Genesis 44
1 Then Joseph instructed the steward of his house: “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each man’s silver at the opening of his sack.
2 And put my cup, the silver cup, at the opening of the youngest one’s sack, along with the silver for his grain.” He did as Joseph had said.
3 At the first light of morning, the men were sent off, they and their donkeys.
4 They had left the city but had not gone far when Joseph said to the steward of his house: “Get up, go after those men, and when you catch up with them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil?
5 Isn’t this the cup my master drinks from, and the one he uses for divination? What you have done is wrong.’”
6 He caught up with them and said these words to them.
7 They answered him: “Why does my master speak like this? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing!
8 Look, the silver we found at the opening of our sacks, we brought back to you from the land of Canaan. How could we steal silver or gold from your master’s house?
9 If the cup is found with any of your servants, let him die, and the rest of us will become my master’s slaves.”
10 He said: “Very well, let it be as you say: the one with whom it is found will be my slave, and the rest of you will be cleared.”
11 Quickly, each man lowered his sack to the ground, and each opened his sack.
12 He searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest, and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.
13 Then they tore their clothes. Each man loaded his donkey, and they returned to the city.
14 Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, where he was still waiting, and they fell to the ground before him.
15 Joseph said to them: “What have you done? Didn’t you know that a man like me can practice divination?”
16 Judah answered: “What can we say to my master? What can we speak? How can we clear ourselves? God has exposed the guilt of your servants. Here we are, my master’s slaves, both we and the one in whose hand the cup was found.”
17 But he said: “Far be it from me to do that! The man in whose hand the cup was found will be my slave; as for the rest of you, go back in peace to your father.”
18 Then Judah approached him and said: “Please, my master, let your servant say a word in my master’s hearing. Do not let your anger burn against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh.
19 My master asked his servants: ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’
20 And we said to my master: ‘We have an elderly father and a young boy, the youngest, born to him in his old age. His brother is dead; he is the only one left of his mother, and his father loves him.’
21 Then you said to your servants: ‘Bring him to me so I can set my eyes on him.’
22 And we said to my master: ‘The boy cannot leave his father. If he leaves his father, he will die.’
23 But you said to your servants: ‘If your youngest brother does not come down with you, you will never see my face again.’”
24 “When we went back up to your servant, my father, we told him my master’s words.
25 Our father said: ‘Go back and buy a little food for us.’
26 We said: ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, we will go down, because we cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’
27 Then your servant, my father, said to us: ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons.
28 One left me, and I said, “He must have been torn to pieces.” I have not seen him again to this day.
29 If you take this one from me too, and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.’
30 So now, when I return to your servant, my father, the boy will not be with us, and his life is bound up with the boy’s life.
31 When he sees that the boy is not there, he will die, and your servants will bring down your servant, our father, with grief, to Sheol in his old age.
32 For your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before my father all my life.’
33 So now, please let your servant stay as my master’s slave in the boy’s place, and let the boy go back with his brothers.
34 For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I could not bear to see the disaster that would overtake my father.”
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