1Now the famine was severe in the land.
2And it happened, when they had finished eating the grain that they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, “Go back, buy us a little food.”
3But Judah said to him, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’”
4If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food.
5But if you will not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’
6And Israel said, “Why did you bring trouble on me by telling the man you had another brother?”
7They said, “The man questioned closely about us and our kindred, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have a brother?’ So we told him according to these words. Could we have known that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?
8Then Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy with me, and we will rise and go, so that we may live and not die, both we and you and our little ones.
9I myself will be surety for him; from my hand you may require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then I will bear the blame before you all my days.
10For if we had not delayed, surely by now we would have returned twice.
11Then Israel their father said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: take some of the choice produce of the land in your vessels and carry down to the man a gift — a little balm and a little honey, gum, myrrh, pistachio nuts, and almonds.
12And take double the silver in your hand, and the silver that was returned in the mouth of your sacks carry back in your hand; perhaps it was a mistake.
13Take your brother also, and rise, return to the man.
14And may El Shaddai give you mercy before the man, so that he may release to you your other brother and Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.
15So the men took this gift, and they took double the silver in their hand, and Benjamin; and they rose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.
16When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the one over his house, “Bring the men into the house, and slaughter an animal and prepare it, for the men are to eat with me at noon.”
17The man did as Joseph said, and the man brought the men to Joseph’s house.
18But the men were afraid because they had been brought to Joseph’s house, and they said, “It is because of the silver that was returned in our sacks the first time that we are being brought in — so that he may fall upon us and set upon us and take us as slaves, along with our donkeys.”
19So they approached the man who was over Joseph’s house and spoke to him at the entrance of the house,
20and said, “Please, my lord, we indeed came down the first time to buy food.
21But it happened, when we came to the lodging place and opened our sacks, that behold, each man’s silver was in the mouth of his sack — our silver in full weight! So we have brought it back in our hand.
22And we have brought down other silver in our hand to buy food. We do not know who put our silver in our sacks.
23But he said, “Peace to you; do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks; your silver came to me.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.
24Then the man brought the men into Joseph’s house and gave them water, and they washed their feet, and he gave fodder to their donkeys.
25And they prepared the gift for Joseph’s coming at noon, for they had heard that they were to eat bread there.
26When Joseph came into the house, they brought him the gift that was in their hand into the house, and they bowed down to him to the ground.
27And he asked after their well-being and said, “Is your aged father well, of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?”
28They said, “Your servant our father is well; he is still alive.” And they bowed down low and prostrated themselves.
29Then he lifted up his eyes and saw Benjamin his brother, his mother’s son, and said, “Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me?” And he said, “God be gracious to you, my son.”
30Then Joseph hurried out, for his compassion grew warm toward his brother, and he sought a place to weep; and he went into the inner chamber and wept there.
31Then he washed his face and came out, and controlling himself he said, “Serve the food.”
32So they served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to Egypt.
33They were seated before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth; and the men looked at one another in astonishment.
34And he carried portions to them from before him, but Benjamin’s portion was five times as large as the portions of all of them. So they drank and grew merry with him.
Open in the interactive reader →Where this passage connects across Scripture — each link typed and reasoned, part of the AIT Bible Nexus Chart.