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1 Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said unto his sons, “Why do you look one upon another?”

2 And he said, “Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down there, and buy for us from there; that we may live, and not die.”

3 And Joseph’s ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.

4 But Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, Jacob was not sent with his brothers; for he said, “It may be that harm will befall him.”

5 And the sons of Israel came to buy among those that came; for the famine was in the land of Canaan.

6 And Joseph was the governor over the land; he it was that sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brethren came, and bowed down themselves to him with their faces to the earth.

7 And Joseph saw his brothers, and he knew them, but acted differently in front of them, and spoke roughly with them; and he said to them, “Where do you come from?” And they said, “From the land of Canaan to buy food.”

8 And Joseph knew his brethren, but they didn't recognize him.

9 And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, “You must be spies! You have come to scout out the lands of Egypt while it is preoccupied with famine.”

10 And they said unto him, “No, my lord, but we have come to you as servants to buy food.”

11 “We are all one man’s sons; we are true men, your servants and not spies.”

12 And he said unto them, “No, but to see the nakedness of the land you have come.”

13 And they said, “We your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is no longer with us.”

14 And Joseph said unto them, “Now it may be proven as I said, saying, 'You are spies;'

15 hereby you shall be proved: by the life of Pharaoh you shall not leave this place, except your youngest brother come here.

16 Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and you shall be bound, that your words may be proven, whether there be truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely you are spies.”

17 And he put them all together into jail for three days.

18 And Joseph said to them on the third day, “This do, and live; for I fear God:

19 if you are men of truth, let one of your brothers remain in the prison, and the others go and carry grain for the famine of your houses;

20 and bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and you shall not die.” And they did so.

21 And they said one to another, “We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.”

22 And Reuben answered them, saying, “Didn't I tell you, 'Do not sin against the child;' and you would not listen? therefore will his blood be required of us.”

23 And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for there was an interpreter between them.

24 And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and he returned to them, and spake to them, and took Simeon from among them, and bound him before their eyes.

25 Then Joseph commanded to fill their bags with grain, and to return every man’s money to his sack, and to give them provisions for the way; and thus it was done for them.

26 And they loaded their animals with their grain, and departed there.

27 And as one of them opened his sack to feed his animal in the barn, he saw his money; as it had been placed in the mouth of his sack.

28 And he said unto his brethren, “My money is still here! It's still in my sack;” and their heart failed them, and they turned trembling one to another, saying, “What is this that God has done unto us?”

29 And they came unto Jacob their father unto the land of Canaan, and told him all that had befallen them, saying,

30 “The man, the lord of the land, spake roughly with us, and took us for spies of the country.

31 And we said unto him, 'We are men of truth; we are no spies;

32 we are twelve brethren, sons of our father; one is no longer with us, and the youngest has remained with our father in the land of Canaan.'

33 And the man, the lord of the land, said to us, 'Hereby shall I know that you are men of your word: leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for the famine of your houses, and go your way;

34 and bring your youngest brother unto me: then shall I know that you are not spies, but that you are men of truth: so will I deliver you your brother, and you shall travel freely in the land.'”

35 And it came to pass as they emptied their sacks, as they said, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid.

36 And Jacob their father said to them, “You have taken my children from me; Joseph is gone, and Simeon is gone, and you will take Benjamin away; all these things are [a]against me.”

37 And Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “Slay my two sons, if I do not return him to you; deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him back to you again.”

38 And he said, “My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and only he is left; if harm befall him by the way in which you go, then will you bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.”

[4] for Benjamin was a younger child; one may speculate close to the age of eight or nine, a brother close to the age when Joseph would have been sold by his brothers, but in any case the actual brother of Joseph via Rachel, his only real brother, and a child of Jacob’s old age, and thus doted upon by Jacob, not in the least in memory of Rachel (seeing as how Joseph had gone). See 33:2, 35:18, others.

[18,23] It seems strange to me that they did not inquire further when Joseph said ‘I fear God;’.

[36] Or, upon