Genesis 43:1–44:34
43 Now the famine was still severe in the land.n 2 So when they had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt,o their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little more food.”p
3 But Judahq said to him, “The man warned us solemnly, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’r 4 If you will send our brother along with us, we will go down and buy food for you.s 5 But if you will not send him, we will not go down, because the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.t’ ”
6 Israelu asked, “Why did you bring this troublev on me by telling the man you had another brother?”
7 They replied, “The man questioned us closely about ourselves and our family. ‘Is your father still living?’w he asked us. ‘Do you have another brother?’x We simply answered his questions. How were we to know he would say, ‘Bring your brother down here’?”y
8 Then Judahz said to Israela his father, “Send the boy along with me and we will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die.b 9 I myself will guarantee his safety; you can hold me personally responsible for him.c If I do not bring him back to you and set him here before you, I will bear the blamed before you all my life.e 10 As it is, if we had not delayed,f we could have gone and returned twice.”
11 Then their father Israelg said to them, “If it must be, then do this: Put some of the best productsh of the land in your bags and take them down to the man as a gifti—a little balmj and a little honey, some spicesk and myrrh,l some pistachio nuts and almonds. 12 Take double the amountm of silver with you, for you must return the silver that was put back into the mouths of your sacks.n Perhaps it was a mistake. 13 Take your brother also and go back to the man at once.o 14 And may God Almightya p grant you mercyq before the man so that he will let your other brother and Benjamin come back with you.r As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.”s
15 So the men took the gifts and double the amount of silver,t and Benjamin also. They hurriedu down to Egypt and presented themselvesv to Joseph. 16 When Joseph saw Benjaminw with them, he said to the steward of his house,x “Take these men to my house, slaughter an animal and prepare a meal;y they are to eat with me at noon.”
17 The man did as Joseph told him and took the men to Joseph’s house.z 18 Now the men were frighteneda when they were taken to his house.b They thought, “We were brought here because of the silver that was put back into our sacksc the first time. He wants to attack usd and overpower us and seize us as slavese and take our donkeys.f”
19 So they went up to Joseph’s stewardg and spoke to him at the entrance to the house. 20 “We beg your pardon, our lord,” they said, “we came down here the first time to buy food.h 21 But at the place where we stopped for the night we opened our sacks and each of us found his silver—the exact weight—in the mouth of his sack. So we have brought it back with us.i 22 We have also brought additional silver with us to buy food. We don’t know who put our silver in our sacks.”
23 “It’s all right,” he said. “Don’t be afraid. Your God, the God of your father,j has given you treasure in your sacks;k I received your silver.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.l
24 The steward took the men into Joseph’s house,m gave them water to wash their feetn and provided fodder for their donkeys. 25 They prepared their giftso for Joseph’s arrival at noon,p because they had heard that they were to eat there.
26 When Joseph came home,q they presented to him the giftsr they had brought into the house, and they bowed down before him to the ground.s 27 He asked them how they were, and then he said, “How is your aged fathert you told me about? Is he still living?”u
28 They replied, “Your servant our fatherv is still alive and well.” And they bowed down,w prostrating themselves before him.x
29 As he looked about and saw his brother Benjamin, his own mother’s son,y he asked, “Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?”z And he said, “God be gracious to you,a my son.” 30 Deeply movedb at the sight of his brother, Joseph hurried out and looked for a place to weep. He went into his private room and weptc there.
31 After he had washed his face, he came out and, controlling himself,d said, “Serve the food.”e
32 They served him by himself, the brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews,f for that is detestable to Egyptians.g 33 The men had been seated before him in the order of their ages, from the firstbornh to the youngest;i and they looked at each other in astonishment. 34 When portions were served to them from Joseph’s table, Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as anyone else’s.j So they feastedk and drank freely with him.
44 Now Joseph gave these instructions to the steward of his house:l “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each man’s silver in the mouth of his sack.m 2 Then put my cup,n the silver one,o in the mouth of the youngest one’s sack, along with the silver for his grain.” And he did as Joseph said.
3 As morning dawned, the men were sent on their way with their donkeys.p 4 They had not gone far from the city when Joseph said to his steward,q “Go after those men at once, and when you catch up with them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil?r 5 Isn’t this the cups my master drinks from and also uses for divination?t This is a wicked thing you have done.’ ”
6 When he caught up with them, he repeated these words to them. 7 But they said to him, “Why does my lord say such things? Far be it from your servantsu to do anything like that!v 8 We even brought back to you from the land of Canaanw the silverx we found inside the mouths of our sacks.y So why would we stealz silver or gold from your master’s house? 9 If any of your servantsa is found to have it, he will die;b and the rest of us will become my lord’s slaves.c”
10 “Very well, then,” he said, “let it be as you say. Whoever is found to have itd will become my slave;e the rest of you will be free from blame.”f
11 Each of them quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it. 12 Then the stewardg proceeded to search,h beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest.i And the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.j 13 At this, they tore their clothes.k Then they all loaded their donkeysl and returned to the city.
14 Joseph was still in the housem when Judahn and his brothers came in, and they threw themselves to the ground before him.o 15 Joseph said to them, “What is this you have done?p Don’t you know that a man like me can find things out by divination?q”
16 “What can we say to my lord?r” Judahs replied. “What can we say? How can we prove our innocence?t God has uncovered your servants’u guilt. We are now my lord’s slavesv—we ourselves and the one who was found to have the cup.w”
17 But Joseph said, “Far be it from me to do such a thing!x Only the man who was found to have the cup will become my slave.y The rest of you, go back to your father in peace.”z
18 Then Judaha went up to him and said: “Pardon your servant, my lord,b let me speak a word to my lord. Do not be angryc with your servant, though you are equal to Pharaoh himself. 19 My lord asked his servants,d ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’e 20 And we answered, ‘We have an aged father, and there is a young son born to him in his old age.f His brother is dead,g and he is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.’h
21 “Then you said to your servants,i ‘Bring him down to me so I can see him for myself.’j 22 And we said to my lord,k ‘The boy cannot leave his father; if he leaves him, his father will die.’l 23 But you told your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’m 24 When we went back to your servant my father,n we told him what my lordo had said.p
25 “Then our father said, ‘Go back and buy a little more food.’q 26 But we said, ‘We cannot go down. Only if our youngest brother is with us will we go. We cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’r
27 “Your servant my fathers said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons.t 28 One of them went away from me, and I said, “He has surely been torn to pieces.”u And I have not seen him since.v 29 If you take this one from me too and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray head down to the gravew in misery.’x
30 “So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father,y and if my father, whose life is closely bound up with the boy’s life,z 31 sees that the boy isn’t there, he will die.a Your servantsb will bring the gray head of our father down to the gravec in sorrow. 32 Your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father. I said, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before you, my father, all my life!’d
33 “Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord’s slavee in place of the boy,f and let the boy return with his brothers. 34 How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the miseryg that would come on my father.”h