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1 And the famine was brutal.

2 And it shortly came to pass, when they had eaten up all the grain which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said unto them, “Go again, buy us a little food.”

3 And Judah spoke to him, saying, “The man did solemnly warn us, saying, 'You shall not see my face, except your brother be with you.'

4 If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food;

5 but if you will not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, 'You shall not see my face, except your brother be with you.'”

6 And Israel said, “Why did you cause so much trouble by telling him you had a brother?”

7 And they said, “The man asked questions about us and our family, saying, Is your father still alive? Don't you have another brother? and we told him according to the tenor of these words; how could we know that he would ask us to bring our brother down?”

8 And Judah said unto Israel his father, “Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go; that we may live, and not die, both we, and you, and also our little ones.

9 I will be surety for him; of my hand shalt you require him; if I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then [a]let me bear the blame for ever;

10 for if we had not waited so long we could have already been back with more grain.”

11 And their father Israel said unto them, “If it be so now, do this: take of the choice fruits of the land in your bags, and carry gifts for the man; a little balm, and a little honey, spicery and myrrh, [b]nuts, and almonds;

12 and take double money in your hand; and the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks carry again in your hand, in case it was an oversight;

13 take your brother, and go again to see the man;

14 and [c]God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release your brother and Benjamin. And if I lose another child, then I lose another child.”

15 And the brothers took the presents, and they took double money in their hand, and Benjamin; and rose up, and went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph.

16 And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Bring the men into the house, and prepare meat, and make ready; for the men shall dine with me at noon.”

17 And the man did as Joseph bade; and the man brought the brothers to Joseph’s house.

18 And the brothers were afraid, because they were brought to Joseph’s house; and they said, “Because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time are we brought in; that he may [d]seek occasion against us, and fall upon us, and take us for bondmen, and our animals.”

19 And they came near to the steward of Joseph’s house, and they spoke unto him at the door of the house,

20 and said, “Oh, my lord, we came indeed down at the first time to buy food:

21 and then when we came to camp, we opened our sacks, and saw every man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight; therefore we have brought it again in our hand.

22 And other money we have also brought down in our hand to buy food; we don't know who put our money in our sacks.”

23 And he said, “Peace be to you, fear not; your God, and the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks; I had your money. And he brought Simeon out unto them.”

24 And the man brought the men into Joseph’s house, and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their animals food for the day.

25 And they made ready the present against Joseph’s coming at noon: for they heard that they should eat bread there.

26 And when Joseph came home, they brought him the presents they had into the house, and bowed down deeply before him.

27 And he asked them how they were doing, and said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?”

28 And they said, “Your servant our father is well, he is still alive.” And they bowed the head, and made obeisance.

29 And 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 earlier?” And he said, “God be gracious unto you, my son.”

30 And Joseph made haste; for his heart yearned over his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there.

31 And he washed his face, and came out; and he restrained himself, and said, “Set on bread.”

32 And they set on for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, that ate with him, by themselves: because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews; for that is an abomination to the Egyptians.

33 And they sat before him, the first-born according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth: and the men marvelled one with another.

34 And [e]he took and sent meals to them from his own store: but Benjamin’s meals were five times as many as anyone else's. And they ate, and drank, and [f]were merry with him.

[9] Hebrew I shall have sinned against thee for ever.

[11] That is, pistachio nuts.

[14] Hebrew El Shaddai.

[18] Hebrew roll himself upon us.

[34] Or, messes were taken

[34] Hebrew drank largely.