And Joseph said unto them, "That is it that I spoke unto you, saying, 'Ye are spies': hereby ye shall be proved: 'by the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither. Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be bound, that your words may be proved, whether there be truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies." And he put them all together into prison three days.

And Joseph said unto them the third day, "This do, and live; for I fear God: if ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in your prison house; but go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses: and bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die."

And they did so. And they said one to another, "We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us."

And Reuben answered them, saying, "Spoke I not unto you, saying, 'Do not sin against the child'; and ye would not hear? therefore also, behold, his blood is required."

And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for there was an interpreter between them.

And he turned himself about from them, and wept; [{113}] and he returned to them, and spoke to them, and took Simeon from among them, and bound him before their eyes. Then Joseph commanded to fill their vessels with corn, and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give them provisions for the way: and thus was it done unto them. And they loaded their asses with their corn, and departed thence. And as one of them opened his sack to feed his ass in the lodging place, he espied his money; and, behold, it was in the mouth of his sack. And he said unto his brethren, "My money is restored; and, lo, it is even in my sack": and their heart failed them, and they turned trembling one to another, saying, "What is this that God hath done unto us?"

And they came to Jacob their father to the land of Canaan, and told him all that had befallen them; saying, "The man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly with us, and took us for spies of the country. And we said to him, 'We are true men; we are no spies: we are twelve brethren, sons of our father; one is not, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.'

"And the man, the lord of the land, said unto us, 'Hereby shall I know that ye are true men; leave one of your brethren with me, and take corn for the famine of your houses, and go your way: and bring your youngest brother unto me: then shall I know that ye are no spies, but that ye are true men: so will I deliver you your brother, and ye shall traffic in the land.'"

And it came to pass as they emptied their sacks, that, behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack: and [{114}] when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid. And Jacob their father said unto them, "Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me."

And Reuben spoke unto his father, saying, "Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee: deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to thee again." And he said, "My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he only is left: if mischief befall him by the way in which ye go, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave."