Genesis 43:1-17 ▼

1 Meanwhile, the famine remained severe throughout the region.

2 As a result, when Jacob's family was beginning to eat the last of the grain that they had brought back from Egypt, their father Jacob told his sons, |Go back to Egypt and buy us some food.|

3 But Judah reminded him, |The man distinctly warned us: 'You'll never see my face unless your brother comes with you.'

4 So if you send our brother with us, we'll go down and buy some food.

5 But if you don't send him, we're not going, because the man told us, 'You'll never see my face unless your brother is with you.'|

6 Israel replied, |Why did you make all this trouble by telling the man that you have another brother?|

7 |The man specifically asked about us and our relatives,| they responded. |He asked us, 'Is your father still alive?' and 'Do you have another brother?' So we answered his questions. How could we have known that he would tell us to bring our brother back with us?|

8 |Send the young man with me,| Judah told his father Israel, |and we'll get up and go so we can survive and not die—and that includes all of us, you and our families.

9 I'll even offer myself to guarantee that I'll be responsible for him. If I don't bring him back and present him to you, I'll personally bear the consequences forever.

10 After all, if we hadn't delayed, we could have been there and back twice by now!|

11 |If that's the way it has to be,| their father Israel replied, |then do this: take some of the best produce of the land in your containers and take them to the man as a gift—some resin ointment, some honey, fragrant resins, myrrh, pistachios, and almonds.

12 Also take twice as much money with you so you can return the money that had been replaced in the mouth of your sacks. Maybe it was an accounting mistake on his part.

13 And be sure to take your brother, too. So get up, return to the man,

14 and may God Almighty cause the man to show compassion toward you. May he send all of you back, including your other brother and Benjamin. Now as for me, if I lose my children, I lose them.|

15 So the men took their gift and twice as much money, got up, took Benjamin with them, and set out for Egypt. Eventually they appeared before Joseph.

16 As soon as Joseph noticed that Benjamin had come with them, he ordered his palace manager, |Bring the men into the palace. Slaughter an animal and prepare it, because these men will be dining with me for lunch.|

17 So the man did what Joseph had ordered, and brought the men to Joseph's palace.