Genesis 44
44
Joseph Sets a Trap
1Then Joseph gave a command to his servant. He said, “Fill the men’s sacks with as much grain as they can carry. Then put each man’s money into his sack with the grain. 2Put the youngest brother’s money in his sack too. But also put my special silver cup in his sack.” So the servant obeyed Joseph.
3Early the next morning the brothers and their donkeys were sent back to their country. 4After they had left the city, Joseph said to his servant, “Go and follow the men. Stop them and say to them, ‘We were good to you! So why have you been bad to us? Why did you steal my master’s silver cup?#44:4 Why did … silver cup This is from the ancient Greek version. 5My master drinks from that cup, and he uses it to learn secret things. What you did was wrong!’”
6So the servant obeyed. He rode out to the brothers and stopped them. The servant said to them what Joseph had told him to say.
7But the brothers said to the servant, “Why does the governor say these things? We wouldn’t do anything like that! 8We brought back the money that we found in our sacks before. So surely we wouldn’t steal silver or gold from your master’s house. 9If you find the silver cup in any of our sacks, let that man die. You can kill him, and we will be your slaves.”
10The servant said, “I agree, except that only the man who is found to have the cup will be my slave. The others will be free.”
The Trap Is Sprung; Benjamin Is Caught
11Then every brother quickly opened his sack on the ground. 12The servant started looking in the sacks. He started with the oldest brother and ended with the youngest. He found the cup in Benjamin’s sack. 13The brothers were very sad. They tore their clothes to show their sadness. They put their sacks back on the donkeys and went back to the city.
14When Judah and his brothers went back to Joseph’s house, Joseph was still there. The brothers fell to the ground and bowed down before him. 15Joseph said to them, “Why have you done this? Didn’t you know that I have a special way of learning secrets? No one is better at this than I am!”
16Judah said, “Sir, there is nothing we can say. There is no way to explain. There is no way to show that we are not guilty. God has judged us guilty for something else we have done. So all of us, even Benjamin, will be your slaves.”
17But Joseph said, “I will not make you all slaves! Only the man who stole the cup will be my slave. You others can go in peace to your father.”
Judah Pleads for Benjamin
18Then Judah went to Joseph and said, “Sir, please let me speak plainly with you. Please don’t be angry with me. I know that you are like Pharaoh himself. 19When we were here before, you asked us, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’ 20And we answered you, ‘We have a father—he is an old man. And we have a younger brother. Our father loves him because he was born while our father was old. This youngest son’s brother is dead, so he is the only son who is left from that mother. Our father loves him very much.’ 21Then you said to us, ‘Bring that brother to me. I want to see him.’ 22And we said to you, ‘That young boy cannot come. He cannot leave his father. If his father loses him, his father will be so sad that he will die.’ 23But you said to us, ‘You must bring your youngest brother, or I will not sell you grain again.’ 24So we went back to our father and told him what you said.
25“Later, our father said, ‘Go back and buy us some more food.’ 26We said to our father, ‘We cannot go without our youngest brother. The governor said he will not sell us grain again until he sees our youngest brother.’ 27Then my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife Rachel gave me two sons. 28I let one son go away, and he was killed by a wild animal. And I haven’t seen him since. 29If you take my other son away from me, and something happens to him, I will be sad enough to die.’ 30Now, imagine what will happen when we go home without our youngest brother—he is the most important thing in our father’s life! 31Our father will die if he sees that the boy isn’t with us—and it will be our fault. We will send our father to his grave a very sad man.
32“I took responsibility for the young boy. I told my father, ‘If I don’t bring him back to you, you can blame me for the rest of my life.’ 33So now I beg you, please let the boy go back with his brothers, and I will stay and be your slave. 34I cannot go back to my father if the boy is not with me. I am very afraid of what would happen to my father.”
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Genesis 44: ERV
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Berĕshith (Genesis) 44
44
1And he commanded the one over his house, saying, “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as they are able to bear, and put each man’s silver in the mouth of his sack.
2And put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, and the silver for his grain. And he did according to the word of Yosĕph which he spoke.
3As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their donkeys.
4And when they had gone out of the city, not having gone far, Yosĕph said to the one over his house, “Rise up, follow the men, and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good?
5Is this not the one from which my master drinks, and with which he indeed divines? You have done evil in what you have done.’ ”
6So he overtook them and spoke these words to them.
7And they said to him, “Why does my master say these words? Far be it from us that your servants should do according to this word.
8“See, we brought back to you from the land of Kena‛an the silver which we found in the mouth of our sacks. How then should we steal silver or gold from your master’s house?
9“With whomever of your servants it is found – he shall die and we shall become my master’s slaves as well.”
10And he said, “Now also let it be according to your words: he with whom it is found becomes my slave, and you are innocent.”
11And they hurried, each man let down his sack to the ground, and each opened his sack.
12And he searched, with the oldest first and with the youngest last, and the cup was found in Binyamin’s sack.
13And they tore their garments, and each man loaded his donkey and went back to the city.
14And Yehuḏah and his brothers came to Yosĕph’s house, and he was still there. And they fell before him on the ground.
15And Yosĕph said to them, “What deed is this you have done? Did you not know that a man like me indeed divines?”
16And Yehuḏah said, “What do we say to my master? What do we speak? Or how do we clear ourselves? Elohim has found out the crookedness of your servants. See, we are my master’s slaves, both we and he also with whom the cup was found.”
17But he said, “Far be it from me to do this. The man in whose hand the cup was found, he becomes my slave. And you, go up in peace to your father.”
18And Yehuḏah came near to him and said, “O my master, please let your servant speak a word in my master’s hearing, and do not let your displeasure burn against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh.
19“My master asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father or a brother?’
20And we said to my master, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a young child of his old age, and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother’s children, and his father loves him.’ ”
21“And you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, and let me set my eyes on him.’
22And we said to my master, ‘The boy is not able to leave his father, for if he leaves his father, his father shall die.’ ”
23“But you said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you do not see my face again.’
24“And it came to be, when we went up to your servant my father, that we told him the words of my master.
25“And our father said, ‘Go back and buy us a little food.’
26But we said, ‘We are not able to go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we shall go down, for we are not able to 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,
28and the one went out from me, and I said, “Truly, he is torn, torn to pieces!” And I have not seen him since.
29And if you take this one from me too, and harm comes to him, you shall bring down my grey hair with evil to She’ol.’
30“And now, if I come to your servant my father and the boy is not with us – since his own life is bound up in his life –
31then it shall be, when he sees that the boy is not with us, that he shall die. So your servants shall bring down the grey hair of your servant our father with evil to She’ol.
32For your servant went guaranty for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall be a sinner before my father forever.’ ”
33“And now, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a slave to my master, and let the boy go up with his brothers.
34“For how do I go up to my father if the boy is not with me, lest I see the evil that would come upon my father?”
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