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.