Bible Verses About Commerce

and spoke to 'Efron in their hearing: "Please be good enough to listen to me. I will pay the price of the field; accept it from me, and I will bury my dead there."

But 'Efron answered Avraham

"My lord, listen to me. A plot of land worth 400 silver shekels - what is that between me and you? Just bury your dead."

Avraham got the point of what 'Efron had said, so he weighed out for 'Efron the amount of money he had specified in the presence of the sons of Het, 400 silver shekels of the weight accepted among merchants [ten pounds].

Look," he said, "I've heard that there's grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us from there, so that we can stay alive and not die!"

Thus Yosef's ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt,

except for Binyamin, Yosef's brother. Ya'akov did not send him with his brothers, because he was afraid something might happen to him.

The sons of Isra'el came to buy along with the others that came, since the famine extended to the land of Kena'an.

Yosef was governor over the land; it was he who sold to all the people of the land. Now when Yosef's brothers came and prostrated themselves before him on the ground,

Yosef saw his brothers and recognized them; but he acted toward them as if he were a stranger and spoke harshly with them. He asked them, "Where are you from?" They answered, "From the land of Kena'an to buy food."

So Yosef recognized his brothers, but they didn't recognize him.

Remembering the dreams he had had about them, Yosef said to them, "You are spies! You've come to spot our country's weaknesses!"

"No, my lord,"they replied, "your servants have come to buy food.

We're all the sons of one man, we're upright men; your servants aren't spies."

"No," he said to them, "you've come to spy out our country's weaknesses."

They said, "We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Kena'an; the youngest stayed with our father, and another one is gone."

"Just as I said,"replied Yosef, "you're spies!

Here's how you can prove you're not lying: as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave here unless your youngest brother comes here.

Send one of you, and let him bring your brother. Meanwhile, you will be kept in custody. This will prove whether there is any truth in what you say. Otherwise, as Pharaoh lives, you are certainly spies."

Then he put all of them together in prison for three days.

On the third day, Yosef said to them, "Do what I say, and stay alive, for I fear God.

If you are upright men, let one of your brothers remain incarcerated in the prison you're being kept in, while you go and carry grain back to relieve the famine in your homes.

But bring your youngest brother to me. In this way your statements will be verified, and you won't die." So they did it.

They said to each other, "We are in fact guilty concerning our brother. He was in distress and pleaded with us; we saw it and wouldn't listen. That's why this distress has come upon us now."

Re'uven answered them, "Didn't I tell you, 'Don't wrong the boy'? But you wouldn't hear of it. Now comes the reckoning for his blood!"