1Now the land was in bitter need of food.
2And when the grain which they had got in Egypt was all used up, their father said to them, Go again and get us a little food.
3And Judah said to him, The man said to us with an oath, You are not to come before me again without your brother.
4If you will let our brother go with us, we will go down and get food:
5But if you will not send him, we will not go down: for the man said to us, You are not to come before me if your brother is not with you.
6And Israel said, Why were you so cruel to me as to say to him that you had a brother?
7And they said, The man put a number of questions to us about ourselves and our family, saying, Is your father still living? have you another brother? And we had to give him answers; how were we to have any idea that he would say, Come back with your brother?
8Then Judah said to Israel, his father, Send the boy with me, and let us be up and going, so that we and you and our little ones may not come to destruction.
9Put him into my care and make me responsible for him: if I do not give him safely back to you, let mine be the sin for ever.
10Truly, if we had not let the time go by, we might have come back again by now.
11Then their father Israel said to them, If it has to be so, then do this: take of the best fruits of the land in your vessels to give the man, perfumes and honey and spices and nuts:
12And take twice as much money with you; that is to say, take back the money which was put in your bags, for it may have been an error;
13And take your brother and go back to the man:
14And may God, the Ruler of all, give you mercy before the man, so that he may give you back your other brother and Benjamin. If my children are to be taken from me; there is no help for it.
15So they took what their father said for the man, and twice as much money in their hands, and Benjamin, and went on their journey to Egypt, and came before Joseph.
16And when Joseph saw Benjamin, he said to his chief servant, Take these men into my house, and make ready a meal, for they will take food with me in the middle of the day.
17And the servant did as Joseph said, and took the men into Joseph's house.
18Now the men were full of fear because they had been taken into Joseph's house and they said, It is because of the money which was put back in our bags the first time; he is looking for something against us, so that he may come down on us and take us and our asses for his use.
19So they went up to Joseph's chief servant at the door of the house,
20And said, O my lord, we only came down the first time to get food;
21And when we came to our night's resting-place, on opening our bags we saw that every man's money was in the mouth of his bag, all our money in full weight: and we have it with us to give it back;
22As well as more money, with which to get food: we have no idea who put our money in our bags.
23Then the servant said, Peace be with you: have no fear: your God, even the God of your father, has put wealth in your bags for you: I had your money. Then he let Simeon come out to them.
24And the servant took them into Joseph's house, and gave them water for washing their feet; and he gave their asses food.
25And they got ready the things for Joseph before he came in the middle of the day: for word was given to them that they were to have a meal there.
26And when Joseph came in, they gave him the things which they had for him, and went down to the earth before him.
27And he said, How are you? is your father well, the old man of whom you were talking to me? is he still living?
28And they said, Your servant, our father, is well, he is still living. And they went down on their faces before him.
29Then, lifting up his eyes, he saw Benjamin, his brother, his mother's son, and he said, Is this your youngest brother of whom you gave me word? And he said, God be good to you, my son.
30Then Joseph's heart went out to his brother, and he went quickly into his room, for he was overcome with weeping.
31Then, after washing his face, he came out, and controlling his feelings said, Put food before us.
32And they put a meal ready for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians who were with him by themselves; because the Egyptians may not take food with the Hebrews, for that would make them unclean.
33And they were all given their seats before him in order of birth, from the oldest to the youngest: so that they were looking at one another in wonder.
34And Joseph sent food to them from his table, but he sent five times as much to Benjamin as to any of the others. And they took wine freely with him.