Genesis 44-45

Modern English Version

Joseph Detains Benjamin

44 Then he commanded the steward of his house, saying, “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man’s money in the mouth of his sack. ² Put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, along with his grain money.” And he did according to what Joseph had spoken.

³ As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their donkeys. ⁴ When they were gone out of the city, but not yet far off, Joseph said to his steward, “Get up, follow after the men. When you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you rewarded evil for good? ⁵ Is this not the one from which my lord drinks and uses as he practices divination? You have done evil in doing this.’ ”

⁶ So he overtook them, and he spoke to them these same words. ⁷ They said to him, “Why does my lord say these words? Far be it from your servants that they should do such a thing. ⁸ Look, we brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money that we found in the top of our sacks. Why then would we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house? ⁹ Whichever of your servants is found with it shall die, and the rest of us will become my lord’s slaves.”

¹⁰ He said, “Now let it also be according to your words. He with whom it is found shall be my slave, and you will be blameless.”

¹¹ Then every man hurriedly took down his sack to the ground, and every man opened his sack. ¹² He searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest. The cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. ¹³ Then they tore their clothes, and every man loaded his donkey and returned to the city.

¹⁴ When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, he was still there; and they fell to the ground before him. ¹⁵ Joseph said to them, “What deed is this that you have done? Did you not know that such a man as I can certainly practice divination?”

¹⁶ And Judah said, “What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how shall we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants. Here we are, my lord’s servants, both we and he also in whose possession the cup was found.”

¹⁷ But he said, “Far be it from me that I should do so. The man in whose possession the cup was found shall be my slave; but as for you, go up in peace to your father.”

Judah’s Plea for Benjamin

¹⁸ Then Judah approached him and said, “O my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, and do not be angry with your servant, for you are equal to Pharaoh. ¹⁹ My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father or a brother?’ ²⁰ And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a young brother, the child of his old age. His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him.’

²¹ “You said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, so that I may set my eyes on him.’ ²² We said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ ²³ You said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’ ²⁴ When we went back to your servant, my father, we told him the words of my lord.

²⁵ “Our father said, ‘Go again and buy us a little food.’ ²⁶ 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 “Your servant, my father, said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. ²⁸ And the one went out from me, and I said, “Surely he was torn in pieces,” and I have not seen him since. ²⁹ And if you take this one also from me and he is harmed, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.’

³⁰ “Now therefore when I come to your servant, my father, and the boy is not with us, as his life is bound up in the boy’s life, ³¹ when he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant, our father, with sorrow to the grave. ³² For your servant became surety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I fail to bring him to you, then I shall bear the blame to my father forever.’

³³ “Now therefore, please let your servant stay as a slave to my lord 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, lest perhaps I see the evil that would find my father?”

Joseph Reveals His Identity

45 Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all who stood by him, and he cried out, “Make every man go out from me.” So no man stood with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. ² He wept so loudly that the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard about it.

³ Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence.

⁴ Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near to me,” and they came near. Then he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. ⁵ Now do not be upset or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. ⁶ For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. ⁷ God sent me ahead of you to preserve you as a remnant on the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

⁸ “So now it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of his entire household and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. ⁹ Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says, “God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not delay. ¹⁰ And you will dwell in the land of Goshen, and you will be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, along with your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. ¹¹ I will provide for you there, for there are still five years of famine to come, lest you and your household, and all that you have, come to poverty.” ’

¹² “Your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my mouth that is speaking to you. ¹³ You must tell my father of all my glory in Egypt and of all that you have seen, and you must hurry and bring my father down here.”

¹⁴ Then he fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. ¹⁵ Moreover he kissed all his brothers and wept on them. After that his brothers talked with him.

¹⁶ When the news reached Pharaoh’s palace that Joseph’s brothers had come, it pleased Pharaoh and his servants. ¹⁷ Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this. Load your animals and go to the land of Canaan. ¹⁸ Get your father and your households and come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land.’

¹⁹ “You are also commanded to say, ‘Do this: Take your wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and get your father and come. ²⁰ Also do not concern yourself with your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’ ”

²¹ So the sons of Israel did so, and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provisions for the journey. ²² To each of them he gave a change of clothes, but he gave to Benjamin three hundred shekels of silver^[a] and five changes of clothes. ²³ To his father he sent the following: ten donkeys loaded with the best things of Egypt and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and provisions for his father on the journey. ²⁴ So he sent his brothers away, and they departed. He said to them, “Do not quarrel on the way.”

²⁵ They went up out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to Jacob their father. ²⁶ They told him, “Joseph is still alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt.” And Jacob’s heart stood still because he could not believe them. ²⁷ They told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. ²⁸ Then Israel said, “Enough! Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”