--- title: Genesis 42 slug: kjv/genesis-42 createdAt: 2024-07-21T03:32:55.269Z --- **1 **Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons, Why do ye look one upon another? **2 **And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt: get you down thither, and buy for us from thence; that we may live, and not die. **3 **And Joseph's ten brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt. **4 **But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said, Lest peradventure mischief befall him. **5 **And the sons of Israel came to buy *corn* among those that came: for the famine was in the land of Canaan. **6 **And Joseph *was* the governor over the land, *and* he *it was* that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph's brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him *with* their faces to the earth. **7 **And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them; and he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food. **8 **And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him. **9 **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. **10 **And they said unto him, Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come. **11 **We *are* all one man's sons; we *are* true *men*, thy servants are no spies. **12 **And he said unto them, Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come. **13 **And they said, 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. **14 **And Joseph said unto them, That *is it* that I spake unto you, saying, Ye *are* spies: **15 **Hereby ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither. **16 **Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether *there be any* truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye *are* spies. **17 **And he put them all together into ward three days. **18 **And Joseph said unto them the third day, This do, and live; *for* I fear God: **19 **If ye *be* true *men*, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses: **20 **But bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so. **21 **And they said one to another, We *are* verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us. **22 **And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required. **23 **And they knew not that Joseph understood *them*; for he spake unto them by an interpreter. **24 **And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes. **25 **Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way: and thus did he unto them. **26 **And they laded their asses with the corn, and departed thence. **27 **And as one of them opened his sack to give his ass provender in the inn, he espied his money; for, behold, it *was* in his sack's mouth. **28 **And he said unto his brethren, My money is restored; and, lo, *it is* even in my sack: and their heart failed *them*, and they were afraid, saying one to another, What *is* this *that* God hath done unto us? **29 **And they came unto Jacob their father unto the land of Canaan, and told him all that befell unto them; saying, **30 **The man, *who is* the lord of the land, spake roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country. **31 **And we said unto him, We *are* true *men*; we are no spies: **32 **We *be* twelve brethren, sons of our father; one *is* not, and the youngest *is* this day with our father in the land of Canaan. **33 **And the man, the lord of the country, said unto us, Hereby shall I know that ye *are* true *men*; leave one of your brethren *here* with me, and take *food for* the famine of your households, and be gone: **34 **And bring your youngest brother unto me: then shall I know that ye *are* no spies, but *that* ye *are* true *men: so* will I deliver you your brother, and ye shall traffick in the land. **35 **And it came to pass as they emptied their sacks, that, behold, every man's bundle of money *was* in his sack: and when *both* they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. **36 **And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved *of my children*: Joseph *is* not, and Simeon *is* not, and ye will take Benjamin *away*: all these things are against me. **37 **And Reuben spake unto his father, saying, Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee: deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to thee again. **38 **And he said, My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he is left alone: if mischief befall him by the way in the which ye go, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.