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Joseph commanded the steward of his house: “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each man’s money in the mouth of his sack. 2 Then put my cup, the silver one, at the top of the youngest one’s sack, along with the money for his grain.” And he did as Joseph told him.
3 As the morning dawned, the men were sent off with their donkeys. 4 When they had only gone a short distance from the city, Joseph said to his steward, “Go after those men straight away, and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil? 5 Isn’t this the cup my master drinks from and also uses for divination? What you have done is wrong’!”
6 When he caught up with them, he repeated these words to them. 7 But they said to him, “Why does my lord say these things? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing! 8 We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money we found in the tops of our sacks. How then could we steal gold and silver from your master’s house?9 If any of your servants is found to have it, he must die, and we will also become my lord’s slaves.”
10 The steward replied, “Very well then, let it be as you have said. Whoever is found with the cup will become my slave, while the rest of you will be free from blame.”
11 So each of them lowered his sack to the ground and opened it. 12 The steward searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest, and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. 13 At this, they tore their clothes, and each one loaded his donkey and returned to the city.
14 Joseph was still at the house when his brothers arrived, and they fell to the ground before him. 15 Joseph said to them, “What is this you have done? Didn’t you know that a man like me can find things out by divination?”
16 “What can we say to my lord?” Judah replied. “What can we say? How can we prove our innocence? God has uncovered the guilt of your servants. We are now my lord’s slaves—both we and the one who was found to have the cup.”
17 But Joseph said, “Far be it from me that I should so do such a thing! Only the man in whose possession the cup was found will become my slave. The rest of you can go back to your father in peace.”
18 Then Judah drew near him and said, “My lord, please let your servant speak a word to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself. 19 My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’ 20 And we said to my lord, ‘We have an elderly father and a younger brother, the child of his old age. His brother is dead, and he is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him’.
21 “Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me so I may see him for myself’. 22 But we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father, for if he were to leave him, his father would die’. 23 But you told your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again’.
24 “When we returned to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. 25 Then our father said, ‘Go back and buy us a little more food’. 26 But we said, ‘We cannot go down unless our youngest brother is with, then we will go. We cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us’.
27 “Your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. 28 One left me, and I said, “Surely he has been torn to pieces”; and I have never seen him since. 29 If you also take this one from me and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray head down to Sheol in sorrow’.
30 “So if I return to your servant my father and the boy is not with us, and if my father, whose life is bound up with the boy’s life, 31 sees that the boy isn’t with us, he will die. Then your servants will have brought the gray head of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow. 32 Your servant has guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father. For I said to my father, ‘If I don’t bring the boy back to you, I will bare the blame before you forever, my father’.
33 “Now please let your servant remain here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy, 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 grief that would overwhelm my father.”