30 Suddenly Joseph rushed out of the room because he felt overwhelmed with emotions about his brother and was about to cry. So he went to his bedroom, where he cried privately.

31 After he had gotten control of his emotions and stopped crying, he washed the tears off his face and came back out of his room. Then he commanded his servants, “Serve the food to us.” 32 So they served food to Joseph at his own table, and his brothers at their own table, and the Egyptians who were eating with him at their own table. Egyptians do not eat at the same table as Hebrew people, because Egyptians consider it unacceptable to do that. 33 Joseph’s brothers were sitting at a table facing his table in the order of their ages, from the oldest to the youngest. When they noticed that, they were amazed and stared at one another. 34 Then Joseph had his servants serve food to his brothers from his table, but he had them serve Benjamin five times more food than they served to any of the rest of his brothers. Then his brothers feasted and drank wine freely with him.