1Then Joseph commanded the steward of his house, "Fill the men's sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man's money in the mouth of his sack."
2"And put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the youngest one's sack, along with his money for the grain." And the steward did just as Joseph had said.
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 away, Joseph said to his steward, "Get up and follow the men. When you catch up with them, say to them, 'Why have you paid back evil for good?"
5"'Is this not the cup that my lord drinks from, and the one he uses to divine? You have done evil in doing this.'"
6So he caught up with them, and he spoke these same words to them.
7They said to him, "Why does my lord say such things? God forbid that your servants should do anything like this."
8"Look, the money that we found in the mouths of our sacks we brought back to you from the land of Canaan. How then should we steal silver or gold out of your lord's house?"
9"Whichever of your servants it is found with, let him die, and the rest of us will be my lord's slaves."
10He said, "Let it be as you have said. The man it is found with shall be my servant, and the rest of you shall be blameless."
11Then each man quickly took his sack down to the ground, and each man opened his sack.
12The steward searched them. He began with the eldest and finished with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin's sack.
13Then they tore their clothes, and each man loaded his donkey, and they went back to the city.
14Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house, for he was still there; and they fell to the ground before him.
15Joseph said to them, "What is this you have done? Do you not know that a man like me can certainly divine?"
16Judah said, "What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? How can we clear ourselves? God has found out the wrongdoing of your servants. Look, we are my lord's servants, both we and the one with whom the cup was found."
17But he said, "God forbid that I should do that. The man in whose hand the cup was found, he shall be my servant. As for you, go up in peace to your father."
18Then Judah came near to him and said, "Oh my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord's ears, and do not let your anger burn against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself."
19"My lord asked his servants, 'Do you have a father, or a brother?'"
20"And we said to my lord, 'We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a young boy. His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother's children, and his father loves him.'"
21"And you said to your servants, 'Bring him down to me, so that I may set my eyes on him.'"
22"And we said to my lord, 'The boy cannot leave his father. If he should leave his father, his father would die.'"
23"And you said to your servants, 'Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall not see my face again.'"
24"When we went up to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord."
25"And our father said, 'Go again, and buy us a little food.'"
26"And we said, 'We cannot 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.'"
27"And your servant my father said to us, 'You know that my wife bore me two sons."
28"'One of them went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces; and I have not seen him since."
29"'And if you take this one also from me, and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray hairs down to the grave with sorrow.'"
30"So now, if 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,"
31"then when he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die. And your servants will bring the gray hairs of your servant our father down to the grave with sorrow."
32"For your servant promised my father that the boy would be safe, saying, 'If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father for ever.'"
33"So now, please let your servant stay as my lord's slave instead of the boy, and let the boy go up with his brothers."
34"For how can I go up to my father if the boy is not with me? I could not bear to see the evil that would come on my father."