1 Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, "Why do you look at one another?" 2 He said, "Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there, and buy for us from there, so that we may live, and not die." 3 Joseph's ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. 4 But Jacob didn't send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with his brothers; for he said, "Lest perhaps harm happen to him." 5 The sons of Israel came to buy among those who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. 6 Joseph was the governor over the land. It was he who sold to all the people of the land. Joseph's brothers came, and bowed themselves down to him with their faces to the earth. 7 Joseph saw his brothers, and he recognized them, but acted like a stranger to them, and spoke roughly with them. He said to them, "Where did you come from?" They said, "From the land of Canaan to buy food." 8 Joseph recognized his brothers, but they didn't recognize him. 9 Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed about them, and said to them, "You are spies! You have come to see the nakedness of the land." 10 They said to him, "No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. 11 We are all one man's sons; we are honest men. Your servants are not spies." 12 He said to them, "No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land!" 13 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 more." 14 Joseph said to them, "It is like I told you, saying, 'You are spies!' 15 By this you shall be tested. By the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go forth from here, unless your youngest brother comes here. 16 Send one of you, and let him get your brother, and you shall be bound, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you, or else by the life of Pharaoh surely you are spies." 17 He put them all together into custody for three days. 18 Joseph said to them the third day, "Do this, and live, for I fear God. 19 If you are honest men, then let one of your brothers be bound in your prison; but you go, carry grain for the famine of your houses. 20 Bring your youngest brother to me; so will your words be verified, and you won't die." They did so. 21 They said one to another, "We are certainly guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us, and we wouldn't listen. Therefore this distress has come upon us." 22 Reuben answered them, saying, "Didn't I tell you, saying, 'Don't sin against the child,' and you wouldn't listen? Therefore also, behold, his blood is required." 23 They didn't know that Joseph understood them; for there was an interpreter between them. 24 He turned himself away from them, and wept. Then he returned to them, and spoke to them, and took Simeon from among them, and bound him before their eyes. 25 Then Joseph gave a command to fill their bags with grain, and to restore each man's money into his sack, and to give them food for the way. So it was done to them. 26 They loaded their donkeys with their grain, and departed from there. 27 As one of them opened his sack to give his donkey food in the lodging place, he saw his money. Behold, it was in the mouth of his sack. 28 He said to his brothers, "My money is restored! Behold, it is in my sack!" Their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling one to another, saying, "What is this that God has done to us?" 29 They came to Jacob their father, to the land of Canaan, and told him all that had happened to them, saying, 30 "The man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly with us, and took us for spies of the country. 31 We said to him, 'We are honest men. We are no spies. 32 We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.' 33 The man, the lord of the land, said to us, 'By this I will know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for the famine of your houses, and go your way. 34 Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I will know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. So I will deliver your brother to you, and you shall trade in the land.'" 35 It happened as they emptied their sacks, that behold, each man's bundle of money was in his sack. When they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid. 36 Jacob, their father, said to them, "You have bereaved me of my children! Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin away. All these things are against me." 37 Reuben spoke to his father, saying, "Kill my two sons, if I don't bring him to you. Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him to you again." 38 He said, "My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he only is left. If harm happens to him along the way in which you go, then you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol."
Jacob sends his ten sons to Egypt to buy corn, Genesis 42:1-3; but refuses to permit Benjamin to go, Genesis 42:4. They arrive in Egypt, and bow themselves before Joseph, Genesis 42:5, Genesis 42:6. He treats them roughly and calls them spies, Genesis 42:7-10. They defend themselves and give an account of their family, Genesis 42:11-13. He appears unmoved, and puts them all in prison for three days, Genesis 42:14-17. On the third day he releases them on condition of their bringing Benjamin, Genesis 42:18-20. Being convicted by their consciences, they reproach themselves with their cruelty to their brother Joseph, and consider themselves under the displeasure of God, Genesis 42:21-23. Joseph is greatly affected, detains Simeon as a pledge for Benjamin, orders their sacks to be filled with corn, and the purchase money to be put in each man's sack, Genesis 42:24, Genesis 42:25. When one of them is going to give his ass provender he discovers his money in the mouth of his sack, at which they are greatly alarmed, Genesis 42:26-28. They come to their father in Canaan, and relate what happened to them in their journey, Genesis 42:29-34. On emptying their sacks, each man's money is found in his sack's mouth, which causes alarm both to them and their father, Genesis 42:35. Jacob deplores the loss of Joseph and Simeon, and refuses to let Benjamin go, though Reuben offers his two sons as pledges for his safety, Genesis 42:36-38.
INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 42
This chapter relates how that Jacob having heard there was corn in Egypt, sent all his sons but Benjamin thither to buy corn, Genesis 42:1; and coming before Joseph, they bowed to him, and he knowing them, though they knew not him, spoke roughly to them, and charged them with being spies, Genesis 42:6; they in their defence urged that they were the sons of one man in Canaan, with whom their youngest brother was left, on which Joseph ordered them to send for him, to prove them true men, Genesis 42:10; and put them all into prison for three days, and then released them, and sent them away to fetch their brother, Genesis 42:17; this brought to mind their treatment of Joseph, and they confessed their guilt to each other, which Joseph heard, and greatly affected him, they supposing he understood them not, and before he dismissed them bound Simeon before their eyes, whom he retained till they returned, Genesis 42:21; then he ordered his servants to fill their sacks with corn, and put each man's money in his sack, which one of them on the road found, opening his sack for provender, filled them all with great surprise and fear, Genesis 42:25; upon their return to Jacob they related all that had befallen them, and particularly that the governor insisted on having Benjamin brought to him, Genesis 42:29; their sacks being opened, all their money was found in them, which greatly distressed them and Jacob also, who was very unwilling to let Benjamin go, though Reuben offered his two sons as pledges for him, and himself to be a surety, Genesis 42:35.
(Genesis 42:1-6) Jacob sends ten sons to buy corn.
(Genesis 42:7-20) Joseph's treatment of his brethren.
(Genesis 42:21-24) Their remorse, Simeon detained.
(Genesis 42:25-28) The rest return with corn.
(Genesis 42:29-38) Jacob refuses to send Benjamin to Egypt.
*More commentary available by clicking individual verses.