Reading hallThe Bible
ChristianityGenesis 42HOLYMAP · SACRED TEXTS
The BibleGenesis 42

The Bible

Genesis 42

1
English · Berean Standard Bible

When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why are you staring at one another?”

2
English · Berean Standard Bible

“Look,” he added, “I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.”

3
English · Berean Standard Bible

So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.

4
English · Berean Standard Bible

But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, “I am afraid that harm might befall him.”

5
English · Berean Standard Bible

So the sons of Israel were among those who came to buy grain, since the famine had also spread to the land of Canaan.

6
English · Berean Standard Bible

Now Joseph was the ruler of the land; he was the one who sold grain to all its people. So when his brothers arrived, they bowed down before him with their faces to the ground.

7
English · Berean Standard Bible

And when Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he treated them as strangers and spoke harshly to them. “Where have you come from?” he asked. “From the land of Canaan,” they replied. “We are here to buy food.”

8
English · Berean Standard Bible

Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him.

9
English · Berean Standard Bible

Joseph remembered his dreams about them and said, “You are spies! You have come to see if our land is vulnerable.”

10
English · Berean Standard Bible

“Not so, my lord,” they replied. “Your servants have come to buy food.

11
English · Berean Standard Bible

We are all sons of one man. Your servants are honest men, not spies.”

12
English · Berean Standard Bible

“No,” he told them. “You have come to see if our land is vulnerable.”

13
English · Berean Standard Bible

But they answered, “Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with our father, and one is no more.”

14
English · Berean Standard Bible

Then Joseph declared, “Just as I said, you are spies!

15
English · Berean Standard Bible

And this is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here.

16
English · Berean Standard Bible

Send one of your number to get your brother; the rest of you will be confined so that the truth of your words may be tested. If they are untrue, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!”

17
English · Berean Standard Bible

So Joseph imprisoned them for three days,

18
English · Berean Standard Bible

and on the third day he said to them, “I fear God. So do this and you will live:

19
English · Berean Standard Bible

If you are honest, leave one of your brothers in custody while the rest of you go and take back grain to relieve the hunger of your households.

20
English · Berean Standard Bible

Then bring your youngest brother to me so that your words can be verified, that you may not die.” And to this they consented.

21
English · Berean Standard Bible

Then they said to one another, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw his anguish when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.”

22
English · Berean Standard Bible

And Reuben responded, “Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you would not listen. Now we must account for his blood!”

23
English · Berean Standard Bible

They did not realize that Joseph understood them, since there was an interpreter between them.

24
English · Berean Standard Bible

And he turned away from them and wept. When he turned back and spoke to them, he took Simeon from them and had him bound before their eyes.

25
English · Berean Standard Bible

Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to return each man’s silver to his sack, and to give them provisions for their journey. This order was carried out,

26
English · Berean Standard Bible

and they loaded the grain on their donkeys and departed.

27
English · Berean Standard Bible

At the place where they lodged for the night, one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey, and he saw his silver in the mouth of the sack.

28
English · Berean Standard Bible

“My silver has been returned!” he said to his brothers. “It is here in my sack.” Their hearts sank, and trembling, they turned to one another and said, “What is this that God has done to us?”

29
English · Berean Standard Bible

When they reached their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they described to him all that had happened to them:

30
English · Berean Standard Bible

“The man who is lord of the land spoke harshly to us and accused us of spying on the country.

31
English · Berean Standard Bible

But we told him, ‘We are honest men, not spies.

32
English · Berean Standard Bible

We are twelve brothers, sons of one father. One is no more, and the youngest is now with our father in the land of Canaan.’

33
English · Berean Standard Bible

Then the man who is lord of the land said to us, ‘This is how I will know whether you are honest: Leave one brother with me, take food to relieve the hunger of your households, and go.

34
English · Berean Standard Bible

But bring your youngest brother back to me so I will know that you are not spies but honest men. Then I will give your brother back to you, and you can trade in the land.’”

35
English · Berean Standard Bible

As they began emptying their sacks, there in each man’s sack was his bag of silver! And when they and their father saw the bags of silver, they were dismayed.

36
English · Berean Standard Bible

Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my sons. Joseph is gone and Simeon is no more. Now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is going against me!”

37
English · Berean Standard Bible

Then Reuben said to his father, “You may kill my two sons if I fail to bring him back to you. Put him in my care, and I will return him.”

38
English · Berean Standard Bible

But Jacob replied, “My son will not go down there with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If any harm comes to him on your journey, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.”

1
Genesis 42English
2
Genesis 420%

The Bible

Find your chapter.

1189 chapters

Make yourself comfortable.

PAGE COLOUR

TEXT SIZE

100%

Your preferences stay with you on this device.

ORIGINALS & TRANSLATIONS

Choose your edition.

Select one edition for quiet reading, or several to compare the words.

Hebrew text: Westminster Leningrad Codex (public domain). Original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb (CC BY 4.0). · Source ↗

Hebrew text: Westminster Leningrad Codex (public domain), from the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible. Original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Changes: lemma and morphology markup removed; morpheme separators removed; qere readings shown in [brackets] after the ketiv, which is shown in (parentheses); petucha/setuma marks omitted; verses renumbered to English versification (Psalm titles moved to headings).

The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible, BSB. Dedicated to the public domain. · Source ↗

The Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version), standard text of 1769; electronic text courtesy of eBible.org and the CrossWire Bible Society. Public domain outside the United Kingdom. In the UK, rights in the Authorized Version are vested in the Crown under Letters Patent, administered by Cambridge University Press. · Source ↗

↑
Explore the atlas
↑ ↓ to explore   ·   Enter to open   ·   Esc to close