Genesis 44

1Then he commanded the one over his house, saying, “Fill the men's sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man's silver in the mouth of his sack.”

2And put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the youngest one's sack, along with the silver for his grain purchase." And he did according to Joseph's word, which he had spoken.

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

4They had gone out of the city; they had not gone far, when Joseph said to the one over his house, “Get up, pursue the men, and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good?’”

5Is this not the one from which my master drinks and by which he indeed practices divination? You have done evil in doing this.

6He caught up with them and spoke these words to them:

7And they said to him, “Why does my lord speak words like these? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing.”

8Look, the silver that we found in the mouths of our sacks we brought back to you from the land of Canaan. So how could we steal silver or gold from your master's house?

9Whichever of your servants it is found with, let him die, and we also will become servants to my lord.

10And he said, “Even now, let it be according to your words. The one with whom it is found will be my servant, and you will be innocent.”

11So each man hurried and lowered his sack to the ground, and each man opened his sack.

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

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

14Then Judah and his brothers came into Joseph’s house. He was still there, and they fell to the ground before him.

15And Joseph said to them, “What is this deed that you have done? Did you not know that a man like me indeed practices divination?”

16And Judah said, “What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how shall we justify ourselves? God has found out the guilt of your servants. Here we are, my lord’s servants, both we and the one in whose hand the cup was found.”

17But he said, "Far be it from me to do this. The man in whose hand the cup was found—he shall be my servant, but you may go up in peace to your father."

18Then Judah came near to him and said, “Please, my lord, let your servant speak a word in my lord’s hearing, and do not let your anger burn against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh.”

19My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’

20And we said to my lord, ‘We have an elderly father, and a young son born in his old age. His brother is dead, so he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him.’

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

22And we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, he would die.’

23And you said to your servants, ‘If your youngest brother does not come down with you, you shall not continue to see my face.’

24And when we went up to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord.

25Then our father said, ‘Go back; buy us a little food.’

26But we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is 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 not seen him until now.

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

30Now, when I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us—his life being bound up with the boy’s life—

31then, when he sees that the boy is not there, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hair of your servant our father to Sheol in sorrow.

32For your servant became surety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him to you, then I will bear the blame before my father all my days.’

33So now, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go up with his brothers.

34For how can I go up to my father if the boy is not with me? Otherwise, I would have to see the disaster that would come upon my father.