Genesis 44
44
Joseph tests his brothers
1Joseph gave commands to his household manager: “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they’ll hold, and put each man’s silver at the top of his sack. 2Put my cup, the silver cup, on top of the youngest brother’s sack, together with the silver for his grain.” So he did just as Joseph told him to do.
3At dawn, the men and their donkeys were sent off. 4They had left the city but hadn’t gone far when Joseph said to his household manager, “Get ready, go after the men and catch up with them! Ask them, ‘Why have you repaid hospitality with ingratitude?#44.4 LXX adds Why have you stolen my silver cup? 5Isn’t this the cup#44.5 Syr; MT lacks cup. my master drinks from and uses to discover God’s plans?#44.5 Or uses for divination What you’ve done is despicable.’”
6When he caught up to them, he repeated these words. 7They replied, “Why does my master talk to us like this? Your servants would never do such a thing. 8The silver that we found at the top of our sacks, we’ve just brought back to you from the land of Canaan. We didn’t steal silver or gold from your master’s house. 9Whoever of your servants is found with it will be put to death, and we’ll be my master’s slaves.”
10He said, “Fine. We’ll do just as you’ve said. Whoever is found with it will be my slave, and the rest of you will go free.” 11Everyone quickly lowered their sacks down to the ground and each opened his sack. 12He searched the oldest first and the youngest last, and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. 13At this, they tore their clothing. Then everyone loaded their donkeys, and they returned to the city.
14When Judah and his brothers arrived at Joseph’s house, he was still there, and they fell to the ground in front of him. 15Joseph said to them, “What’s this you’ve done? Didn’t you know someone like me can discover God’s plans?”#44.15 Or can practice divination
16Judah replied, “What can we say to my master? What words can we use? How can we prove we are innocent? God has found your servants guilty. We are now your slaves, all of us, including the one found with the cup.”
17Joseph said, “I’d never do such a thing. Only the man found with the cup will be my slave. As for the rest of you, you are free to go back to your father.”
Judah appeals for Benjamin
18Judah approached him and said, “Please, my master, allow your servant to say something to my master without getting angry with your servant since you are like Pharaoh himself. 19My master asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or brother?’ 20And we said to my master, ‘Yes, we have an elderly father and a young brother, born when he was old. His brother is dead and he’s his mother’s only child. But his father loves him.’ 21You told your servants, ‘Bring him down to me so I can see him.’ 22And we said to my master, ‘The young man can’t leave his father. If he leaves, his father will die.’ 23You said to your servants, ‘If your youngest brother doesn’t come down with you, you’ll never see my face again.’
24“When we went back to my father your servant, we told him what you said. 25Our father told us, ‘Go back and buy for us a little food.’ 26But we said, ‘We can’t go down. We will go down only if our youngest brother is with us. We won’t be able to gain an audience with the man without our youngest brother with us.’ 27Your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife gave birth to two sons for me. 28One disappeared and I said, “He must have been torn up by a wild animal,” and I haven’t seen him since. 29And if you take this one from me too, something terrible will happen to him, and you will send me—old as I am—to my grave in despair.’ 30When I now go back to your servant my father without the young man—whose life is so bound up with his— 31and when he sees that the young man isn’t with us,#44.31 Sam, LXX; MT lacks with us. he will die, and your servants will have sent our father your servant—old as he is—to his grave in grief. 32I, your servant, guaranteed the young man’s safety to my father, telling him, ‘If I don’t bring him back to you, it will be my fault forever.’ 33Now, please let your servant stay as your slave instead of the young man so that he can go back with his brothers. 34How can I go back to my father without the young man? I couldn’t bear to see how badly my father would be hurt.”
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Genesis 44: CEB
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
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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