Genesis 44 :: Legacy Standard Bible (LSB)

The Brothers Fall Before Joseph

Then he commanded^H6680 his house^H1004 steward^H834^H5921, saying^H559, “Fill^H4390 the men’s^H376 sacks^H572 with food^H400, as much^H834 as they can^H3201 carry^H5375, and put^H7760 each^H376 man’s^H376 money^H3701 in the mouth^H6310 of his sack^H572.

Gen 44:2

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

Gen 44:3

Gen 44:3 [fn]As the morning light broke, the men were sent away, they with their donkeys.

Gen 44:4

Gen 44:4Now they had just gone out of the city and were not far off when Joseph said to his house steward, “Arise, pursue the men; you shall overtake them and say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good?

Gen 44:5

Gen 44:5‘Is not this the one from which my lord drinks and which he indeed uses to interpret omens? You have done evil in doing this.’”

Gen 44:6

So he overtook^H5381 them and spoke^H1696 these^H428 words^H1697 to them.

Gen 44:7

Gen 44:7And they 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 44:8“Behold, the money which we found in the mouth of our sacks we have 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 44:9“With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s slaves.”

Gen 44:10

Gen 44:10So he said, “Now let it also be according to your words; he with whom it is found shall be my slave, but the rest of you shall be innocent.”

Gen 44:11

Gen 44:11Then they hurried, each man brought his sack down to the ground, and each man opened his sack.

Gen 44:12

Gen 44:12So he searched, beginning with the oldest 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 each man loaded his donkey and returned to the city.

Gen 44:14

Then Judah^H3063 and his brothers^H251 came^H935 to Joseph’s^H3130 house^H1004, and he was still^H5750 there^H8033. So they fell^H5307 to the ground^H776 before^H6440 him.

Gen 44:15

Gen 44:15And Joseph said to them, “What is this deed that you have done? Do you not know that such a man as I can indeed interpret omens?”

Gen 44:16

Gen 44:16So Judah said, “What can we say to my lord? What can we speak? And how can we justify ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants; behold, we are my lord’s slaves, both we and the one in whose [fn]possession the cup has been found.”

Gen 44:17

Gen 44:17But he said, “Far be it from me to do this. The man in whose [fn]possession the cup has been found, he shall be my slave; but as for you, go up in peace to your father.”

Judah Remains Instead of Benjamin

Gen 44:18

Then Judah^H3063 came^H5066 near to him and said^H559, “O^H994 my lord^H113, may your servant^H5650 please^H4994 speak^H1696 a word^H1697 in my lord’s^H113 ears^H241, and [fn]do not be^H2734 angry^H639^H2734 with your servant^H5650; for you are equal to Pharaoh^H6547.

Gen 44:19

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

Gen 44:20

Gen 44:20“And we said to my lord, ‘We have an old father and a little child of his old age. Now his brother is dead, so he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him.’

Gen 44:21

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

Gen 44:22

Gen 44:22“And we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father; if he should leave his father, [fn]his father would die.’

Gen 44:23

Gen 44:23“You said to your servants, however, ‘If your youngest brother does not come down with you, you will not see my face again.’

Gen 44:24

Gen 44:24“Thus it happened that when we went up to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord.

Gen 44:25

Gen 44:25“And our father said, ‘Go back, buy us a little food.’

Gen 44:26

Gen 44:26“But we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down; for we cannot see the man’s face if our youngest brother is not with us.’

Gen 44:27

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

Gen 44:28

Gen 44:28and the one went out from me, and I said, “Surely he is torn to pieces,” and I have not seen him since.

Gen 44:29

Gen 44:29‘If you take this one also from [fn]me and harm befalls him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in [fn]evil.’

Gen 44:30

Gen 44:30“So now, when I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us—[fn]and his life is bound up in the boy’s life—

Gen 44:31

Gen 44:31so it will be that when he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die. Thus your servants will bring the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow.

Gen 44:32

Gen 44:32“For your servant became a guarantee for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, [fn]then I shall bear the sin before my father all my days.’

Gen 44:33