1 After they had finished eating, Joseph called his servant in charge of the other workers in his house. He said to him, “Fill the men's bags with food, and put their money back again at the top of each bag. 2 And also put my special silver cup at the top of the youngest brother's bag.” Then the servant went and did what Joseph told him.

3 The next morning Joseph got up and let the men go with their donkeys. So they set off. 4 When they had gone a little way, Joseph spoke to the servant in charge of his house. “Go quickly,” he said. “Run after the men. When you reach them, say to them, ‘What have you done to my master? He was good to you but you have paid back evil to him. 5 Why did you steal that special cup of his? No one else drinks from that cup except him because he owns it. When he wants to find out about people and about what they have done, that's what he would use to show him. You have done a very bad thing!’ ”

6 The servant went and caught up with them and told them Joseph's message. 7 They said, “Why do you say this? We didn't steal the governor's cup. 8 You know that we brought back from Canaan the money we had found in our bags. Why would we steal silver or gold or anything precious belonging to your master? 9 If you find the cup with any one of us, then you may kill him. The rest of us will become your servants.”

10 He answered, “What you say is all right, but if one of you has taken the cup only he will be my servant. You others can go home free.”

11 So they quickly took their bags down from the donkeys and opened them. 12 The servant searched very carefully. He began by looking in the oldest one's bag. That was Reuben's. Then he looked in the next brother's bag and in the next. He kept on looking until he found the cup in the bag of the youngest brother Benjamin.

13 The brothers tore their clothes because they were so upset. They put the bags on to the donkeys again and went back to the city.

14 Joseph was still in his house. When the brothers arrived they bowed down to him with their faces to the floor. 15 “Why did you do that?” Joseph said to them. “Didn't you know that I am the governor and I know things that are hidden from other people, and so I know everything you have done?”

16 Judah answered, “There is nothing we can say to you. God has shown you our sin and we can't show you that we are good people. So all of us are now your servants, not just the one who took the cup, but all of us.”

17 Joseph said, “Not at all! That's no good. Only the one who took my cup will be my servant. You others can go back to your father.”

18 Then Judah went up close to Joseph and said, “Please let me just speak to you. Don't be angry with me. You are like the king who rules all Egypt. 19 You said, ‘Is your father alive? Have you got another brother?’ 20 So we told you about our father and about our younger brother. He was born when our father was an old man. His older brother is dead and he is the only one of his mother's children who is still alive. And his father loves him very much. 21 You told us to bring him here because you wanted to see him. 22 But we said, ‘He can't leave his father, because if he leaves him his father will die.’ 23 Then you said, ‘If you don't bring your youngest brother here, I won't let you come into my house again.’

24 “When we went back to our father we told him what you had said.

25 “Then later on our father told us to come back here to Egypt to buy some more food. 26 But we said, ‘No. If our youngest brother doesn't go with us, we can't see the governor. We will only go if our youngest brother goes too.’ 27 Our father said to us, ‘You know that my wife Rachel had only two sons. 28 One is no longer with us. A wild animal must have killed him because he went away and didn't come back. 29 So if you take this son of mine now and something happens to him, then I will die. You will make me so sad that I will die.’ That's what our father told us.

30-31 “So if I go back to my father and I don't take our youngest brother, our father will die. He really will die if he doesn't see this boy with us. He loves him very much, and because he is an old man, the sorrow would kill him.

32 “And also I told my father that I myself would look after him and bring him back to him. I said, ‘If I don't bring him back safely, you can always blame me.’ 33 Please, let him go with my other brothers and I will be your servant here. 34 I will not go back if I cannot take him back to my father. If my brother doesn't go back to him then my father will die, and I don't want to see that happen.”