JOSEPH wants to know if his 10 older brothers are still mean and unkind. So he says: ‘You are spies. You have come to find where our country is weak.’

‘No, we are not,’ they say. ‘We are honest men. We are all brothers. We were 12. But one brother is no more, and the youngest is home with our father.’

Joseph pretends not to believe them. He keeps the brother named Simʹe·on in prison, and lets the others take food and go home. But he tells them: ‘When you come back, you must bring your youngest brother with you.’