Genesis 43:1-14
Read Genesis 43 in full →The Brothers Return to Egypt
43aNow the famine was heavy in the land. 2And it happened when they had finished eating the grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, “Go back, buy us a little food.” 3Judah spoke to him, however, saying, “aThe man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ 4“If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. 5“But if you do not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.’” 6Then Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly 1by telling the man whether you still had another brother?” 7But they said, “The man questioned particularly about us and our kin, saying, ‘aIs your father still alive? Have you another brother?’ So we told him concerning these things. Could we possibly have known that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?” 8Then Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, athat we may live and not die, we as well as you and our little ones. 9“aI myself will be the guarantee for him; from my hand you may require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then 1I shall bear the sin before you all my days. 10“For if we had not delayed, surely by now we could have returned twice.”
11Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: take some of the best products of the land in your 1bags, and bring them down to the man aas a present, a little 2,bbalm and a little honey, 3aromatic gum and 4myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. 12“Now take double the money in your hand, and take back in your hand athe money that was put back in the mouth of your sacks; perhaps it was a mistake. 13“And take your brother also, and arise, return to the man; 14and may 1,aGod Almighty bgrant you compassion before the man, so that he will release to you cyour other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, dif I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.”