Genesis 44
44
1 He commanded the steward of his house, saying, “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man’s money in his sack’s mouth. 2Put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack’s mouth of the youngest, with his grain money.” He did according to the word that Joseph had spoken. 3As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their donkeys. 4When they had gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, Joseph said to his steward, “Up, follow after the men. When you overtake them, ask them, ‘Why have you rewarded evil for good? 5Isn’t this that from which my lord drinks, and by which he indeed divines? You have done evil in so doing.’” 6He overtook them, and he spoke these words to them.
7 They said to him, “Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants that they should do such a thing! 8Behold, the money, which we found in our sacks’ mouths, we brought again to you out of the land of Canaan. How then should we steal silver or gold out of your lord’s house? 9With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s slaves.”
10 He said, “Now also let it be according to your words. He with whom it is found will be my slave; and you will be blameless.”
11 Then they hurried, and each man took his sack down to the ground, and each man opened his sack. 12He searched, beginning with the oldest, and ending at the youngest. The cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. 13Then they tore their clothes, and each man loaded his donkey, and returned to the city.
14 Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, and he was still there. They fell on the ground before him. 15Joseph said to them, “What deed is this that you have done? Don’t you know that such a man as I can indeed do divination?”
16 Judah said, “What will we tell my lord? What will we speak? How will we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants. Behold, we are my lord’s slaves, both we and he also in whose hand the cup is found.”
17 He said, “Far be it from me that I should do so. The man in whose hand the cup is found, he will be my slave; but as for you, go up in peace to your father.”
18 Then Judah came near to him, and said, “Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, and don’t let your anger burn against your servant; for you are even as Pharaoh. 19My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father, or a brother?’ 20We said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother; and his father loves him.’ 21You said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.’ 22We said to my lord, ‘The boy can’t leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ 23You said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will see my face no more.’ 24When we came up to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. 25Our father said, ‘Go again and buy us a little food.’ 26We said, ‘We can’t go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down: for we may not see the man’s face, unless our youngest brother is with us.’ 27Your servant, my father, said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. 28One went out from me, and I said, “Surely he is torn in pieces;” and I haven’t seen him since. 29If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.’#44:29 Sheol is the place of the dead. 30Now therefore when I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us; since his life is bound up in the boy’s life; 31it will happen, when he sees that the boy is no more, that he will die. Your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant, our father, with sorrow to Sheol.#44:31 Sheol is the place of the dead. 32For your servant became collateral for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I don’t bring him to you, then I will bear the blame to my father forever.’ 33Now therefore, please let your servant stay instead of the boy, my lord’s slave; and let the boy go up with his brothers. 34For how will I go up to my father, if the boy isn’t with me?—lest I see the evil that will come on my father.”
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Genesis 44
44
Joseph pretended that Benjamin stole a cup
1Joseph talked to his worker, the one that was in charge of all the other workers in his house. Joseph said to that worker, “Fill up those men’s bags with food. Put lots of food in them, so that they are really full. Then get the money that they paid for that food, and hide that money in their bags, on top of the food. Do that for every one of those men.”
2Joseph also said, “Get my special cup, the one that is made of silver. Hide that cup in the youngest man’s bag, on top of the food, with the money he paid for that food.” And Joseph’s worker did all those things that Joseph said.
3The next morning, as soon as the sun came up, Joseph’s workers helped those men get ready to go home. Those men got their food bags, and they put those bags on their donkeys, and then they started to go home.
4When those men were just a little bit away from Joseph’s town, Joseph said to his worker, “Quick, chase those men until you catch up with them. Then say to them, ‘My boss was very good to you, but you mob did a bad thing to him. You stole his silver cup. 5That cup is really special. My boss drinks from that cup, and he uses it to find out things that will happen later on. But you mob stole that cup. That was a really wrong thing to do.’ ”
6So Joseph’s worker chased those men until he caught up with them. Then he talked to those men, and he said those things that Joseph told him to say. 7But those men said to him, “Sir, we don’t know why you said those things. We didn’t steal your boss’s cup. We respect you and your boss, and we don’t want to do bad things to you. No way.”
8Those men kept on talking to Joseph’s worker. They said, “Sir, think about that other time when we came to your country to buy food. On the way home to Canaan country, we found money in our food bags, on top of the food. But we didn’t try to keep that money. No, we wanted to give it back to you. So the next time we came to your country, we brought that money with us, to give it to you. That shows that we are good men. So you can be sure that we didn’t steal anything made of silver or gold from your boss’s house.”
9Then those men said to Joseph’s worker, “Sir, you can look in all our bags. And if you find that silver cup, then you can kill the man that has the cup in his bag. Then the rest of us mob, we will become your work-men, and we will work for you for no pay.”
10Joseph’s worker said, “All right, I will look in all your bags. And the man that has the cup in his bag, he has to become my work-man. Then I will let the rest of you mob go free.”
11So those men quickly took their bags off their donkeys, and they all opened their bags. 12And Joseph’s worker started to look in all those bags. He looked in the oldest man’s bag first, but the cup wasn’t there. Then he went to the next oldest man, and he looked in that man’s bag, but the cup wasn’t there. And he kept on doing that with all the men. He looked in all of their bags until he got to the youngest man. That young man’s name was Benjamin. Joseph’s worker looked in Benjamin’s bag, and he found that silver cup. 13Then all those men got a big shock, and they thought, “Now Benjamin will have to stay in Egypt country and work for that man.” So they got really upset. They were so upset that they tore their clothes. Then they put their bags back on their donkeys, and they went back to the town where Joseph lived.
Judah tried to save Benjamin
14Joseph was in his house, and he was waiting for those men to come back. Then those men got to the house. The one called Judah, he went inside the house, and his brothers went inside too. You know, all those men were Joseph’s brothers, but they still didn’t know that he was Joseph. So they quickly got down on their knees and put their faces near the ground, to show him respect.
15Joseph still wanted to trick them, so he said to them, “You know, I’m a very powerful man. I can do magic to find out things that nobody else knows. So I know that you mob stole my silver cup. Why did you do that bad thing?”
16Judah said to Joseph, “Sir, we don’t know what to say to you. We really don’t know what to say. We didn’t steal your cup. That’s the true story, but we don’t have any way to show you that it’s true.”
Then Judah said to Joseph, “Sir, a long time ago, we did bad things, and God knows that. Now God is showing you that we are guilty men. So listen, we will all become your work-men. Yes, that man that had your cup in his bag, he will become your work-man, and the rest of us mob, we will become your work-men too. And we will work for you for no pay.”
17But Joseph said, “No way. I don’t want to punish all of you like that. The man that had my cup in his bag, he is the only one that has to become my work-man. The rest of you mob, you can go home to your father, and I will not make any trouble for you.”
18Then Judah went more close to Joseph, and Judah said, “Sir, please let me say something to you, even though I am not an important person. I know that you are very important, just like Pharaoh, the big boss of Egypt country. So please don’t be angry with me for saying this. 19You know, sir, the last time we came here, you asked us, ‘Is your father still alive? And do you have another brother?’ 20Then we said to you, ‘Yes, sir. Our father is alive, and he is an old man. And we have a young brother too. He was born when our father was already old. We had one more brother, but he died. That brother that died, and our young brother, they had the same mother. So now our young brother is the only kid left from his mother. And our father really loves him.’ 21Then you said to us, ‘Go and get that young man, and bring him here to Egypt country, so that I can see him.’ 22But we said, ‘Sir, we can’t take that young man away from his father. If we do that, his father will be so sad that he will die.’ 23Then you said to us, ‘You mob can only come back here if you bring your youngest brother with you.’ ”
24Judah kept on talking to Joseph. He said, “Sir, we went back home to our father, and we told him those things that you said. 25Then, some time later, our father said to us, ‘Go back to Egypt, and buy a bit more food for us mob.’ 26But we said to him, ‘That man that is in charge of Egypt, he said to us, “You mob can only come back here if you bring your youngest brother with you.” ’ So we said to our father, ‘If you will let our youngest brother go with us to Egypt, then we will go. But if you don’t let him go with us, then we can’t go.’ 27Then my father said to us, ‘Listen, you know that I really loved my wife Rachel, and we only had 2 sons together. 28One of those sons went away, and he never came back. So I said, “I know what happened. A wild animal tore my son into little bits.” And I never saw him again. 29So now your youngest brother, he is the only one of Rachel’s sons that I have left. If you take him away from me, he might get hurt, or he might die. You know, I am an old man. If something bad happens to my son, I will be so sad that I will die.’ ”
30-31Judah kept on talking to Joseph. He said, “Sir, our father really loves that young man. He loves him more than anything else. And you know, our father is very old. I’m telling you, if I go back home to my father, and if that young man is not with us, then my father will be so sad that he will die. Yes, as soon as he sees that the young man is not with us, he will die straight away. We don’t want to do that to our father. 32Sir, I promised my father that I will look after that young man, and keep him safe. I said to my father, ‘If I don’t bring that young man back here to you, then you can blame me and say that I am guilty, and you can do that all my life.’ 33So please, sir, let me stay here and become your work-man, instead of that young man. And let that young man go back home with his brothers. 34If that young man is not with me, I can’t go back to my father. I don’t want to see my father get real sad and die. No way.”
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