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Genesis 44
1 Then 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.
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 as Joseph had told him.
3 As soon as it was light, the men were sent away, they with their donkeys.
4 They 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?
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.' "
6 So he overtook them and spoke these words to them.
7 They said to
him, "Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing.
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?
9 "With whomever of your servants it
is found, let him die, and we also will be my lord's slaves."
10 So 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."
11 Then they hurried, each man lowered his sack to the ground, and each man opened his sack.
12 He
searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest, and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack.
13 Then they tore their clothes, and when each man
loaded his donkey, they 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 is this deed that you have done? Do you not know that such a man as I can indeed practice divination?"
16 So 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 possession the cup has been found."
17 But he said, "Far be it from me to do this. The man in whose possession the cup
has been found, he shall be my slave; but as for you, go up in peace to your father."
18 Then Judah approached him, and said, "Oh my lord, may your servant
please 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 "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.'
21 "Then you said to your servants, 'Bring him down to me
that I may set my eyes on him.'
22 "But we said to my lord, 'The lad cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.'
23 "You said to your servants, however, 'Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.'
24 "Thus it came about
when we went up to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord.
25 "Our father said, 'Go back, buy us a little food.'
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.'
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 is torn in
pieces," and I have not seen him since.
29 'If you take this one also from me, and harm befalls him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.'
30 "Now, therefore, when I come to your servant my father, and the lad is not with us, since his life is bound up in the lad's life,
31 when 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.
32 "For your servant became
surety for the lad to my father, saying, 'If I do not bring him back to you, then let me bear the blame before my father forever.'
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.
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 overtake my father?"
Genesis 45
1 Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood
by him, and he cried, "Have everyone go out from me." So there was no man with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers.
2 He wept so loudly that
the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard of it.
3 Then Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?" But his
brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.
4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Please come closer to me." And they came closer.
And he said, "I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.
5 "Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me
before you to preserve life.
6 "For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor
harvesting.
7 "God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance.
8 "Now, therefore, it was
not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
9 "Hurry and go up to
my father, and say to him, 'Thus says your son Joseph, "God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay.
10 "You shall live in the land
of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children's children and your flocks and your herds and all that you have.
11 "There I will
also provide for you, for there are still five years of famine to come, and you and your household and all that you have would be impoverished." '
12
"Behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth which is speaking to you.
13 "Now you must tell my father of all my
splendor in Egypt, and 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 He kissed all his brothers and wept on them, and afterward his brothers talked with him.
16 Now when the news was heard in
Pharaoh's house that Joseph's brothers had come, it pleased Pharaoh and his servants.
17 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Say to your brothers, 'Do this:
load your beasts and go to the land of Canaan,
18 and take your father and your households and come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt and you
will eat the fat of the land.'
19 "Now you are ordered, 'Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring
your father and come.
20 'Do not concern yourselves with your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.' "
21 Then the sons of Israel did
so; and Joseph gave them wagons according to the command of Pharaoh, and gave them provisions for the journey.
22 To each of them he gave changes of garments, but to
Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of garments.
23 To his father he sent as follows: ten donkeys loaded with the best things of Egypt, and
ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and sustenance for his father on the journey.
24 So he sent his brothers away, and as they departed, he said to them,
"Do not quarrel on the journey."
25 Then they went up from Egypt, and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob.
26 They told him, saying,
"Joseph is still alive, and indeed he is ruler over all the land of Egypt." But he was stunned, for he did not believe them.
27 When they told him all the
words of Joseph that he had spoken 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,
"It is enough; my son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die."
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