The Silver Cup

Read it in the Bible: Genesis 43:1–44:34 (KJV)

¹And the famine was sore in the land. ²And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the corn which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said unto them, Go again, buy us a little food. ³And Judah spake unto him, saying, The man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you. ⁴If thou wilt send our brother with us, we will go down and buy thee food: ⁵But if thou wilt not send him, we will not go down: for the man said unto us, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you. ⁶And Israel said, Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me, as to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother? ⁷And they said, The man asked us straitly of our state, and of our kindred, saying, Is your father yet alive? have ye another brother? and we told him according to the tenor of these words: could we certainly know that he would say, Bring your brother down? ⁸And Judah said unto Israel his father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go; that we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, and also our little ones. ⁹I will be surety for him; of my hand shalt thou require him: if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever: ¹⁰For except we had lingered, surely now we had returned this second time. ¹¹And their father Israel said unto them, If it must be so now, do this; take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds: ¹²And take double money in your hand; and the money that was brought again in the mouth of your sacks, carry it again in your hand; peradventure it was an oversight: ¹³Take also your brother, and arise, go again unto the man: ¹⁴And God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your other brother, and Benjamin. If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved. ¹⁵And the men took that present, and they took double money in their hand, and Benjamin; and rose up, and went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph. ¹⁶And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the ruler of his house, Bring these men home, and slay, and make ready; for these men shall dine with me at noon. ¹⁷And the man did as Joseph bade; and the man brought the men into Joseph’s house. ¹⁸And the men were afraid, because they were brought into Joseph’s house; and they said, Because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time are we brought in; that he may seek occasion against us, and fall upon us, and take us for bondmen, and our asses. ¹⁹And they came near to the steward of Joseph’s house, and they communed with him at the door of the house, ²⁰And said, O sir, we came indeed down at the first time to buy food: ²¹And it came to pass, when we came to the inn, that we opened our sacks, and, behold, every man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight: and we have brought it again in our hand. ²²And other money have we brought down in our hands to buy food: we cannot tell who put our money in our sacks. ²³And he said, Peace be to you, fear not: your God, and the God of your father, hath given you treasure in your sacks: I had your money. And he brought Simeon out unto them. ²⁴And the man brought the men into Joseph’s house, and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their asses provender. ²⁵And they made ready the present against Joseph came at noon: for they heard that they should eat bread there. ²⁶And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed themselves to him to the earth. ²⁷And he asked them of their welfare, and said, Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spake? Is he yet alive? ²⁸And they answered, Thy servant our father is in good health, he is yet alive. And they bowed down their heads, and made obeisance. ²⁹And he lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, Is this your younger brother, of whom ye spake unto me? And he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son. ³⁰And Joseph made haste; for his bowels did yearn upon his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there. ³¹And he washed his face, and went out, and refrained himself, and said, Set on bread. ³²And they set on for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, which did eat with him, by themselves: because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews; for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians. ³³And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth: and the men marvelled one at another. ³⁴And he took and sent messes unto them from before him: but Benjamin’s mess was five times so much as any of theirs. And they drank, and were merry with him. ¹And 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. ²And 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. ³As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their asses. ⁴And 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? ⁵Is not this it in which my lord drinketh, and whereby indeed he divineth? ye have done evil in so doing. ⁶And he overtook them, and he spake unto them these same words. ⁷And they said unto him, Wherefore saith my lord these words? God forbid that thy servants should do according to this thing: ⁸Behold, 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? ⁹With whomsoever of thy servants it be found, both let him die, and we also will be my lord’s bondmen. ¹⁰And 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. ¹¹Then they speedily took down every man his sack to the ground, and opened every man his sack. ¹²And he searched, and began at the eldest, and left at the youngest: and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. ¹³Then they rent their clothes, and laded every man his ass, and returned to the city. ¹⁴And Judah and his brethren came to Joseph’s house; for he was yet there: and they fell before him on the ground. ¹⁵And Joseph said unto them, What deed is this that ye have done? wot ye not that such a man as I can certainly divine? ¹⁶And 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. ¹⁷And 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. ¹⁸Then 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. ¹⁹My lord asked his servants, saying, Have ye a father, or a brother? ²⁰And 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. ²¹And thou saidst unto thy servants, Bring him down unto me, that I may set mine eyes upon him. ²²And we said unto my lord, The lad cannot leave his father: for if he should leave his father, his father would die. ²³And thou saidst unto thy servants, Except your youngest brother come down with you, ye shall see my face no more. ²⁴And it came to pass when we came up unto thy servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. ²⁵And our father said, Go again, and buy us a little food. ²⁶And 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. ²⁷And thy servant my father said unto us, Ye know that my wife bare me two sons: ²⁸And the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces; and I saw him not since: ²⁹And if ye take this also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. ³⁰Now 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; ³¹It 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. ³²For 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. ³³Now 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. ³⁴For 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.