1 Joseph gave these orders to the man in charge of his house: "Fill the men's sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each man's silver in the mouth of his sack.
2 Then put my cup, the silver one, in the mouth of the youngest one's sack, along with the silver for his grain." He did what Joseph told him.
3 At first light the men were sent on their way, they and their donkeys.
4 They had left the city but had not gone far when Joseph said to the man in charge of his house, "Go after those men at once. When you catch up with them, say to them, 'Why have you paid back evil for good?
5 Is this not the cup my lord drinks from, and the one he uses for divination? What you have done is wicked.'"
6 When he caught up with them, he repeated these words to them.
7 But they said to him, "Why does my lord say such things? Your servants would never do anything like that!
8 We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the silver we found in the mouths of our sacks. Why would we steal silver or gold from your master's house?
9 If any of your servants is found to have it, let him die, and the rest of us will become my lord's servants."
10 He said, "All right, then, let it be as you say: the one who is found to have it will become my servant, but the rest of you will go free of blame."
11 Each of them quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it.
12 Then he searched, starting with the oldest and finishing with the youngest, and the cup turned up in Benjamin's sack.
13 At this they tore their clothes. Then each of them loaded his donkey, and they went back to the city.
14 Joseph was still in the house when Judah and his brothers arrived, and they threw themselves on the ground before him.
15 Joseph said to them, "What is this you have done? Did you not know that a man like me can find things out by divination?"
16 Judah replied, "What can we say to my lord? What can we plead? How can we prove our innocence? God has uncovered your servants' guilt. We are now my lord's servants, we ourselves as well as the one who was found with the cup."
17 But Joseph said, "Far be it from me to do such a thing! Only the man who was found with the cup will be my servant. As for the rest of you, go back in peace to your father."
18 Then Judah went up to him and said, "Please, my lord, allow your servant to say a word in my lord's hearing, and do not let your anger flare up against your servant, for you are the equal of Pharaoh himself.
19 My lord asked his servants, 'Do you have a father or a brother?'
20 And we told my lord, 'We have an aged father, and there is a young son born to him in his old age. That boy's brother is dead; he is the only one of his mother's sons left, and his father loves him.'
21 Then you told your servants, 'Bring him down to me so that I can see him with my own eyes.'
22 We said to my lord, 'The boy cannot leave his father; if he were to leave him, his father would die.'
23 But you told your servants, 'If your youngest brother does not come down with you, you will never see my face again.'
24 When we went back to your servant my father, we told him what my lord had said.
25 Later our father said, 'Go back and buy us a little food.'
26 But we answered, 'We cannot go down. Only if our youngest brother is with us will we go down, because we cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.'
27 Your servant my father said to us, 'You know that my wife bore me two sons.
28 One of them went away from me, and I said, "He must have been torn to pieces." I have not seen him since.
29 If you take this one from me too and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray head down to Sheol in misery.'
30 So now, if I go back to your servant my father and the boy is not with us, since his very life is bound up with the boy's life,
31 then as soon as he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will have brought the gray head of your servant our father down to Sheol in grief.
32 For your servant became surety for the boy to my father, saying, 'If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before my father all my life.'
33 So now, please let your servant stay here as my lord's servant in place of the boy, and let the boy go back with his brothers.
34 How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I could not bear to see the misery that would come upon my father."