Genesis 42:1-13 ▼

1 When Jacob (he grasps the heel) learned that there was grain in Egypt (land of bondage), he said to his sons, “Why are you⁺ staring at one another?”

2 “Look,” he added, “I have heard that there is grain in Egypt (land of bondage). Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.”

3 So ten of Joseph’s (YHWH has added) brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt (land of bondage).

4 But Jacob (he grasps the heel) did not send Joseph’s (YHWH has added) brother Benjamin (son of the right hand) with his brothers, for he said, “I am afraid that harm might befall him.”

5 So the sons of Israel (he wrestles with God) were among those who came to buy grain, since the famine had also spread to the land of Canaan (lowland).

6 Now Joseph (YHWH has added) was the ruler of the land; he was the one who sold grain to all its people. So when his brothers arrived, they bowed down before him with their faces to the ground.

7 And when Joseph (YHWH has added) saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he treated them as strangers and spoke harshly to them. “Where have you⁺ come from?” he asked. “From the land of Canaan (lowland),” they replied. “We are here to buy food.”

8 Although Joseph (YHWH has added) recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him.

9 Joseph (YHWH has added) remembered his dreams about them and said, “You⁺ are spies! You⁺ have come to see if our land is vulnerable.”

10 “Not so, my lord,” they replied. “Your servants have come to buy food.

11 We are all sons of one man. Your servants are honest men, not spies.”

12 “No,” he told them. “You⁺ have come to see if our land is vulnerable.”

13 But they answered, “Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan (lowland). The youngest is now with our father, and one is no more.”