1 The famine weighed heavily on the land.
2 So when they had used up the grain they had brought back from Egypt, their father said to them, "Go back and buy us a little food."
3 But Judah told him, "The man gave us a stern warning: 'You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.'
4 If you send our brother along with us, we will go down and buy food for you.
5 But if you do not send him, we will not go down, because the man told us, 'You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.'"
6 Israel said, "Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man you had another brother?"
7 They answered, "The man kept asking about us and our relatives: 'Is your father still living? Have you another brother?' We simply answered his questions. How could we have known he would say, 'Bring your brother down here'?"
8 Then Judah said to his father Israel, "Send the boy along with me, and let us be on our way, so that we may live and not die, we and you and our little ones too.
9 I myself will stand surety for him; you may demand him back from my hand. If I do not bring him back to you and set him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life.
10 If we had not wasted so much time, we could have gone and come back twice by now."
11 Their father Israel said to them, "If it has to be, then do this: put some of the land's finest products in your bags and take them down to the man as a present, a little balm and a little honey, gum and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds.
12 Take twice the amount of silver with you, and take back the silver that was returned in the mouths of your sacks; it may have been a mistake.
13 Take your brother too, and set out and go back to the man.
14 May God Almighty move the man to show you mercy, so that he will let your other brother and Benjamin go free. As for me, if I must be bereaved, then bereaved I will be."
15 So the men took the present, and they took twice the amount of silver with them, and Benjamin. They set out, went down to Egypt, and presented themselves to Joseph.
16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he told the man in charge of his house, "Take these men to the house; slaughter an animal and get it ready, for they will dine with me at noon."
17 The man did as Joseph told him and took the men to Joseph's house.
18 The men were frightened at being taken to Joseph's house. They said, "We are being brought here because of the silver that was put back in our sacks the first time. He wants to set upon us, overpower us, and seize us as servants, along with our donkeys."
19 So they approached the man in charge of Joseph's house and spoke to him at the door of the house.
20 "Please, my lord," they said, "we did come down the first time to buy food.
21 But when we reached the place where we stopped for the night, we opened our sacks, and there was each man's silver at the mouth of his sack, our silver in its full weight. So we have brought it back with us.
22 We have also brought down more silver with us to buy food. We have no idea who put our silver in our sacks."
23 He replied, "Peace to you; do not be afraid. Your God, the God of your father, has put treasure in your sacks for you. I received your silver." Then he brought Simeon out to them.
24 The man took the men into Joseph's house and gave them water to wash their feet, and he gave their donkeys feed.
25 They got the present ready for Joseph's arrival at noon, for they had heard that they were to eat a meal there.
26 When Joseph came home, they brought the present they had with them into the house to him and bowed down to the ground before him.
27 He asked how they were, and then he said, "How is your aged father you told me about? Is he still living?"
28 "Your servant our father is well," they replied. "He is still living." And they bowed low and paid him homage.
29 Looking up, he saw his brother Benjamin, his own mother's son, and asked, "Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?" And he said, "May God be gracious to you, my son."
30 Then Joseph hurried out, for he was deeply stirred at the sight of his brother, and he looked for a place to weep. He went into his private room and wept there.
31 After washing his face he came out, and keeping himself under control, he said, "Serve the meal."
32 They served him by himself, the brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews; that is an abomination to the Egyptians.
33 They were seated before him in order of age, from the firstborn by right of his birth to the youngest according to his youth, and the men looked at one another in astonishment.
34 He had portions carried to them from his table, and Benjamin's portion was five times larger than any of the others'. So they drank and made merry with him.