Genesis 44

¹Then he commanded the steward of his house , Fill the men’s sacks with food , as much as they can carry , and put each man’s money in the mouth of his sack ,

²and put my cup , the silver cup , in the mouth of the sack of the youngest , with his money for the grain . And he did as Joseph told him .

³As soon as the morning was light , the men were sent away with their donkeys .

⁴They had gone only a short distance from the city . Now Joseph said to his steward , Up , follow after the men , and when you overtake them, say to them, Why have you repaid evil for good ?

⁵Is it not from this that my lord drinks , and by this that he practices divination ? You have done evil in doing this.

⁶When he overtook them, he spoke to them these words .

⁷They said to him, Why does my lord speak such words as these ? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing !

⁸Behold , the money that we found in the mouths of our sacks we brought back to you from the land of Canaan . How then could we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house ?

⁹Whichever of your servants is found with it shall die , and we also will be my lord’s servants .

¹⁰He said , Let it be as you say : he who is found with it shall be my servant , and the rest of you shall be innocent .

¹¹Then each man quickly lowered his sack to the ground , and each man opened his sack .

¹²And he searched , beginning with the eldest and ending with the youngest . And the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack .

¹³Then they tore their clothes , and every man loaded his donkey , and they returned to the city .

¹⁴When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house , he was still there . They fell before him to the ground .

¹⁵Joseph said to them, What deed is this that you have done ? Do you not know that a man like me can indeed practice divination ?

¹⁶And Judah said , What shall we say to my lord ? What shall we speak ? Or how can we clear ourselves ? God has found out the guilt of your servants ; behold , we are my lord’s servants , both we and he also in whose hand the cup has been found .

¹⁷But he said , Far be it from me that I should do so ! Only the man in whose hand the cup was found shall be my servant . But as for you, go up in peace to your father .

¹⁸Then Judah went up to him and said , Oh, my lord , please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears , and let not your anger burn against your servant , for you are like Pharaoh himself.

¹⁹My lord asked his servants , saying , Have you a father , or a brother ?

²⁰And we said to my lord , We have a father , an old man , and a young brother, the child of his old age . His brother is dead , and he alone is left of his mother’s children, and his father loves him.

²¹Then you said to your servants , Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.

²²We said to my lord , The boy cannot leave his father , for if he should leave his father, his father would die .

²³Then you said to your servants , Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall not see my face again .

²⁴When we went back to your servant my father , we told him the words of my lord .

²⁵And when our father said , Go again , buy us a little food ,

²⁶we said , We cannot go down . If our youngest brother goes with us, then we will go down . For we cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.

²⁷Then your servant my father said to us, You know that my wife bore me two sons.

²⁸One left me, and I said , Surely he has been torn to pieces , and I have never seen him since .

²⁹If you take this one also from me , and harm happens to him , you will bring down my gray hairs in evil to Sheol .

³⁰Now therefore, as soon as I come to your servant my father , and the boy is not with us, then, as his life is bound up in the boy’s life ,

³¹as soon as he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die , and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol .

³²For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father , saying , If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life .

³³Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord , and let the boy go back with his brothers .

³⁴For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father .