Genesis Chapter 43
Joseph’s Brothers Return to Egypt
1 The famine continued to be severe. 2 When they’d eaten their grain from Egypt, their father said, “Go back and buy us a little food.”
3 But Judah told him,
“The man strictly warned us that we wouldn’t see him unless our brother came with us. 4 If you send our brother with us, we’ll go down and buy you food. 5 If you don’t, we won’t go.”
6 Israel said, “Why did you do me such a bad turn by telling the man you had another brother?”
7 They said,
“He questioned us closely about us and our relatives, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ We were just answering his questions. Could we possibly know he’d say, ‘Bring your brother down here’?”
8 Judah said,
“Send the boy with me, and we, you, and your children will live. 9 I’ll be his guarantee. Hold me responsible. If I don’t bring him back, you can blame me permanently. 10 If we hadn’t delayed, we could have gone back twice.” Gen 43:1-10
11 Israel told them,
“If it has to be that way, in your bags take some of the best things our land produces. Take them to the man as a gift—some salve, honey, aromatic gum and myrrh, pistachio nuts, almonds. 12 Take twice the money that someone put back in your sacks. Maybe it was a mistake. 13 Take your brother too. 14 May God Almighty [El-Shaddai] grant you mercy so he’ll release your other brother and Benjamin. If I grieve, I grieve.”
15 They took the gift, twice the money, and Benjamin, and went down to meet Joseph.
Gen 43:11-15
16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he told his palace overseer, “Bring them into the house, butcher an animal, and prepare for them to eat with me at noon.” [ 17 ].
18 They were afraid, “Because of the money brought back the first time, he’s taking us in to arrest us and make slaves out of us and our donkeys.” 19 They went and talked to the overseer at the entrance to Joseph’s house,
20 “Sir, we really did come down the first time to buy food. 21 When we stopped at a place to stay and opened our sacks, each man’s money was in the top of the sack. We’ve brought it back. 22 We’ve brought other money to buy food this time. We don’t know who put our money back in our sacks before.”
23 “Don’t worry. Your and your father’s God put your treasure in your sacks. I handled it.”
Then he brought Simeon out. 24 He took the brothers into Joseph’s house, gave them some water to wash their feet, and fed their donkeys some hay. 25 They got their gift ready for when Joseph came at noon; they’d heard they were to eat a meal there. Gen 43:16-25
26 When he came home, they brought their gift into the house and bowed to the floor. 27 He asked them how they were doing, “How’s your elderly father? Is he still alive?”
28 “He’s alive and well.” They bowed again in homage.
29 He looked up and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, “Is this your youngest brother you told me about? God be gracious to you, son.”
30 He hurried out because he was deeply moved over his brother, and looked for a place to cry. He went back to his room and cried, 31 then washed his face and came back. He controlled himself and said, “Serve the meal.” 32 They served him by himself, the brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians that ate with him by themselves. (Egyptians wouldn’t eat with Hebrews. That would have been demeaning.) 33 They were sitting, the firstborn according to his birthright, the youngest according to his youth. They looked at one another amazed. 34 He took portions to them from his own table; Benjamin’s portion was 5 times any of theirs. They ate with him as much as they wanted.
Gen 43:26-34