44
Joseph gave his brothers another test
1 Later on, Joseph said to the man that looked after his house and workers, “Fill up their bags with food, and put their money in the top of each bag again. 2 When you fill up the bag that belongs to the youngest man, put my silver cup in the bag with his money.” The worker did what Joseph said.
3 The next morning, the 11 brothers were allowed to leave with their donkeys and food bags. 4 They had not gone very far when Joseph said to the man that looked after his house, “Go after those men and say, ‘We did good things for you. Why did you pay us back by doing a bad thing? 5 My boss has a special silver drinking cup. That cup helps him to find out things using signs and magic. You stole it and so you have done a very bad thing.’ ”
6 The worker followed Joseph's brothers and when he found them, he told them what Joseph said.
7 But the brothers said, “What are you talking about? We would not do that. 8 We are good men. We carried back the money we found in our bags last time. And so we would not steal any silver or gold from the house your boss lives in. 9 Have a look in our bags. If you find the silver cup, then kill the man who owns the bag and the rest of us will work for you for no pay. We will be your slaves.”
10 The worker said to the men, “Ok, we will do as you say, but the man who took the cup will be our slave and the rest of you can go free.”
11 Straight away, each brother took his bag off his donkey, put it on the ground and opened it. 12 The worker looked in every bag. He started with the oldest brother until he got to the youngest brother. He found the silver cup in Benjamin's bag. 13 When the brothers saw the man find the silver cup, they ripped their clothes to show how upset they were. Then the brothers put their bags onto their donkeys and they all went back to the town.
14 When Judah and his brothers went into Joseph's house, Joseph was there waiting for them. The brothers bowed face down to the ground in front of him. 15 Joseph said, “Why did you do this to me? Didn't you know that a man like me can find out things by signs and magic?”+
16 Judah said, “We don't know what to say to you. There is no way we can make you believe that we are not guilty. God has shown that we are guilty and so we will all be your slaves, not just Benjamin.”
17 But Joseph said, “No. I would not do that. Only the man who stole my cup will be my slave. The rest of you can go home to your father.”
18 Judah went to Joseph and said, “Sir, I know you are a very powerful man. You are like Pharaoh himself and so please do not be angry with me. Can I tell you our story? 19 The last time we were here, you asked us, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’ 20 And we answered you and said, ‘Yes we have an old father, and we have a younger brother who was born when our father was very old.’ You see there used to be another brother, but he is dead. Benjamin is the only child left from that mother and so our father loves him very much.
21 You said to us, ‘Bring that brother to me. I want to see him.’ 22 And we said to you, ‘No, we can't bring him to you. The boy cannot leave his father or his father will die.’ 23 But you said, ‘If you do not bring your youngest brother, you will not be allowed to see me again.’ 24 So we went home and told our father what you said.
25 Later, when all the food was gone, our father said to us, ‘Go back to Egypt and buy us some more food.’
26 We said to him, ‘We can't go back there. The man said that he would not see us if we did not take our youngest brother.’
27 Then our father said to us, ‘My wife Rachel only had 2 sons. 28 I lost the first son. A wild animal ripped him apart and I never saw him again. 29 Now you want to take Rachel's second son away from me too. I am frightened that something bad will happen to him. If anything happened to him I would be really sad until I die.’
30 So you see, if I go home without Benjamin, I do not know what will happen. That boy is the most important thing in our father's life. 31 I think if we go home without Benjamin, our father will be so sad, he will die and it will be our fault.
32 Before I left Canaan, I made a promise to my father to keep the boy safe. I said to him, ‘I promise you that I will bring the boy back to you. If I do not bring him back to you, you can blame me all my life.’ 33 So, can you let Benjamin go home with his brothers. 34 I can't go home if the boy is not with me. I can't let my father have so much pain.”
+ 44:15 Genesis 30:27; Leviticus 19:26