4. But Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, Jacob did not send, for he said, “An accident might happen to him.”
5. The sons of Israel went to buy grain among the others who were coming, because the famine was in the land of Canaan.
6. Now Joseph was the ruler over the land. He was the provider of grain for all the people of the earth.
7. Then Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down to him with faces to the ground. When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he made himself unrecognizable to them. Then he spoke harshly and said to them, “Where have you come from?” “From the land of Canaan,” they said, “to buy grain as food.”
8. Though Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him.
9. Then Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them. He said to them, “You’re spies! You’ve come to see the undefended places in the land.”
10. “No, my lord!” they said to him. “Your servants came to buy grain as food.
11. All of us—we are sons of one man. We’re honest. Your servants have never been spies.”
12. “Not so,” he said to them. “Rather, you’ve come to see the undefended places in the land.”
13. But they said, “We your servants are twelve brothers, sons of one man in the land of Canaan. Look, the youngest is with our father today and the other one is no more.”
14. Joseph said to them, “It’s just like I told you when I said, ‘You’re spies.’
15. By this you’ll be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you’ll not leave from here until your youngest brother comes here!
16. Send one from among yourselves to get your brother, while you remain confined, in order to test your words, to see whether the truth is with you. If not, by the life of Pharaoh, you’re definitely spies!”
17. So he put them together in custody for three days.