Genesis 42:16
Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies. Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies.
Joseph puts his brothers' claim to be honest men to proof by ordering one of them to go fetch Benjamin while the rest stay held in prison, so that their words may be proved true and otherwise they will be dealt with as spies. By that accusation and demand he seeks to draw out the truth about their home, especially about his father and Benjamin. He also means by it to discover whether they still carry the same haughty spirit they once showed, knowing their words may be deceptive. The terms press them hard, forcing a choice between risking Benjamin on the journey to Egypt and leaving the other brothers behind in prison.
The prospect fills them with fear of death or slavery and with grief that their father, already bereaved of Joseph, could lose Benjamin as well. Held in confinement under that threat, they turn back upon their cruelty to Joseph and recognize the distress now upon them as punishment for their sin.