43
The brothers go back to Egypt
1 The land of Canaan was still not growing any food. 2 And so when Jacob's family had eaten all the food the brothers got from Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, “Go back to Egypt and buy some more food.”
3 But Judah said to his father, “The boss of that country warned us. He told us straight, ‘If you do not bring your youngest brother with you, you will not be allowed to see me.’ 4 If you let us take Benjamin with us, we will go back to Egypt to buy food. 5 But if you do not let us take him then we will not go back. The boss of the food said that he would not talk to us if we did not have our youngest brother with us.”
6 Jacob said, “Why did you tell the man that you had another brother? You have made trouble for me.”
7 The brothers answered, “The man asked us a lot of questions about ourselves and our family. He even asked if our father was still alive and did we have another brother. We just answered his questions. We didn't know that he would ask us to bring Benjamin to him.”
8 Then Judah said to his father Jacob, “Please father, let me take the boy to see this man. We can go straight away and bring food back so that you and all our families can stay alive. 9 I promise you father that I will keep Benjamin safe and bring him back to you. If I break my promise, then you can blame me for the rest of my life. 10 We have wasted too much time. We could have been to Egypt and back 2 times.”
11 Jacob said to his sons, “You win. I can see that there is no other way. Take Benjamin with you, but take the man some presents. Take him some of the best things we have in this country. You know, some rubbing oil, honey, spices, peanuts, almonds and the medicine called myrrh. 12 Oh, yes, take double the money you took last time. Try and give back the money you found in your bags. Maybe someone made a mistake last time. 13 Go now and take Benjamin to see the man. 14 I will pray and ask God to make the man be kind to you, that way you can bring Simeon and Benjamin back to me. If I lose my children, then I lose them, but I will be very sad.”
15 So the brothers left their father's camp and started to go back to Egypt to meet with Joseph. They took Benjamin and presents with them. They took money to buy the food as well as the money that they found in their bags before.
16 When they got to Egypt, they went to see Joseph. As soon as Joseph saw Benjamin with his brothers, he told the boss of his house what to do. He said, “Take these men to my house, kill an animal and get food ready for them. I will have lunch with them today.”
17 The worker did what Joseph said and took the brothers to Joseph's house. 18 When they got to his house, the brothers were really frightened to be there. They said to each other, “He must know about the money that was in our bags last time. He wants to blame us for taking that money, and he is going to take our donkeys and put us in his work camp. We will have to work for him for no pay. We will never get home.”
19-20 Just before they got to the door of Joseph's house, they said to the worker, “Sir, the last time we came here, we paid the right money for our food and then started to go home. 21-22 But on the first night, when we opened our food bags, we found money inside. It was the same money that we paid the man for the food. We don't know how that money got into our bags and so we carried it back here again so that we can give it to you. And we have more money to pay for the food that we want to buy this time.”
23 Joseph's worker said to them, “Don't be frightened. It's all right. Your God, the God of your father must have put that money back in your bags. You paid me for the food you got last time.”
Then he went and got Simeon out of jail and gave him back to his brothers.
24 The worker took the brothers into Joseph's house. He gave them water so that they could wash their feet and he gave them food for their donkeys. 25 The brothers heard that Joseph was going to come home and have lunch with them and so they got all the presents ready to give to him.
26 When Joseph came home, they bowed down in front of him and gave him the presents. 27 Joseph asked them, “How are you? Last time you were here, you talked about your old father. Is he still alive?”
28 The brothers answered, “Our old father is still alive and well, and he has heard that you are a powerful man. If he was here, he would bow down and show you respect.” Then all the brothers bowed down to the ground again to show respect to Joseph.+ 29 Joseph and Benjamin had the same mother and father, and when Joseph saw Benjamin, he said, “You told me that you had a younger brother. Is this him?” Then he said to Benjamin, “I will pray and ask God to be good to you my son.” 30 Joseph was so happy to see his younger brother, tears were coming into his eyes. So he ran and looked for somewhere to cry. He went to his bedroom and cried there.
31 When he settled down, he washed his face and went back to his brothers in the other room. Then he told his workers to put the food on the table so that they could eat.
32 The workers put out 3 tables. Joseph ate his food by himself on the first table. Joseph's brothers ate their food together on another table, and the Egyptian workers ate their food on the third table. Egyptians did not like Hebrew people and would not sit down and eat with them. 33 When the brothers sat down at their table, they were shocked to find that they were put in a line by their age, from the oldest at one end of the table to the youngest at the other end. 34 The workers took food from Joseph's table and gave it to Benjamin and his brothers. Each of the brothers was given one lot of food, but Benjamin got 5 lots of food. Joseph and his brothers had a good time as they ate and drank together.
+ 43:28 Genesis 37:5-10