17. He imprisoned them all for three days.
18. On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do as I say and you will live, for I fear God.
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.
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.
21. They said to one other, “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!”
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!”
23. (Now they did not know that Joseph could understand them, for he was speaking through an interpreter.)
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.
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.
26. So they loaded their grain on their donkeys and left.
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.
28. He said to his brothers, “My money was returned! Here it is in my sack!” They were dismayed; they turned trembling one to another and said, “What in the world has God done to us?”
29. They returned to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan and told him all the things that had happened to them, saying,
30. “The man, the lord of the land, spoke harshly to us and treated us as if we were spying on the land.