Benjamin and the Silver Cup
And he commanded the one over his house: “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man’s silver in the mouth of his sack.
And my cup — the silver cup — put in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, with the silver for his grain.” And he did according to the word of Joseph, which he spoke.
At morning light, the men were sent off, they and their donkeys.
They had gone out of the city — they were not far — when Joseph said to the one over his house, “Rise, pursue the men; and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good?
Is this not the one my lord drinks from, and by which he surely divines? You have done evil in what you have done.’”
And he overtook them, and he spoke these words to them.
And they said to him, “Why does my lord speak such words? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing.
Look — the silver we found in the mouths of our sacks we brought back to you from the land of Canaan. How then would we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house?
Whichever of your servants it is found with — let him die, and we also will be my lord’s slaves.”
And he said, “Now then, let it be as you say: the one it is found with shall be my slave, and the rest of you shall be clear.”
And they hurried, and each man lowered his sack to the ground, and each man opened his sack.
And he searched — he began with the oldest and finished with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.
And they tore their garments; and each man loaded his donkey, and they returned to the city.
And Judah and his brothers came into Joseph’s house — and he was still there — and they fell before him to the ground.
And Joseph said to them, “What is this deed you have done? Did you not know that a man like me surely divines?”
And Judah said, “What can we say to my lord? What can we speak, and how can we justify ourselves? God has found out the guilt of your servants. Look, we are my lord’s slaves — both we and the one in whose hand the cup was found.”
And he said, “Far be it from me to do this. The man in whose hand the cup was found — he shall be my slave. And you — go up in peace to your father.”
Judah Pleads for Benjamin
And Judah came near to him and said: “Please, my lord, let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant — for you are like Pharaoh himself.
My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father, or a brother?’
And we said to my lord, ‘We have an old father, and a young child of his old age. His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother — and his father loves him.’
And you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, and let me set my eye on him.’
And we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father; if he leaves his father, his father will die.’
And you said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall not see my face again.’
And it happened, when we went up to your servant my father, that we told him the words of my lord.
And our father said, ‘Go back, buy us a little food.’
And we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, we will go down — for we cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’
And your servant my father said to us, ‘You yourselves know that my wife bore me two.
And the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn to pieces — and I have not seen him since.
And if you take this one also from before my face, and harm meets him, you will bring my gray head down in evil to Sheol.’
And now, when I come to your servant my father and the boy is not with us — his life being bound up with the boy’s life —
it will happen, when he sees that the boy is not there, that he will die; and your servants will bring the gray head of your servant our father down in sorrow to Sheol.
For your servant became surety for the boy to my father: ‘If I do not bring him to you, I will bear the sin against my father all my days.’
And now, please, let your servant stay in place of the boy as my lord’s slave — and let the boy go up with his brothers.
For how can I go up to my father and the boy not with me? Let me not see the evil that would find my father.”