Genesis 44:16–45:5

16  And Judah said, What shall we say to my lord? what shall we speak, and how justify ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of thy servants; behold, we are my lord’s bondmen, both we, and he in whose hand the cup has been found. 17  And he said, Far be it from me to do so! The man in whose hand the cup has been found, he shall be my bondman; but as for you, go up in peace to your father.

18  Then Judah came near to him, and said, Ah! my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not thine anger burn against thy servant; for thou art even as Pharaoh. 19  My lord asked his servants, saying, Have ye a father, or a brother? 20  And we said to my lord, We have an aged father, and a child born to him in his old age, yet young; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother; and his father loves him. 21  And thou saidst unto thy servants, Bring him down to me, that I may set mine eye on him. 22  And we said to my lord, The youth cannot leave his father: if he should leave his father, his father would die. 23  And thou saidst to thy servants, Unless your youngest brother come down with you, ye shall see my face no more. 24  And it came to pass when we came up to thy servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. 25  And our father said, Go again, buy us a little food. 26  But we said, We cannot go down: if our youngest brother be with us, then will we go down; for we cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us. 27  And thy servant my father said to us, Ye know that my wife bore me two sons; 28  and the one went out from me, and I said, He must certainly have been torn in pieces; and I have not seen him again hitherto. 29  And if ye take this one also from me, and mischief should befall him, ye will bring down my grey hairs with misery to Sheol. 30  And now, when I come to thy servant my father, and the lad is not with us, —seeing that his life is bound up with his life, 31  it will come to pass when he sees that the lad is not there, that he will die; and thy servants will bring down the grey hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. 32  For thy servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, If I bring him not to thee, then I shall be guilty toward my father all my days. 33  And now, let thy servant stay, I pray thee, instead of the lad a bondman to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brethren; 34  for how should I go up to my father if the lad were not with me? —lest I see the evil that would come on my father.

Chapter 45

1  And Joseph could not control himself before all them that stood by him, and he cried, Put every man out from me! And no man stood with him when Joseph made himself known to his brethren. 2  And he raised his voice in weeping; and the Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard. 3  And Joseph said to his brethren, I am Joseph. Does my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him, for they were troubled at his presence. 4  And Joseph said to his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. 5  And now, be not grieved, and be not angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither, for God sent me before you to preserve life.