12. Then Joseph said to them, “No! You have come to learn where this nation is weak!”
13. And they said, “We are 10 of 12 brothers. We are sons of the same father. We live in the land of Canaan. Our youngest brother is there with our father right now. And our other brother is gone.”
14. But Joseph said to them, “I can see I was right! You are spies!
15. But I will give you a way to prove you are telling the truth. As surely as the king lives, you will not leave this place until your youngest brother comes here.
16. One of you must go and get your brother. The rest of you will stay here in prison. We will see if you are telling the truth. If not, as surely as the king lives, you are spies.”
17. Then Joseph put them all in prison for three days.
18. On the third day Joseph said to them, “I am a God-fearing man. Do this thing, and I will let you live:
19. If you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here in prison. The rest of you go and carry grain back to feed your hungry families.
20. Then bring your youngest brother back here to me. If you do this, I will know you are telling the truth. Then you will not die.”The brothers agreed to this.
21. They said to each other, “We are being punished for what we did to our brother. We saw his trouble. He begged us to save him, but we refused to listen. That is why we are in this trouble now.”
22. Then Reuben said to them, “I told you not to harm the boy. But you refused to listen to me. So now we are being punished for what we did to him.”
23. When Joseph talked to his brothers, he used an interpreter. So they did not know that Joseph understood what they were saying.
24. Then Joseph left them and cried. After a short time he went back and spoke to them. He took Simeon and tied him up while the other brothers watched.
25. Joseph told his servants to fill his brothers’ bags with grain. They were to put the money the brothers had paid for the grain back in their bags. They were to give them things they would need for their trip back home. And the servants did this.
26. So the brothers put the grain on their donkeys and left.