Old Testament · Law

Genesis chapter 44

Then Joseph gave orders to his : “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each man’s silver back in the top of his sack.”“And put my — the silver one — in the top of the youngest brother’s sack, along with his grain money.” So the manager did exactly what Joseph told him.At first light the next morning, the men were sent on their way with their donkeys.They had barely left the city — they weren’t far at all — when Joseph said to his house manager, “Go after those men right now. When you catch up to them, say: ‘Why have you ?’”“‘Isn’t this the cup my master drinks from — the one he uses for ? What you’ve done is seriously wrong.’”When the manager caught up to them, he repeated these exact words.They said to him, “Why would our master say something like that? We would never do such a thing!”“Look — the silver we found in the tops of our sacks, we brought it all the way back to you from the land of . So why would we steal silver or gold from your master’s house?”“If it’s found with any one of us, that person will die, and the rest of us will become your master’s .”He replied, “Fine — but it’ll only be the way you said for the one who has it. He’ll become my slave. The rest of you can go free.”Each of them quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it up.The manager searched them, starting with the oldest and ending with the youngest — and the cup was found in ’s sack.They in anguish. Then every one of them loaded his donkey back up and returned to the city.When and his brothers arrived at Joseph’s house, Joseph was still there. They before him.Joseph said to them, “What is this you’ve done? Don’t you know that a man like me can ?”Judah said, “What can we even say to my master? How can we speak? How can we prove ourselves innocent? . We are all now my master’s slaves — both us and the one who had the cup.”But Joseph said, “I would never do that. Only the man who had the cup in his possession will become my slave. The rest of you — go back to your father in .”Then Judah stepped forward and said, “Please, my master — let me speak directly to you. Don’t be angry with me, even though you are himself.”“My master asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’”“And we told my master, ‘We have an elderly father and a young son born to him in his old age. , so he’s the only one left from his mother — and his father .’”“Then you told your servants, ‘Bring him down to me so I can .’”“We told my master, ‘The boy can’t leave his father. If he leaves his father, .’”“But you told your servants, ‘If your youngest brother doesn’t come down with you, you will never again.’”“So when we went back to your servant — my father — we told him everything my master had said.”“Then our father said, ‘Go back and buy us a little more food.’”“We said, ‘We can’t go back. We’ll only go if our youngest brother comes with us. There’s no way we can see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’”“Then your servant, my father, said to us, ‘You know that bore me two sons.’”“‘One of them left me and I said: He must have been . And I haven’t seen him since.’”“‘If you take this one from me too and something happens to him, you’ll send this old man down to in .’”“So now — if I go back to your servant, my father, without the boy, and the boy’s life is so his father’s life —““— when he sees the boy isn’t with us, he’ll die. And your servants will have sent your servant, our father — this — down to the grave in grief.”“Because I — your servant — I the boy’s safety to my father. I said, ‘If I don’t bring him back to you, I will before you for the rest of my life.’”“So please — . Let the boy go back with his brothers.”“Because how could I go back to my father without the boy? I couldn’t bear to see the it would cause my father.”