Jacob had twelve sons but his favourite was Joseph. Joseph’s brothers were jealous so they conspired together and sold him as a slave to some traders heading for Egypt. They told their father that Joseph was dead.
The promised land is crumbling under the dry rot of a severe famine, and Jacob's lost-and-found son Joseph has invited the family to move down to Egypt, where there would be food and a place for them to wait it out.
Joseph's brothers return to Egypt to buy food a second time and are treated royally but when they leave Joseph's special cup ends up in the sack of Benjamin and they are hauled back to Egypt in great fear.