Chapter VIII: Joseph, the Generous

THE STORY

=Sec.25. Joseph and the Guilty Brothers= (Gen. 42)

A. THE FIRST JOURNEY OF THE BROTHERS

Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said unto his sons, "Why do ye look one upon another? Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt: get you down thither, and buy for us from thence; that we may live, and not die."

And Joseph's ten brethren went down to buy grain from Egypt. But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said, "Lest peradventure mischief befall him."

B. JOSEPH'S TREATMENT OF HIS BROTHERS

And Joseph was the governor over the land; he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph's brethren came, and bowed down themselves to him with their faces to the earth. And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly with them; and he said unto them, "Whence come ye?" And they said, "From the land of Canaan to buy food."

And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, "Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come."

And they said unto him, "Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come. We are all one man's sons; we are true men, thy servants are no spies."

And he said unto them, "Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come."

And they said, "We thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not."

And Joseph said unto them, "Ye are spies." And he put them all together into prison three days. And Joseph said unto them the third day, "This do, and live; for I fear God: if ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in your prison house; but go ye, carry grain for the famine of your houses: and bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die."

And they said one to another, "We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us."

And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for there was an interpreter between them. And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and he returned to them, and spake to them, and took Simeon from among them, and bound him before their eyes.