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and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, with no water in it.

And as they sat down to eat a meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh on their way down to Egypt.

Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him; for he is our brother, our own flesh." And they agreed.

Then they took Joseph's robe, slaughtered a young goat, and dipped the robe in its blood.

They sent the robe of many colors to their father and said, "We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son's robe or not."

The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he became their personal attendant. After they had been in custody for some time,

For I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing for which they should have put me in this dungeon."

Moreover, the seven thin, ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind-they are seven years of famine.

Under the authority of Pharaoh, let them collect all the excess food from these good years, that they may come and lay up the grain to be preserved as food in the cities.

When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he treated them as strangers and spoke harshly to them. "Where have you come from?" he asked. "From the land of Canaan," they replied. "We are here to buy food."

But they answered, "Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with our father, and one is no more."

Then bring your youngest brother to me so that your words can be verified, that you may not die." And to this they consented.

and they loaded the grain on their donkeys and departed.

At the place where they lodged for the night, one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey, and he saw his silver in the mouth of the sack.

"My money has been returned!" he said to his brothers. "It is here in my sack." Their hearts sank, and trembling, they turned to one another and said, "What is this that God has done to us?"

As they began emptying their sacks, there in each man's sack was his bag of silver! And when they and their father saw the bags of money, they were dismayed.

So when Jacob's sons had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, "Go back and buy a little more food for us."

They replied, "The man questioned us in detail about ourselves and our family: 'Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?' And we answered him accordingly. How could we possibly know that he would say, 'Bring your brother here'?"

So the men took these gifts, along with double the amount of money, and Benjamin as well. They made their way down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.

When Joseph saw Benjamin with his brothers, he said to the steward of his house, "Take these men to my house. Slaughter an animal and prepare it, for they shall dine with me at noon."