"But your majesty," they pleaded, "your servants include twelve brothers, the sons of a common father back in the land of Canaan. Please! Our youngest brother remains with our father, and the other one is no longer alive."

Three days later, Joseph told them, "I fear God, so do this and you'll live.

If you're honest men, leave one of your brothers here in custody, then the rest of you can leave and take some grain with you to alleviate the famine that's affecting your households.

He turned away from them and began to weep.

When he returned, he spoke with them, but then he took Simeon away from them and had him placed under arrest right in front of them. After this, Joseph gave orders to fill up their sacks with grain, to return each man's money to his own sack, and to supply each of them with provisions for their return journey. All of this was done for them.

Then they each mounted up, their donkeys having been loaded with grain, and left from there.

Our father has twelve sons, but one of us isn't alive anymore, and our youngest brother is with our father today back home in Canaan.'

But the man who was in charge of the land responded, "I'm going to test your honesty. Leave one of your brothers with me, take some grain for the famine that's afflicting your households, and leave.

But bring your youngest brother back to me so I can be sure that you're honest men, and not spies. Then I'll return your brother to you, and you'll be allowed to trade anywhere in the land.'"

Later on, as they went about unloading their sacks, each man's bundle of money was found in each man's sack. When they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were greatly distressed.

Their father Jacob told them, "You're causing me to lose my children! Joseph is gone. Now Simeon is gone, and you're planning to take Benjamin, too. Everything's going against me!"

But Jacob replied, "My son isn't going back with you, since his brother is dead and he's the only one left. If something should harm him as you travel, then it'll be death for me and my sad, gray hair!"

As a result, when Jacob's family was beginning to eat the last of the grain that they had brought back from Egypt, their father Jacob told his sons, "Go back to Egypt and buy us some food."

So if you send our brother with us, we'll go down and buy some food.

"The man specifically asked about us and our relatives," they responded. "He asked us, "Is your father still alive?' and "Do you have another brother?' So we answered his questions. How could we have known that he would tell us to bring our brother back with us?"

"Send the young man with me," Judah told his father Israel, "and we'll get up and go so we can survive and not die and that includes all of us, you and our families.

I'll even offer myself to guarantee that I'll be responsible for him. If I don't bring him back and present him to you, I'll personally bear the consequences forever.

After all, if we hadn't delayed, we could have been there and back twice by now!"

"If that's the way it has to be," their father Israel replied, "then do this: take some of the best produce of the land in your containers and take them to the man as a gift some resin ointment, some honey, fragrant resins, myrrh, pistachios, and almonds.

And be sure to take your brother, too. So get up, return to the man,

and may God Almighty cause the man to show compassion toward you. May he send all of you back, including your other brother and Benjamin. Now as for me, if I lose my children, I lose them."

So the men took their gift and twice as much money, got up, took Benjamin with them, and set out for Egypt. Eventually they appeared before Joseph.

As soon as Joseph noticed that Benjamin had come with them, he ordered his palace manager, "Bring the men into the palace. Slaughter an animal and prepare it, because these men will be dining with me for lunch."

So the man did what Joseph had ordered, and brought the men to Joseph's palace.

The men were terrified as they were being taken to Joseph's palace. "It's because of that money that was returned to our sacks the first time we were brought to him," they reasoned. "He's seeking an excuse to attack us, enslave us, and confiscate our donkeys!"

So they approached Joseph's palace manager and talked with him at the palace entrance.

when we arrived at our overnight lodging place, we opened our sacks and discovered each man's money was still in the mouth of his sack. All of our money was there! We've brought it back with us in full.

We've also brought along some more money to buy supplies, but we don't know who put our money back into our sacks."

ushered the men into Joseph's palace, gave them water to wash their feet, and provided fodder for their donkeys.

Then off he went to prepare the honorary meal that was to be made ready for Joseph's arrival at noon, since they had been informed that they were going to be eating there.

When Joseph arrived at his palace, his brothers brought to him their gifts that they had carried with them and bowed to the ground in front of him.

As Joseph looked up and recognized his brother Benjamin, his own mother's son, he asked, "Is this your youngest brother about whom you spoke to me?" And he addressed him directly, "May God be gracious to you, my son."

At this, Joseph hurried out, deeply moved because of his brother, and looked for a place to weep by himself. He entered his personal quarters, wept there awhile,

then washed his face and came out. Barely controlling himself, he ordered his staff to serve the meal.

Joseph's staff served him by himself, his brothers separately, and the Egyptian staff members by themselves, because the Egyptians wouldn't take their meal with the Hebrews, since doing so was detestable for the Egyptians.

Joseph himself brought portions to them from his own table, except that he provided to Benjamin five times as much as he did for each of the others. So they feasted together and drank freely with Joseph.

Later, Joseph commanded his palace manager, "Fill the men's sacks to full capacity with food and replace each man's money at the top of the sack.

They had not traveled far from the city when Joseph ordered his palace manager, "Get up, follow those men, and when you've caught up with them, ask them, "Why did you repay evil for good?

Don't you have the cup that my master uses to drink from and also uses to practice divination? You're wrong to have done this.'"

So he went after them and made that accusation.

Go ahead and execute whichever one of your servants is discovered to have it, and we'll remain as your master's slaves."

"Agreed," he responded. "Just as you've said, the one who is found to have it in his possession will become my slave, and the rest of you will be innocent."

So they quickly dismounted, unloaded their sacks onto the ground, and each one of them opened his own sack.

The palace manager searched for the cup, beginning with the oldest brother's sack and ending with the youngest brother's sack, and there it was! in Benjamin's sack.

At this, they all tore their clothes, reloaded their donkeys, and returned to the city.

and Joseph asked them, "Why did you do this? Don't you know that I'm an expert at divination?"

"What can we say, Your Excellency?" Judah replied. "How can we explain this or justify ourselves? God has discovered the sin of your servants, and now we've become slaves to you, Your Excellency, both we and the one in whose possession the cup has been discovered."

But Judah approached him and begged him, "Your Excellency, please allow your servant to speak to you privately. Please don't be angry with your servant, since you are equal to Pharaoh.

and we answered Your Excellency, "We have an aged father and a younger child who was born when he was old. His brother is now dead, so he's the only surviving son of his mother. His father loves him.'

""Go back,' our father ordered, "and buy us a little food.'

One of them left me, so I concluded "I'm certain that he has been torn to pieces," and I haven't seen him since then.

If you take this one from me, too, and then something harmful happens to him, then it will be death for me and my sad, gray hair!'

"So when I go back to your servant, my father, and the young man isn't with us, since he's constantly living life focused on his son,

when he notices that the young man hasn't come back with us, he'll die, and your servants really will have brought death to your servant, our father, along with his sad, gray hair!

Therefore, please allow your servant to remain as a slave to Your Excellency, instead of the young man, and let the young man go back home with his brothers.

"I'm your brother Joseph, whom you sold into slavery in Egypt!" he told them. "But don't be distressed or angry at yourselves because you sold me here, because God sent me ahead of you all in order to deliver us.

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.

God sent me ahead of you to keep you alive on the earth, and to save you all in a magnificent way.

As a result, it wasn't you who sent me here, but God himself! He established me as a father-figure to Pharaoh himself! I'm in charge of his entire palace and ruler over the entire land of Egypt.

So hurry up, go back to my father, and tell him that his son Joseph tells him, "God has made me master of all of Egypt. Hurry up! Come live with me!'

You are to live in the land of Goshen, near where I am you, your children, your grandchildren, your flocks, your herds, and everything that you own.

I'll provide for you there, since there are still five years of famine left to go, and you, your households, and everything you own would have otherwise become impoverished.

"Look, now! All of you can see me! And my own brother Benjamin can tell that it's really me speaking to you!

So go tell my father about all of my splendor in Egypt. Tell him about everything that you've seen. Be quick about it, and bring my father down here!"

Then he threw his arms around Benjamin and wept as they embraced.

He kissed all of his brothers and wept with them, too, and then his brothers were able to talk with him.

As soon as the news reached Pharaoh's palace that Joseph's brothers had arrived, Pharaoh and his servants were ecstatic.

get your father and your households, and come back to me. I'll give you the best of the land of Egypt and you can live off the abundance of the land.'

In addition," Pharaoh ordered, "Do this: take some transport wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones to ride in, along with your wives, and bring your father and come!

So Israel's sons did what they were asked to do, and Joseph provided wagons for them, as Pharaoh had commanded. He also gave them provisions for the journey.

He gave each of them some changes of clothes, but he also gave Benjamin 300 pieces of silver and five changes of clothes.

He sent his father ten male donkeys loaded with the best of Egyptian goods and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and provisions for his father during the journey.

Then Joseph sent his brothers away, and they left for home. As they were leaving, Joseph admonished them, "Don't quarrel on the way back!"

So Joseph's brothers left Egypt and returned to the land of Canaan and to their father Jacob,

However, as soon as his sons had told him everything Joseph had said, and after he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent along to carry him, their father Jacob's spirit was encouraged.

Later, Israel began his journey, taking along everything that he owned, and arrived at Beer-sheba, where he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.

"I'm God, your father's God. Don't be afraid to move down to Egypt, because I'm going to turn you into a mighty nation there.

I'm going down with you to Egypt, and I'm certainly going to bring you back again. And Joseph himself will be with you when you die."

So Jacob got up and left Beer-sheba, and Israel's sons carried their father Jacob, their little ones, and their wives in the transport wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry them.

They took their livestock and their household property that they had acquired in the land of Canaan and traveled to Egypt. Jacob and all of his descendants went with him

including his sons, his grandsons, his daughters, and his granddaughters every one of his descendants accompanied him to Egypt.

Here's a list of the names of Israel's sons, that is, of Jacob and his sons who moved to Egypt: Reuben, Jacob's firstborn;

Reuben's sons Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi;

Simeon's sons Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, who was the son of a Canaanite woman;

Levi's sons Gershon, Kohath, and Merari;

and Judah's sons Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah. (Technically, Er and Onan had died in the land of Canaan.) Perez's sons were Hezron and Hamul.

Also included were Issachar's sons Tola, Puvvah, Job, and Shimron;

along with Zebulun's sons Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.

These were all sons from Leah, whom she bore for Jacob in Paddan-aram, along with his daughter Dinah. He had 33 sons and daughters.

Also included were Gad's sons Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli;

Asher's sons Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and their sister Serah. Beriah's sons Heber and Malchiel were also included.

Jacob's wife Rachel's sons were Joseph and Benjamin.

Joseph's sons born in the land of Egypt were Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On, bore for him.

Benjamin's sons included Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard.

Naphtali's sons Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.

Joseph had two sons born to him in Egypt, and all of Jacob's household who went to Egypt numbered 70.

Jacob sent Judah ahead of them to meet with Joseph, who would be guiding them to Goshen, and so they arrived.

Joseph prepared his chariot and went to meet his father Israel in Goshen. As soon as Jacob appeared in his presence, he embraced him and wept for a long time as he held on to him.

"Now let me die," Israel told Joseph, "since I've seen your face and confirmed that you're still alive!"

But Joseph addressed his brothers and his father's household and told them, "I'll go up and tell Pharaoh that my brothers and my father's household have arrived from Canaan to be with me.