17 Then he put them in prison for three days.
18 On the third day Joseph said to them, “I am a God-fearing man, and I will spare your lives on one condition.
19 To prove that you are honest, one of you will stay in the prison where you have been kept; the rest of you may go and take back to your starving families the corn that you have bought.
20 Then you must bring your youngest brother to me. This will prove that you have been telling the truth, and I will not put you to death.”They agreed to this
21 and said to one another, “Yes, now we are suffering the consequences of what we did to our brother; we saw the great trouble he was in when he begged for help, but we would not listen. That is why we are in this trouble now.”
22 Reuben said, “I told you not to harm the boy, but you wouldn't listen. And now we are being paid back for his death.”
23 Joseph understood what they said, but they did not know it, because they had been speaking to him through an interpreter.