42:1 雅各伯见埃及有粮食出售，便对自己的儿子们说：「你们为什么彼此观望﹖」
When Jacob learned that grain rations were available in Egypt, he said to his sons: "Why do you keep gaping at one another? 42:2 继而说：「我听说在埃及有粮食出售，你们下到那里，给我们购买些粮食，叫我们好活下去，不致饿死。」
hear," he went on, "that rations of grain are available in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, that we may stay alive rather than die of hunger." 42:3 于是若瑟的十个哥哥下到埃及买粮食去了。
So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy an emergency supply of grain from Egypt. 42:4 至于若瑟的弟弟本雅明，雅各伯没有叫他与哥哥们同去，因为他想：怕他遇害。
It was only Joseph’s full brother Benjamin that Jacob did not send with the rest, for he thought some disaster might befall him. 42:5 这样以色列的儿子们也夹在前来购粮的人中，前来购粮，因为客纳罕地也发生了饥荒。
Thus, since there was famine in the land of Canaan also, the sons of Israel were among those who came to procure rations. 42:6 当时在地方上执政的人是若瑟，给地方上所有人民配售粮食的也是他。若瑟的哥哥们来了，就俯首至地，向他下拜。
It was Joseph, as governor of the country, who dispensed the rations to all the people. When Joseph’s brothers came and knelt down before him with their faces to the ground, 42:7 若瑟一见他的哥哥们，就认出他们来，却装做生人，向他们说了一切严厉的话，问他们说：「你们是从那里来的﹖」他们答说：「我们是从客纳罕地来购买粮食的。」
he recognized them as soon as he saw them. But he concealed his own identity from them and spoke sternly to them. "Where do you come from?" he asked them. They answered, "From the land of Canaan, to procure food." 42:8 若瑟认出哥哥们来，他们却没有认出他来。
When Joseph recognized his brothers, although they did not recognize him, 42:9 于是若瑟想起了他昔日关于他们所作的梦，便对他们说：「你们是探子，前来刺探本地的虚实。」
he was reminded of the dreams he had about them. He said to them: "You are spies. You have come to see the nakedness of the land." 42:10 他们回答说：「我主!绝对不是：你的仆人们是来购买粮食的。
"No, my lord," they replied. "On the contrary, your servants have come to procure food. 42:11 我们全是一个人的儿子，我们是诚实人；你的仆人们从未做过探子。」
All of us are sons of the same man. We are honest men; your servants have never been spies." 42:12 若瑟对他们说：「不，你们前来必是为刺探此地的虚实。」
But he answered them: "Not so! You have come to see the nakedness of the land." 42:13 他们答说：「你的仆人们原是兄弟十二人，同是客纳罕地一个人的儿子；最小的现今在父亲那里，另一个已不在了。」
"We your servants," they said, "were twelve brothers, sons of a certain man in Canaan; but the youngest one is at present with our father, and the other one is gone." 42:14 若瑟对他们说：「我才说你们是探子；这话实在不错。
"It is just as I said," Joseph persisted; "you are spies. 42:15 为此我要考验你们：我指着法郎的生命起誓：如果你们最小的弟弟不到这里来，你们莫想离开此地。
This is how you shall be tested: unless your youngest brother comes here, I swear by the life of Pharaoh that you shall not leave here. 42:16 你们可由你们中派一个人回去，带你们的弟弟来，其它的人暂且拘留，以待证明你们的话是否诚实；如果不是真的，我指着法郎的生命起誓：你们必是探子。」
So send one of your number to get your brother, while the rest of you stay here under arrest. Thus shall your words be tested for their truth; if they are untrue, as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!" 42:17 于是在拘留所内拘禁了他们三天。
With that, he locked them up in the guardhouse for three days. 42:18 第三天，若瑟对他们说：「我原是个敬畏天主的人，你们愿意保全性命，应这样做：
On the third day Joseph said to them: "Do this, and you shall live; for I am a God-fearing man. 42:19 如果你们是诚实人，叫你们兄弟中一个人留在拘留所内，其余的人可带粮食回去，解救家中的饥荒。
If you have been honest, only one of your brothers need be confined in this prison, while the rest of you may go and take home provisions for your starving families. 42:20 然后给我带你们的小弟弟来，好证实你们的话，你们也不致于死。」他们就这样作了。
But you must come back to me with your youngest brother. Your words will thus be verified, and you will not die." To this they agreed. 42:21 他们彼此说：「我们实在该赔补加害我们兄弟的罪，因为他向我们哀求时，我们见了他心灵痛苦，竟不肯听；为此这场苦难才落到我们身上!」
To one another, however, they said: "Alas, we are being punished because of our brother. We saw the anguish of his heart when he pleaded with us, yet we paid no heed; that is why this anguish has now come upon us." 42:22 勒乌本就对他们说：「我岂不是对你们说过：不要伤害那孩子吗﹖你们却不肯听；看，现在要追讨他的血了。」
"Didn’t I tell you," broke in Reuben, "not to do wrong to the boy? But you wouldn’t listen! Now comes the reckoning for his blood." 42:23 他们原不知道若瑟都听得懂，因为在他们中有一翻译员。
They did not know, of course, that Joseph understood what they said, since he spoke with them through an interpreter. 42:24 若瑟就由他们前退出去哭了。然后又回来与他们交谈，由他们中提出西默盎在他们眼前将他捆绑起来。
But turning away from them, he wept. When he was able to speak to them again, he had Simeon taken from them and bound before their eyes. 42:25 若瑟遂吩咐人将他们的布袋装满了粮食，将各人的银钱仍放在各人的布袋内，并且还给了他们途中所需要的食物；人就对他们这样做了。
Then Joseph gave orders to have their containers filled with grain, their money replaced in each one’s sack, and provisions given them for their journey. After this had been done for them, 42:26 他们将购得的粮食驮在驴上，就从那里起身走了。
they loaded their donkeys with the rations and departed. 42:27 到了客栈，他们中一人打开了布袋拿料喂驴，看见自己的银钱仍在布袋口，
At the night encampment, when one of them opened his bag to give his donkey some fodder, he was surprised to see his money in the mouth of his bag. 42:28 遂对兄弟们说：「我的银钱退回来了；看，仍在我的袋里。」他们心惊起来，彼此战栗地说：「天主对我们所作的，是怎么一回事。」
"My money has been returned!" he cried out to his brothers. "Here it is in my bag!" At that their hearts sank. Trembling, they asked one another, "What is this that God has done to us?" 42:29 他们回到客纳罕地，他们的父亲雅各伯那里，将所遇见的事全告诉他说：
When they got back to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them. 42:30 「那地方的主人对我们说了一些严厉的话，将我们视作刺探那地方的人。
"The man who is lord of the country," they said, "spoke to us sternly and put us in custody as if we were spying on the land. 42:31 我们对他说：「我们是诚实人，决不是探子；
But we said to him: 'We are honest men; we have never been spies. 42:32 我们原是兄弟十二人，同一父亲的儿子，一个已不在了，最小的现在同我们的父亲在客纳罕地。
There were twelve of us brothers, sons of the same father; but one is gone, and the youngest one is at present with our father in the land of Canaan.' 42:33 那地方的主人对我们说：为叫我知道你们是诚实人，你们兄弟中一人留在我这里，其余的人带粮食回去解救家中的饥荒；
Then the man who is lord of the country said to us: ’this is how I shall know if you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, while the rest of you go home with rations for your starving families. 42:34 然后将你们的弟弟给我带来，那时我才能知道你们不是探子，确是诚实人，我将你们的兄弟还给你们，你们可在这地方自由行动。」
When you come back to me with your youngest brother, and I know that you are honest men and not spies, I will restore your brother to you, and you may move about freely in the land.'" 42:35 当他们倒自己的粮袋时，不料各人的钱囊仍在各人的袋内。他们和他们的父亲，一见钱囊，都害怕起来。
When they were emptying their sacks, there in each one’s sack was his moneybag! At the sight of their moneybags, they and their father were dismayed. 42:36 他们的父亲雅各伯对他们说：「你们总是使我丧失儿子：若瑟不在了，西默盎不在了，你们还要带走本雅明!这一切都落在我身上!」
Their father Jacob said to them: "Must you make me childless? Joseph is gone, and Simeon is gone, and now you would take away Benjamin! Why must such things always happen to me?" 42:37 勒乌本对他父亲说：「如果我不将他给你带回来，你可杀死我的两个儿子；只管将他交在我手里，我必再还给你。」
Then Reuben told his father: "Put him in my care, and I will bring him back to you. You may kill my own two sons if I do not return him to you." 42:38 雅各伯答说：「我儿子不能和你们一同下去，因为他哥哥死了，只剩下了他独自一个；如果他在你们行的路上遇到什么不幸，那你们就要使我这白发老人在忧苦中降入阴府了。」
But Jacob replied: "My son shall not go down with you. Now that his full brother is dead, he is the only one left. If some disaster should befall him on the journey you must make, you would send my white head down to the nether world in grief."