# Genesis 42 📖: Joseph's Brothers Come to Egypt [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-Genesis Overview]] | [[Genesis 41]] | [[Genesis 43]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ### Joseph’s Brothers in Egypt [[#Verse 01.]] When Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why are you looking at each other?”  [[#Verse 02.]] He then said, “Look, I hear that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy grain for us so that we may live and not die.” [[#Verse 03.]] So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.  [[#Verse 04.]] But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, “What if some accident happens to him?” [[#Verse 05.]] So Israel’s sons came to buy grain among the other travelers, for the famine was severe in the land of Canaan. [[#Verse 06.]] Now Joseph was the ruler of the country, the one who sold grain to all the people of the country. Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the ground.  [[#Verse 07.]] When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger to them and spoke to them harshly. He asked, “Where do you come from?” They answered, “From the land of Canaan, to buy grain for food.” [[#Verse 08.]] Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him.  [[#Verse 09.]] Then Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them, and he said to them, “You are spies; you have come to see if our land is vulnerable!” [[#Verse 10.]] But they exclaimed, “No, my lord! Your servants have come to buy grain for food!  [[#Verse 11.]] We are all the sons of one man; we are honest men! Your servants are not spies.” [[#Verse 12.]] “No,” he insisted, “but you have come to see if our land is vulnerable.”  [[#Verse 13.]] They replied, “Your servants are from a family of twelve brothers. We are the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is with our father at this time, and one is no longer alive.” [[#Verse 14.]] But Joseph told them, “It is just as I said to you: You are spies!  [[#Verse 15.]] You will be tested in this way: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not depart from this place unless your youngest brother comes here.  [[#Verse 16.]] One of you must go and get your brother, while the rest of you remain in prison. In this way your words may be tested to see if you are telling the truth. If not, then, as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!”  [[#Verse 17.]] He imprisoned them all for three days.  [[#Verse 18.]] On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do as I say and you will live, for I fear God.  [[#Verse 19.]] If you are honest men, leave one of your brothers confined here in prison while the rest of you go and take grain back for your hungry families.  [[#Verse 20.]] But you must bring your youngest brother to me. Then your words will be verified and you will not die.” They did as he said. [[#Verse 21.]] They said to one another, “Surely we’re being punished because of our brother, because we saw how distressed he was when he cried to us for mercy, but we refused to listen. That is why this distress has come on us!” [[#Verse 22.]] Reuben said to them, “Didn’t I say to you, ‘Don’t sin against the boy,’ but you wouldn’t listen? So now we must pay for shedding his blood!”  [[#Verse 23.]] (Now they did not know that Joseph could understand them, for he was speaking through an interpreter.)  [[#Verse 24.]] He turned away from them and wept. When he turned around and spoke to them again, he had Simeon taken from them and tied up before their eyes. [[#Verse 25.]] Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to return each man’s money to his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. His orders were carried out.  [[#Verse 26.]] So they loaded their grain on their donkeys and left. [[#Verse 27.]] When one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey at their resting place, he saw his money in the mouth of his sack. [[#Verse 28.]] He said to his brothers, “My money was returned! Here it is in my sack!” They were dismayed; they turned trembling to one another and said, “What in the world has God done to us?” [[#Verse 29.]] They returned to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan and told him all the things that had happened to them, saying,  [[#Verse 30.]] “The man, the lord of the land, spoke harshly to us and treated us as if we were spying on the land. [[#Verse 31.]] But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we are not spies!  [[#Verse 32.]] We are from a family of twelve brothers; we are the sons of one father. One is no longer alive, and the youngest is with our father at this time in the land of Canaan.’ [[#Verse 33.]] “Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘This is how I will find out if you are honest men. Leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for your hungry households and go.  [[#Verse 34.]] But bring your youngest brother back to me so I will know that you are honest men and not spies. Then I will give your brother back to you and you may move about freely in the land.’” [[#Verse 35.]] When they were emptying their sacks, there was each man’s bag of money in his sack! When they and their father saw the bags of money, they were afraid.  [[#Verse 36.]] Their father Jacob said to them, “You are making me childless! Joseph is gone. Simeon is gone. And now you want to take Benjamin! Everything is against me.” [[#Verse 37.]] Then Reuben said to his father, “You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my care and I will bring him back to you.”  [[#Verse 38.]] But Jacob replied, “My son will not go down there with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. If an accident happens to him on the journey you have to make, then you will bring down my gray hair in sorrow to the grave.” ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. ###### Verse 22. ###### Verse 23. ###### Verse 24. ###### Verse 25. ###### Verse 26. ###### Verse 27. ###### Verse 28. ###### Verse 29. ###### Verse 30. ###### Verse 31. ###### Verse 32. ###### Verse 33. ###### Verse 34. ###### Verse 35. ###### Verse 36. ###### Verse 37. ###### Verse 38. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. Joseph spoke through an interpreter so his brothers would not know he understood them (42:23). 2. The brothers bowed with their faces to the ground (42:6), fulfilling Joseph's dream in 37:7. 3. Joseph accused them of being spies who came to see the land's weaknesses (42:9). 4. Joseph held them in custody for three days (42:17). 5. Simeon was held as a prisoner (42:24), perhaps because Reuben, the oldest, had tried to save Joseph. 6. The brothers' money was returned in their sacks (42:25, 35), which filled them with fear. 7. Joseph turned away and wept when he heard their confession (42:24). 8. Reuben offered his own two sons as a guarantee (42:37). 9. Jacob refused to send Benjamin, the only son left from Rachel (42:38). 10. Grain was usually carried in sacks on donkeys along trade routes. ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the brother who knows us before we know Him. Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him (42:8), and Jesus came to His own, and they did not recognize Him (John 1:10-11). ## 🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. Joseph's brothers bowed to him, fulfilling his dream (42:6). How does God's word come true even when we forget it? 2. The brothers admitted their guilt over Joseph (42:21). How does unconfessed guilt resurface years later? 3. Jacob said everything was against him (42:36). How do we respond when circumstances seem to say God is against us? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 6: Joseph's brothers bow down before him. - 📖 verse 21: The brothers admit their guilt concerning Joseph. - 📖 verse 36: Jacob believes everything is against him. ## 🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference - 🔗 [[Genesis 37#Verse 05.|Genesis 37:5-11]] - Joseph's dreams. - 🔗 [[John 01#Verse 10.|John 1:10-11]] - The world did not recognize Him. - 🔗 [[Numbers 32#Verse 23.|Numbers 32:23]] - Your sin will find you out. - 🔗 [[Romans 08#Verse 28.|Romans 8:28]] - God works all things for good. - 🔗 [[Psalm 32#Verse 03.|Psalm 32:3-5]] - The relief of confession. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection 📝 SOAP: [[Genesis 42- SOAP|When There Are No Good Choices]] ## 📂 Internal Notes