Genesis 44
44
Chapter 44
Joseph tests his brothers
1Joseph told the servant who took care of his house, ‘Fill the men's bags. Give them as much food as their animals can carry. Put each man's money back in the top of his bag. 2Then take my silver cup and put it in the top of the youngest man's bag. Put it with the money that he brought to pay for his food.’ The servant did what Joseph had told him to do.
3When morning came, the men started their journey with their donkeys. 4They had travelled only a short way from the city. Then Joseph said to his servant, ‘Go now and follow those men. When you find them, say to them, “My master was kind to you. So why have you done this bad thing against us? 5You have taken my master's own special cup. It is the cup that he drinks from. He also uses it to find out about future things. You have done a very bad thing!” ’
6So Joseph's servant followed the men. When he reached them, he told them Joseph's message. 7But the brothers said to him, ‘Sir, why do you say these things? We are your servants. We would not do anything like that! 8When we found the money in our bags last time, we brought it back to you from Canaan. So we would never take valuable silver or gold things from your master's house. 9If any one of us has this silver cup, he must die. We others will become your slaves, sir.’
10The servant said, ‘What you say is fair. Whoever has the cup will become my slave. The rest of you will go free.’
11Each of the brothers quickly put his bag on the ground and opened it. 12Then the servant began to look in the bags. He began with the oldest brother's bag and he finished with the youngest brother's bag. He found the cup in Benjamin's bag! 13When this happened, all the brothers were very upset and they tore their clothes. Then they put their bags back on their donkeys. They returned to the city.
14Joseph was still in his house when Judah and his brothers arrived. They threw themselves on the ground in front of Joseph. 15Joseph said, ‘Why have you done this bad thing? You should have known that a man like me can use magic to find out what people do.’
16Judah said, ‘We do not know what to say to you, my lord. We cannot say that we have done nothing wrong. God has shown that we are guilty. Now we are your slaves. We are all your slaves, as well as the one who had your cup in his bag.’
17But Joseph said, ‘I would not do anything like that! Only the man who took the cup will be my slave. The rest of you can return to your father. You may go as my friends.’
18Then Judah went near to Joseph. He said, ‘Please, my lord. Let me speak to you. You have all of Pharaoh's authority, but please do not be angry with me, your servant. 19You asked us, “Do you have a father or another brother?” 20And we replied, “We have a father who is very old. He has a young son who was born when our father was already old. That son's brother is dead. He is the only one of his mother's sons who still lives. His father loves him.” 21Then you said, “Bring your youngest brother to me so that I can see him.” 22And we said, “The boy cannot leave his father. If he leaves him, his father will die.” 23But you said to us, “Your youngest brother must come with you. If he does not come, I will not let you see me again.” 24We returned to our father and we told him what you said.
25After some time, our father said, “Go back to Egypt and buy some more food for us.” 26But we said, “We cannot go back there. We can only go if our youngest brother goes with us. If he is not with us, we will not be able to see the man again.” 27Then my father said to us, “My wife gave birth to two sons. 28One of them went away and he never returned. So I said, ‘A wild animal must have eaten him.’ I have not seen him since that happened. 29If you take my youngest son away from me too, something bad may happen to him. I am already an old man. If I lose Benjamin, I would be so sad that I would die.” ’
30Then Judah said, ‘So, my lord, I could not go back to my father without his youngest son. My father would not continue to live if he loses this boy. 31If my father sees that his son is not with us, he will die. He is very old. We will cause him to be so sad that he will die. 32I promised my father that I would take care of the boy. I said, “I will bring the boy back. If I do not, then you can say that I am guilty. I will be guilty for all of my life.”
33Please sir, let me stay here as your slave, instead of the boy. Let the boy return home with his brothers. 34I cannot go back to my father if the boy is not with me. I never want to see how upset my father would be.’
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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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