Genesis 42 Background Information with Maps and Images (Picture Study Bible - Genesis) Free Bible Online

Genesis 42

1 - Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, "Why do you look at one another?"

2 - He said, "Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there, and buy for us from there, so that we may live, and not die."

3 - Joseph's ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.

4 - But Jacob didn't send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with his brothers; for he said, "Lest perhaps harm happen to him."

5 - The sons of Israel came to buy among those who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.

6 - Joseph was the governor over the land. It was he who sold to all the people of the land. Joseph's brothers came, and bowed themselves down to him with their faces to the earth.

7 - Joseph saw his brothers, and he recognized them, but acted like a stranger to them, and spoke roughly with them. He said to them, "Where did you come from?"They said, "From the land of Canaan to buy food."

8 - Joseph recognized his brothers, but they didn't recognize him.

9 - Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed about them, and said to them, "You are spies! You have come to see the nakedness of the land."

10 - They said to him, "No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food.

11 - We are all one man's sons; we are honest men. Your servants are not spies."

12 - He said to them, "No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land!"

13 - They said, "We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and behold, the youngest is today with our father, and one is no more."

14 - Joseph said to them, "It is like I told you, saying, 'You are spies!'

15 - By this you shall be tested. By the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go out from here, unless your youngest brother comes here.

16 - Send one of you, and let him get your brother, and you shall be bound, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you, or else by the life of Pharaoh surely you are spies."

17 - He put them all together into custody for three days.

18 - Joseph said to them the third day, "Do this, and live, for I fear God.

19 - If you are honest men, then let one of your brothers be bound in your prison; but you go, carry grain for the famine of your houses.

20 - Bring your youngest brother to me; so will your words be verified, and you won't die."They did so.

21 - They said to one another, "We are certainly guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us, and we wouldn't listen. Therefore this distress has come upon us."

22 - Reuben answered them, saying, "Didn't I tell you, saying, 'Don't sin against the child,' and you wouldn't listen? Therefore also, behold, his blood is required."

23 - They didn't know that Joseph understood them; for there was an interpreter between them.

24 - He turned himself away from them, and wept. Then he returned to them, and spoke to them, and took Simeon from among them, and bound him before their eyes.

25 - Then Joseph gave a command to fill their bags with grain, and to restore each man's money into his sack, and to give them food for the way. So it was done to them.

26 - They loaded their donkeys with their grain, and departed from there.

27 - As one of them opened his sack to give his donkey food in the lodging place, he saw his money. Behold, it was in the mouth of his sack.

28 - He said to his brothers, "My money is restored! Behold, it is in my sack!" Their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, "What is this that God has done to us?"

29 - They came to Jacob their father, to the land of Canaan, and told him all that had happened to them, saying,

30 - "The man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly with us, and took us for spies of the country.

31 - We said to him, 'We are honest men. We are no spies.

32 - We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is today with our father in the land of Canaan.'

33 - The man, the lord of the land, said to us, 'By this I will know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for the famine of your houses, and go your way.

34 - Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I will know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. So I will deliver your brother to you, and you shall trade in the land.'"

35 - As they emptied their sacks, behold, each man's bundle of money was in his sack. When they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid.

36 - Jacob, their father, said to them, "You have bereaved me of my children! Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin away. All these things are against me."

37 - Reuben spoke to his father, saying, "Kill my two sons, if I don't bring him to you. Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him to you again."

38 - He said, "My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he only is left. If harm happens to him along the way in which you go, then you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol."

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Genesis 42 Images and Notes

Brief Summary: Jacob sends his sons to the land of Egypt to buy grain, the sons of Jacob bow before Joseph and they do not recognize him, Joseph accuses them harshly, Joseph imprisons Simeon the second oldest, Joseph sends them back to the land of Israel to bring him Benjamin.

Outline
1 Jacob sends his ten sons to buy corn in Egypt
16 They are imprisoned by Joseph as spies
18 But are freed, on one condition that they bring Benjamin
21 Their remorse on account of Joseph
24 Simeon is kept as a pledge
25 They return home with corn, and with their money
29 Their report to Jacob
36 Jacob refuses to send Benjamin

Map of the Journeys of Abraham

The Journeys of Abram and Lot

Quick Reference Map

Map of the Nile River and Egypt

Ancient Customs
Famine
Governor
Bowed down
Pharaoh
Egyptian prison
Interpreter

Ancient People
Jacob, Joseph, Joseph's brothers

Geography
Egypt
The land of Canaan

The Old Testament

Genesis Resources

Creation
Adam and Eve
The Flood
The Tower of Babel
Abraham the First Hebrew
Isaac, Son of Promise
Jacob and the 12 Tribes
Joseph and Egypt

Bibliography Information

Free Bible Online - Picture Study Bible, King James Version. New York: American Bible Society: www.free-bible.com, 1995-2013. Bible History Picture Study Bible. Dec 22, 2024.

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