Then Esau asked, "What are all these livestock for?" "To solicit favor from you, sir," Jacob answered.

"Feel free to put my own two sons to death," Reuben responded to his father, "if I don't bring him back to you. Trust me I'll bring him back to you."

That's because this famine has been going on for two years now in this region, and there are still five years left, during which there won't be any plowing or harvesting.