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Genesis 44 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

Joseph Tests His Brothers

Gen 44:1

Gen 44:1Then he 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,

Gen 44:2

Gen 44:2and put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, with his money for the grain.” And he did as Joseph told him.

Gen 44:3

Gen 44:3As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away with their donkeys.

Gen 44:4

Gen 44:4They had gone only a short distance from the city. Now Joseph said to his steward, “Up, follow after the men, and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good?[fn]

Gen 44:5

Gen 44:5Is it not from this that my lord drinks, and by this that he practices divination? You have done evil in doing this.’”

Gen 44:6

Gen 44:6When he overtook them, he spoke to them these words.

Gen 44:7

Gen 44:7They said to him, “Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing!

Gen 44:8

Gen 44:8Behold, the money that we found in the mouths of our sacks we brought back to you from the land of Canaan. How then could we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house?

Gen 44:9

Gen 44:9Whichever of your servants is found with it shall die, and we also will be my lord’s servants.”

Gen 44:10

Gen 44:10He said, “Let it be as you say: he who is found with it shall be my servant, and the rest of you shall be innocent.”

Gen 44:11

Gen 44:11Then each man quickly lowered his sack to the ground, and each man opened his sack.

Gen 44:12

Gen 44:12And he searched, beginning with the eldest and ending with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.

Gen 44:13

Gen 44:13Then they tore their clothes, and every man loaded his donkey, and they returned to the city.

Gen 44:14

Gen 44:14When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, he was still there. They fell before him to the ground.

Gen 44:15

Gen 44:15Joseph said to them, “What deed is this that you have done? Do you not know that a man like me can indeed practice divination?”

Gen 44:16

Gen 44:16And Judah said, “What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how can we clear ourselves? God has found out the guilt of your servants; behold, we are my lord’s servants, both we and he also in whose hand the cup has been found.”

Gen 44:17

Gen 44:17But he said, “Far be it from me that I should do so! Only the man in whose hand the cup was found shall be my servant. But as for you, go up in peace to your father.”

Gen 44:18

Gen 44:18Then Judah went up to him and said, “Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself.

Gen 44:19

Gen 44:19My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father, or a brother?’

Gen 44:20

Gen 44:20And 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’s children, and his father loves him.’

Gen 44:21

Gen 44:21Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.’

Gen 44:22

Gen 44:22We said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’

Gen 44:23

Gen 44:23Then you said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall not see my face again.’

Gen 44:24

Gen 44:24“When we went back to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord.

Gen 44:25

Gen 44:25And when our father said, ‘Go again, buy us a little food,’

Gen 44:26

Gen 44:26we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother goes with us, then we will go down. For we cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’

Gen 44:27

Gen 44:27Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons.

Gen 44:28

Gen 44:28One left me, and I said, “Surely he has been torn to pieces,” and I have never seen him since.

Gen 44:29

Gen 44:29If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs in evil to Sheol.’

Gen 44:30

Gen 44:30“Now therefore, as soon as I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us, then, as his life is bound up in the boy’s life,

Gen 44:31

Gen 44:31as soon as 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 Sheol.

Gen 44:32

Gen 44:32For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life.’

Gen 44:33

Gen 44:33Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers.

Gen 44:34

Gen 44:34For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.”
See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
ESV Footnotes
Septuagint (compare Vulgate) adds Why have you stolen my silver cup?
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Genesis Chapter 44 — Additional Translations:

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