King James VersionGenesis44

Genesis

1 And 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 his sack's mouth. 2 And put my cup, the sil­ver cup, in the sack's mouth of the youngest, and his corn mon­ey. And he did ac­cord­ing to the word that Joseph had spo­ken. 3 As soon as the morn­ing was light, the men were sent away, they and their ass­es. 4 And when they were gone out of the city, and not yet far off, Joseph said unto his stew­ard, Up, fol­low af­ter the men; and when thou dost over­take them, say unto them, Where­fore have ye re­ward­ed evil for good? 5 Is not this it in which my lord drin­keth, and where­by in­deed he di­vineth? ye have done evil in so do­ing. 6 And he over­took them, and he spake unto them these same words. 7 And they said unto him, Where­fore saith my lord these words? God for­bid that thy ser­vants should do ac­cord­ing to this thing: 8 Be­hold, the mon­ey, which we found in our sacks' mouths, we brought again unto thee out of the land of Canaan: how then should we steal out of thy lord's house sil­ver or gold? 9 With whom­so­ev­er of thy ser­vants it be found, both let him die, and we also will be my lord's bond­men. 10 And he said, Now also let it be ac­cord­ing unto your words: he with whom it is found shall be my ser­vant; and ye shall be blame­less. 11 Then they speed­i­ly took down ev­ery man his sack to the ground, and opened ev­ery man his sack. 12 And he searched, and be­gan at the el­dest, and left at the youngest: and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. 13 Then they rent their clothes, and lad­ed ev­ery man his ass, and re­turned to the city. 14 And Ju­dah and his brethren came to Joseph's house; for he was yet there: and they fell be­fore him on the ground. 15 And Joseph said unto them, What deed is this that ye have done? wot ye not that such a man as I can cer­tain­ly di­vine? 16 And Ju­dah said, What shall we say unto my lord? what shall we speak? or how shall we clear our­selves? God hath found out the in­iq­ui­ty of thy ser­vants: be­hold, we are my lord's ser­vants, both we, and he also with whom the cup is found. 17 And he said, God for­bid that I should do so: but the man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my ser­vant; and as for you, get you up in peace unto your fa­ther. 18 Then Ju­dah came near unto him, and said, Oh my lord, let thy ser­vant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord's ears, and let not thine anger burn against thy ser­vant: for thou art even as Pharaoh. 19 My lord asked his ser­vants, say­ing, Have ye a fa­ther, or a broth­er? 20 And we said unto my lord, We have a fa­ther, an old man, and a child of his old age, a lit­tle one; and his broth­er is dead, and he alone is left of his moth­er, and his fa­ther loveth him. 21 And thou saidst unto thy ser­vants, Bring him down unto me, that I may set mine eyes upon him. 22 And we said unto my lord, The lad can­not leave his fa­ther: for if he should leave his fa­ther, his father would die. 23 And thou saidst unto thy ser­vants, Ex­cept your youngest broth­er come down with you, ye shall see my face no more. 24 And it came to pass when we came up unto thy 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 be with us, then will we go down: for we may not see the man's face, ex­cept our youngest broth­er be with us. 27 And thy ser­vant my fa­ther said unto us, Ye know that my wife bare me two sons: 28 And the one went out from me, and I said, Sure­ly he is torn in pieces; and I saw him not since: 29 And if ye take this also from me, and mis­chief be­fall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sor­row to the grave. 30 Now there­fore when I come to thy ser­vant my fa­ther, and the lad be not with us; see­ing that his life is bound up in the lad's life; 31 It shall come to pass, when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die: and thy ser­vants shall bring down the gray hairs of thy ser­vant our fa­ther with sor­row to the grave. 32 For thy ser­vant be­came sure­ty for the lad unto my fa­ther, say­ing, If I bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my fa­ther for ev­er. 33 Now there­fore, I pray thee, let thy ser­vant abide in­stead of the lad a bond­man to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brethren. 34 For how shall I go up to my fa­ther, and the lad be not with me? lest per­ad­ven­ture I see the evil that shall come on my fa­ther.