Genesis 42:17-35
English Standard Version
18On the third day Joseph said to them, "Do this and you will live, for I fear God:
19if you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined where you are in custody, and let the rest go and carry grain for the famine of your households,
20and bring your youngest brother to me. So your words will be verified, and you shall not die." And they did so.
21Then they said to one another, "In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us."
22And Reuben answered them, "Did I not tell you not to sin against the boy? But you did not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood."
23They did not know that Joseph understood them, for there was an interpreter between them.
24Then he turned away from them and wept. And he returned to them and spoke to them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.
25And Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, and to replace every man 's money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. This was done for them.
26Then they loaded their donkeys with their grain and departed.
27And as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place, he saw his money in the mouth of his sack.
28He said to his brothers, "My money has been put back; here it is in the mouth of my sack!" At this their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, "What is this that God has done to us?"
29When they came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying,
30"The man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly to us and took us to be spies of the land.
31But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we have never been spies.
32We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One is no more, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.’
33Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘By this I shall know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for the famine of your households, and go your way.
34Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I shall know that you are not spies but honest men, and I will deliver your brother to you, and you shall trade in the land.’"
