6. Jacob asked, “Why did you cause me so much trouble by telling the governor you had another brother?”
7. They answered, “He asked a lot of questions about us and our family. He wanted to know if you were still alive and if we had any more brothers. All we could do was answer his questions. How could we know he would tell us to bring along our brother?”
8. Then Judah said to his father, “Let Benjamin go with me, and we will leave straight away, so that none of us will starve to death.
9. I promise to bring him back safely, and if I don't, you can blame me as long as I live.
10. If we had not wasted all this time, we could already have been there and back twice.”
11. Their father said:If Benjamin must go with you, take the governor a gift of some of the best things from our own country, such as perfume, honey, spices, pistachio nuts, and almonds.
12. Also take along twice the amount of money for the grain, because there must have been some mistake when the money was put back in your sacks.
13. Take Benjamin with you and leave right away.
14. When you go in to see the governor, I pray that God All-Powerful will be good to you and that the governor will let your other brother and Benjamin come back home with you. If I must lose my children, I suppose I must.
15. The brothers took the gifts, twice the amount of money, and Benjamin. Then they hurried off to Egypt. When they stood in front of Joseph,
16. he saw Benjamin and told the servant in charge of his house, “Take these men to my house. Slaughter an animal and cook it, so they can eat with me at midday.”
17. The servant did as he was told and took the brothers to Joseph's house.
18. But on the way they got worried and started thinking, “We are being taken there because of the money that was put back in our sacks last time. He will arrest us, make us his slaves, and take our donkeys.”
19. So when they arrived at Joseph's house, they said to the servant in charge,
20. “Sir, we came to Egypt once before to buy grain.
21. But when we stopped for the night, we each found in our grain sacks the exact amount we had paid. We have brought that money back,
22. together with enough money to buy more grain. We don't know who put the money in our sacks.”
23. “It's all right,” the servant replied. “Don't worry. The God you and your father worship must have put the money there, because I received your payment in full.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.
24. The servant took them into Joseph's house and gave them water to wash their feet. He also tended their donkeys.