Genesis 43

¹ The famine was severe in the land.

² When they had finished eating the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy a little food for us.”

³ Judah replied, “The man warned us plainly: ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.’

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

⁵ But if you do not send him, we will not go down, because the man told us, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.’”

⁶ Israel said, “Why have you brought this trouble on me by telling the man you had another brother?”

⁷ They replied, “The man questioned us closely about ourselves and our family: ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ We answered him as he asked. How could we have known he would say, ‘Bring your brother here’?”

⁸ Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the young man with me. We will get up and go, so that we may live and not die—we, you, and our children too.

⁹ I will guarantee his safety; you can hold me responsible. If I do not bring him back to you and present him before you, I will bear the blame before you forever.

¹⁰ If we had not delayed so long, we could have gone and returned twice by now.”

¹¹ Their father Israel said to them, “If that is the case, then do this: take some of the finest produce of the land in your bags and bring the man a gift: a little balm, a little honey, spices, myrrh, pistachios, and almonds.

¹² Take twice as much silver with you, and take back the silver that was returned in the mouths of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake.

¹³ Take your brother too, get up, and go back to the man.

¹⁴ May God Almighty grant you compassion before the man, so that he will release your other brother and Benjamin. As for me, if I must be left childless, I will be left childless.”

¹⁵ The men took the gift, took twice as much silver with them, and took Benjamin as well. They got up, went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph.

¹⁶ When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Take these men to the house. Slaughter an animal and prepare it, because the men will eat with me at noon.”

¹⁷ The man did as Joseph had said and took the men to Joseph’s house.

¹⁸ The men were afraid when they were taken to Joseph’s house, and they said, “We are being brought here because of the silver that was returned in our sacks the first time. They mean to attack us, fall on us, and take us as slaves, along with our donkeys.”

¹⁹ They approached the steward of Joseph’s house and spoke to him at the entrance to the house:

²⁰ “Please, my lord, we really did come down the first time to buy food.

²¹ When we reached the lodging place and opened our sacks, each man’s silver was in the mouth of his sack—our silver, in its full weight. We have brought it back with us.

²² We have also brought other silver with us to buy food. We do not know who put our silver in our sacks.”

²³ He replied, “Peace to you. Do not be afraid. Your God, the God of your father, has put treasure in your sacks; your silver reached me.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.

²⁴ The man took the men into Joseph’s house, gave them water, and they washed their feet. He also gave their donkeys fodder.

²⁵ They prepared the gift for Joseph’s arrival at noon, because they had heard they would eat there.

²⁶ When Joseph came home, they brought the gift into the house for him, the gift they had with them, and bowed down to the ground before him.

²⁷ He asked how they were and said, “Is your father well, the old man you told me about? Is he still alive?”

²⁸ They answered, “Your servant, our father, is well. He is still alive.” They bowed and prostrated themselves.

²⁹ When he looked up, he saw Benjamin, his brother, his mother’s son, and said, “Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?” Then he added, “May God be gracious to you, my son.”

³⁰ Joseph hurried away, because he was deeply moved with compassion for his brother and wanted to weep. He went into a private room and wept there.

³¹ Then he washed his face, came out, composed himself, and said, “Serve the food.”

³² They served him separately, the brothers separately, and the Egyptians who ate with him separately, because Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews; that was detestable to the Egyptians.

³³ They sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his age, and the men looked at one another in astonishment.

³⁴ Joseph had portions served to them from his own table, and Benjamin’s portion was five times larger than everyone else’s. They drank with him and became drunk.

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