Benjamin and the Silver Cup
1. Then Joseph commanded the steward of his house, “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each one’s silver in the mouth of his sack.
2. Put my cup, the silver one, in the mouth of the youngest one’s sack, along with the silver for his grain.” So he did as Joseph told him.
3. At morning light, the men were sent on their way with their donkeys.
4. They had not gone far from the city when Joseph said to his steward, “Get up, follow the men, 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 uses for divination? What you have done is wicked!’”
6. When the steward overtook them, he relayed these words to them.
7. But they replied, “Why does my lord say such things? Far be it from your servants to do anything like that!
8. Look, we brought back to you from the land of Canaan the silver we found in the mouths of our sacks. How could we steal silver or gold from your master’s house?
9. If any of your servants is found to have it, he must die, and the rest of us will become my lord’s slaves.”
10. “Even so,” the steward replied, “let it be as you have said. The one who is found to have it will be my slave, and the rest of you will be blameless.”
11. So each man quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it.
12. Then 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, loaded their donkeys, and returned to the city.
14. When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, he was still there. They fell to the ground before him,
15. “What is this deed you have done?” Joseph declared. “Do you not know that a man like me can surely divine the truth?”
16. “What can we say to my lord?” Judah replied. “How can we plead? How can we justify ourselves? God has exposed your servants’ iniquity. We are now my lord’s slaves—both we and the one in whose possession the cup was found.”
17. But Joseph said, “Far be it from me to do this. Only the man in whose possession the cup was found will become my slave. The rest of you may go back in peace to your father.”
Judah Pleads for Benjamin
18. Then Judah approached him and said, “Please, my lord, let your servant speak a word with you. Please do not be angry with your servant, for you are equal to Pharaoh himself.
19. My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’
20. And we answered my lord, ‘We have an aged father, and there is a young son born to him in his old age. The boy’s brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother’s sons, and his father loves him.’
21. Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me so I can see him for myself.’
22. But we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father. If he were to leave, 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 went back to your servant my father, we told him what my lord had said.
25. So when our father said, ‘Go back and buy us a little more food,’
26. we replied, ‘We cannot go down unless our youngest brother is with us. 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 of them went away from me, and I said, “Surely he has been torn to pieces.” And I have not seen him since.
29. If you take this one from me too, and he meets with any harm, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.’
30. So now, if the boy is not with us when I return to your servant my father, and if his life is closely bound with his life,
31. when he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die. Then your servants will have brought the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow.
32. For your servant became accountable to my father for the boy, saying, ‘If I do not return him to you, I will bear the guilt before my father all my life.’
33. Now therefore, please let your servant remain here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers.
34. For how can I go back to my father without the boy? I could not bear to see the grief that would overwhelm him.”