8. We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money we found at the top of our bags. How could we steal gold and silver from your master’s house?
9. If any of us is found to have it, he must die, and we also will become my lord’s slaves.”
10. The steward replied, “What you have said is right, but only the one who is found to have it will be my slave, and the rest of you will be blameless.”
11. So each one quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it.
12. The steward 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 each one loaded his donkey and returned to the city.
14. When Judah and his brothers reached Joseph’s house, he was still there. They fell to the ground before him.
15. “What is this you have done? ” Joseph said to them. “Didn’t you know that a man like me could uncover the truth by divination? ”
16. “What can we say to my lord? ” Judah replied. “How can we plead? How can we justify ourselves? God has exposed your servants’ iniquity. We are now my lord’s slaves — both we and the one in whose possession the cup was found.”
17. Then Joseph said, “I swear that I will not do this. The man in whose possession the cup was found will be my slave. The rest of you can go in peace to your father.”
18. But Judah approached him and said, “Sir, please let your servant speak personally to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, for you are like Pharaoh.
19. My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother? ’
20. and we answered my lord, ‘We have an elderly father and a younger brother, the child of his old age. The boy’s brother is dead. He is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.’
21. Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him to me so that I can see him.’
22. But we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father. If he were to leave, his father would die.’
23. Then you said to your servants, ‘If your younger brother does not come down with you, you will not see me again.’