8. Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not know who he was.
9. Then Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed about his brothers. Joseph said to his brothers, “You have not come to buy food! You are spies. You came to learn where we are weak.”
10. But the brothers said to him, “No, sir, we come as your servants. We have come only to buy food.
11. We are all brothers—we all have the same father. We are honest men. We have come only to buy food.”
12. Then Joseph said to them, “No, you have come to spy on us!”
13. And the brothers said, “No, sir, we come as servants from Canaan. We are all brothers, sons of the same father. There were twelve brothers in our family. Our youngest brother is still at home with our father, and the other brother died a long time ago.”
14. But Joseph said to them, “No! I can see that I am right. You are spies.
15. But I will let you prove that you are telling the truth. In the name of Pharaoh, I swear that I will not let you go until your youngest brother comes here.
16. One of you must go back to get your youngest brother while the rest of you stay here in prison. Then we can prove whether you are telling the truth or not. If you are not telling the truth, then by Pharaoh, I swear that you are spies!”
17. Then Joseph put them all in prison for three days.
18. After three days Joseph said to them, “I am a God-fearing man. Do this, and I will let you live.
19. If you are honest men, one of your brothers can stay here in prison, and the others can go and carry grain back to your people.
20. But then you must bring your youngest brother back here to me. Then I will know that you are telling the truth, and you will not have to die.” The brothers agreed to this.
21. They said to each other, “We are being punished for the bad thing we did to our younger brother Joseph. We saw the trouble he was in. He begged us to save him, but we refused to listen. So now we are in trouble.”
22. Then Reuben said to them, “I told you not to do anything bad to that boy, but you refused to listen to me. Now we are being punished for his death.”
23-24. Joseph was using an interpreter to talk to his brothers, so the brothers did not know that he understood their language. He heard and understood everything they said, and that made him want to cry. So he turned away and left the room. When he came back, he took one of the brothers, Simeon, and tied him up while the others watched.
25. Joseph told the servants to fill the bags with grain. The brothers had given Joseph the money for the grain, but he didn’t keep the money. He put the money in their bags of grain. Then he gave them what they would need for their trip back home.
26. So the brothers put the grain on their donkeys and left.