1 When Jacob realized there was grain {shever: food supply} in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why are you staring at one another {titra'u: hesitant inaction}?”
2 He said, “Look, I have heard that there is grain {shever: food supply in crisis} in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us from that place, so that we may live {nichyeh: continue in existence} and not die.”
3 So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to Egypt {Mitsrayim: land of the Nile} to purchase grain {bar: harvested food}.
4 But Jacob {Ya’aqov: ancestral family head} did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with the others, because he said, “So that harm {ason: severe calamity} does not happen to him.”
5 So the sons of Israel {Yisra’el: covenant family} came along with the other buyers to purchase grain, because the famine {ra’av: severe scarcity} was in the land of Canaan.
6 Joseph {Yosef: exalted in Egypt} held authority over the land as governor; he managed the sale of grain to all the people there. When his brothers arrived, they bowed down {vayishtachavu: prostrated in homage} before him, their faces to the ground.
7 Joseph {Yosef: God-given increase} saw his brothers and recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke harshly {kashot: severe speech} to them. He asked, “Where have you come from?” They replied, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.”
8 Joseph {Yosef: disguised governor} recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him {hikiruhu: recognize as family}.
9 Then Joseph {Yosef: Dream Interpreter} remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them, and he said to them, “You are spies! You have come to look for the nakedness {ervah: exposed defenses} of the land.”
10 They said, “No, my lord {adoni: respectful title}; your servants have come to purchase food {okhel: physical sustenance}.”
11 We are all sons of one man; we are honest {kenim: trustworthy and truthful}. Your servants have never been {hayu: existed as} spies.
12 But he said to them, “No—you came to see the nakedness {ervat: exposed weakness} of the land {haarets: vulnerable territory}!”
13 They said, “Your servants are twelve brothers {akhim: male relatives}, sons of one man in the land of Canaan. Look, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no longer present {eineinu: absent, perhaps dead}.”
14 Joseph {Yosef: governing brother} said to them, “It is just as {hu asher: exact match} I told you: ‘You are spies.’”
15 This is how you will be tested: As Pharaoh {paroh: Egyptian sovereign} lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother {hakaton: youngest in family} comes here.
16 Send one from among you to fetch your brother; the rest will remain confined, and your words {dibreikhem: investigated statements} will be tested to determine whether the truth is with you. If not, then by Pharaoh’s life {chei Par’oh: royal oath}, you are certainly spies.
17 Then he placed them {otam: all the brothers} under guard {mishmar: guarded confinement} for three days.
18 On the third day {hashlishi: specific appointed time} Joseph said, “Do this and live, for I fear God {Elohim, Moral Governor}.”
19 If you are honest {kenim: truthful and upright} men, let one of your brothers remain confined in the place of your custody, and you shall go and bring grain {shever: measured food supply} for the famine of your households.
20 Bring your youngest brother to me; then your words will be verified {yeamnu: proven reliable}, and you shall not die {tamutu: cease to live}. And they did so.
21 Each man said to his brother, “Truly we are guilty {ashemim: bearing real blame} about our brother, for we saw the distress of his soul {nefesh: inner life} when he pleaded with us, yet we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.”
22 Reuben {Reuven: firstborn son} answered them, “Did I not tell you, ‘Do not sin {techetu: incur guilt} against the boy’? But you would not listen. Now his blood is being required.”
23 And they did not know that Joseph {Yosef: unrecognized ruler} understood what they were saying, because the interpreter {hamelits: official translator} stood between them.
24 He turned away from them and wept, then came back and spoke with them. He took Simeon {shimon: Jacob’s second son} from them and bound him before their eyes {leineihem: in their direct sight}.
25 Then Joseph {Yosef: wise provider} issued orders to fill their vessels with grain, to return each man’s silver to his sack, and to supply them with provision {tsedah: food for travel} for the journey. And his directives were fulfilled.
26 They loaded {vayis'u: raised or carried} their grain onto their donkeys and left from there {misham: from that place}.
27 At the lodging place, one {haechad: one particular brother} opened his sack to give fodder to his donkey and saw his silver; and look, it was in the mouth {befi: front opening} of his bag.
28 He said to his brothers, “My silver has been returned, and look, it is in my sack {amtachti: travel grain bag}!” Then their courage failed, and they trembled, each to his brother, saying, “What is this that God {Elohim, Sovereign Arranger} has done to us?”
29 When they reached the land {artsah: home territory} of Canaan, they presented themselves to Jacob their father and recounted all the things {hakkorot: significant happenings} that had happened to them, saying:
30 The man, lord of the land {adonei haarets: ruling authority figure}, spoke harshly {kashot: severe words} with us and treated us as spies in the land.
31 We said to him, “We are honest men {kenim: morally reliable}; we are not spies {meraggelim: undercover observers}.”
32 We are twelve brothers {achim: male siblings}, all sons of our father; one is no longer present, and today the youngest is with our father in the land of Canaan {kena'an: ancestral region}.
33 The man, the lord of the land {adonei ha-arets: highest official}, said to us, “This is how I will know you are honest men {kenim: reliable in truth}: leave one of your brothers with me, take food for the famine of your households, and go.”
34 Bring your youngest brother to me, and I will know that you are not spies but are honest men {kenim: trustworthy ones}. Then I will give your brother back to you, and you may trade {tischru: conduct business} in the land.
35 As they were emptying their sacks {sak: travel storage}, they discovered that each man’s bundle of silver was in his sack. When they and their father saw the bundles of silver, they were afraid {yirau: trembling awe}.
36 Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me {shikaltem: loss of children}! Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and now you want to take Benjamin. All these things are against me {alai: pressing upon me}!”
37 Reuben spoke to his father, “You may put my two sons {banai: direct offspring} to death if I fail to bring him back to you. Place him in my charge {yadi: personal responsibility}, and I will bring him back to you.”
38 But he said, “My son will not go down with you, because his brother is dead and he alone remains. If harm {ason: severe disaster} should befall him on the way you are traveling, then you will bring my gray hair down in sorrow to Sheol {sheol: realm of the dead}.”