Previous Chapter Full Page Full Page Next Chapter

Genesis 44 :: New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB95)

The Brothers Are Brought Back

Gen 44:1

Gen 44:1Then he commanded his house steward, saying, “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 44:2“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 soon as it was light, the men were sent away, they with their donkeys.

Gen 44:4

Gen 44:4They had just gone out of the city, and were not far off, when Joseph said to his house steward, “Up, follow the men; and when you overtake them, 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 for divination? You have done wrong in doing this.’”

Gen 44:6

Gen 44:6So he overtook them and spoke these words to them.

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 44:8“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, and the rest of you shall be innocent.”

Gen 44:11

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

Gen 44:12

Gen 44:12He 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 when each man loaded his donkey, they returned to the city.

Gen 44:14

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

Gen 44:15

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

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.”

Gen 44:18

Gen 44:18Then Judah approached him, and said, “Oh my lord, may your servant please speak a word in my lord’s ears, and [fn]do not be angry with your servant; for you are equal to Pharaoh.

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“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“But we said to my lord, ‘The lad cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, [fn]his father would die.’

Gen 44:23

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

Gen 44:24

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

Gen 44:25

Gen 44:25“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 unless our youngest brother is with us.’

Gen 44:27

Gen 44:27“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 in 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]sorrow.’

Gen 44:30

Gen 44:30“Now, therefore, when I come to your servant my father, and the lad is not with us, since [fn]his life is bound up in the lad’s life,

Gen 44:31

Gen 44:31when he sees that the lad 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 surety for the lad to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then [fn]let me bear the blame before my father forever.’

Gen 44:33

Gen 44:33“Now, therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the lad a slave to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers.

Gen 44:34

Gen 44:34“For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me—for fear that I see the evil that would [fn]overtake my father?”
See the NASB95 Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NASB95 Footnotes
Or, according to the word
Literally: The morning was light
Literally: hand
Literally: hand
Literally: let not your anger burn against
Literally: he would
Literally: my face
Literally: evil
Literally: his soul is bound with his soul
Literally: and I shall have sinned for all the days before my father
Literally: find
Translation Copyright Logo

New American Standard Bible 1995
Copyright (c) 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995
by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif.
All rights reserved
https://www.lockman.org/new-american-standard-bible-nasb/

The "NASB," "NAS," "New American Standard Bible," and "New American Standard" trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by The Lockman Foundation. Use of these trademarks requires the permission of The Lockman Foundation.

For Permission To Quote visit http://www.lockman.org

For more information on this translation, see the NASB95 Preface.

Translations available: King James Version, New King James Version, New Living Translation, New International Version, English Standard Version, Christian Standard Bible, New American Standard Bible 2020, New American Standard Bible 1995, Legacy Standard Bible 2021, New English Translation, Revised Standard Version, American Standard Version, Young's Literal Translation, Darby Translation, Webster's Bible, Hebrew Names Version, Reina-Valera 1960, Latin Vulgate, Westminster Leningrad Codex, Septuagint, Morphological Greek New Testament, and Textus Receptus.