And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, "I am Pharaoh, and without thy consent no man shall lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt." So the shepherd boy, who had been sold as a slave in Egypt, became next to Pharaoh the chief man in all the country!
During the next seven years, there never had been such harvests, and Joseph went about gathering up the great loads of grain into all the storehouses.
Then came the terrible famine. No grain grew in the fields. But Joseph was ready. The people came to him and bought grain to keep them from starving.
All this time Joseph's father thought he was dead and he never ceased to mourn for his boy. By and by the famine reached the land where Joseph's father lived and he sent his sons down to Egypt to buy food, but of course they did not know that the ruler of Egypt was Joseph.
Ten of Jacob's sons, each with his donkey, went to Egypt, but the youngest boy, Benjamin, Jacob kept at home.
When they came to the palace where Joseph lived, he knew at once that they were his [{186}] brothers, but they did not know him. At first Joseph treated them roughly. He said they were spies. But they told him they were all brothers who lived in the land of Canaan and their youngest brother and their father they had left at home. Joseph still seemed to be very angry and put them in prison for three days.
Then he let them out and told them to go home, all but Simeon, whom he would keep as a hostage, and bring back their youngest brother, and then he would believe that they spoke the truth.
They started back, each with his donkey loaded with grain. When they stopped at an inn they found that the money which they had paid for the grain was in the top of each sack.
They reached home at last and told their father all that had happened. The story made the old man very sad. He would not let them go back to Egypt. He said that he had lost two sons, Joseph and Simeon, and he could not let Benjamin, whom he loved next to Joseph, go with them.