HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 412
G EN ES IS 4 3
when he pleaded for his life, but we wouldn’t
listen. That’s why we’re in this trouble.”
22 “Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the
boy?” Reuben asked. “But you wouldn’t listen.
And now we have to answer for his blood!”
23 Of course, they didn’t know that Joseph
understood them, for he had been speaking to
them through an interpreter. 24 Now he turned
away from them and began to weep. When
he regained his composure, he spoke to them
again. Then he chose Simeon from among them
and had him tied up right before their eyes.
25 Joseph then ordered his servants to fill the
men’s sacks with grain, but he also gave secret
instructions to return each brother’s payment
at the top of his sack. He also gave them supplies for their journey home. 26 So the brothers
loaded their donkeys with the grain and headed
for home.
27 But when they stopped for the night and
one of them opened his sack to get grain for
his donkey, he found his money in the top of
his sack. 28 “Look!” he exclaimed to his brothers. “My money has been returned; it’s here in
my sack!” Then their hearts sank. Trembling,
they said to each other, “What has God done
to us?”
29 When the brothers came to their father,
Jacob, in the land of Canaan, they told him
everything that had happened to them. 30 “The
man who is governor of the land spoke very
harshly to us,” they told him. “He accused us
of being spies scouting the land. 31 But we said,
‘We are honest men, not spies. 32 We are twelve
brothers, sons of one father. One brother is no
longer with us, and the youngest is at home
with our father in the land of Canaan.’
33 “Then the man who is governor of the land
told us, ‘This is how I will find out if you are
honest men. Leave one of your brothers here
with me, and take grain for your starving families and go on home. 34 But you must bring your
youngest brother back to me. Then I will know
you are honest men and not spies. Then I will
give you back your brother, and you may trade
freely in the land.’”
35 As they emptied out their sacks, there in
each man’s sack was the bag of money he had
paid for the grain! The brothers and their father
were terrified when they saw the bags of money.
36 Jacob exclaimed, “You are robbing me of my
children! Joseph is gone! Simeon is gone! And
now you want to take Benjamin, too. Everything
is going against me!”
37 Then Reuben said to his father, “You may
kill my two sons if I don’t bring Benjamin back
to you. I’ll be responsible for him, and I promise
to bring him back.”
38 But Jacob replied, “My son will not go down
with you. His brother Joseph is dead, and he is
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all I have left. If anything should happen to him
on your journey, you would send this grieving,
white-haired man to his grave.*”
The Brothers Return to Egypt
But the famine continued to ravage the
land of Canaan. 2 When the grain they
had brought from Egypt was almost gone, Jacob
said to his sons, “Go back and buy us a little
more food.”
3 But Judah said, “The man was serious when
he warned us, ‘You won’t see my face again unless your brother is with you.’ 4 If you send Benjamin with us, we will go down and buy more
food. 5 But if you don’t let Benjamin go, we
won’t go either. Remember, the man said, ‘You
won’t see my face again unless your brother
is with you.’”
6 “Why were you so cruel to me?” Jacob*
moaned. “Why did you tell him you had another
brother?”
7 “The man kept asking us questions about
our family,” they replied. “He asked, ‘Is your
father still alive? Do you have another brother?’
So we answered his questions. How could we
know he would say, ‘Bring your brother down
here’?”
8 Judah said to his father, “Send the boy with
me, and we will be on our way. Otherwise we
will all die of starvation—and not only we, but
you and our little ones. 9 I personally guarantee his safety. You may hold me responsible if
I don’t bring him back to you. Then let me bear
the blame forever. 10 If we hadn’t wasted all this
time, we could have gone and returned twice
by now.”
11 So their father, Jacob, finally said to them,
“If it can’t be avoided, then at least do this. Pack
your bags with the best products of this land.
Take them down to the man as gifts—balm,
honey, gum, aromatic resin, pistachio nuts, and
almonds. 12 Also take double the money that was
put back in your sacks, as it was probably someone’s mistake. 13 Then take your brother, and go
back to the man. 14 May God Almighty* give you
mercy as you go before the man, so that he will
release Simeon and let Benjamin return. But if I
must lose my children, so be it.”
15 So the men packed Jacob’s gifts and double
the money and headed off with Benjamin. They
finally arrived in Egypt and presented themselves to Joseph. 16 When Joseph saw Benjamin
with them, he said to the manager of his household, “These men will eat with me this noon.
Take them inside the palace. Then go slaughter
an animal, and prepare a big feast.” 17 So the
man did as Joseph told him and took them into
Joseph’s palace.
18 The brothers were terrified when they saw
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42:38 Hebrew to Sheol. 43:6 Hebrew Israel; also in 43:11. See
note on 35:21. 43:14 Hebrew El-Shaddai.