Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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The Missing Cup
1 Joseph commanded the servant
in charge of his house,
“Fill the men's sacks with as much
food as they can carry, and put each
-- --
man's money in the top of his sack.
2 Put my silver cup in the top of the
youngest brother's sack, together
with the money for his grain.” He
did as he was told.
3 Early in the
morning the brothers were sent on
their way with their donkeys.
4 When they had gone only a short
distance from the city, Joseph said
to the servant in charge of his house,
“Hurry after those men. When you
catch up with them, ask them, ‘Why
have you paid back evil for good?
5 Why did you steal my master's silver
cup? noteIt is the one he drinks
from, the one he uses for divination.
You have committed a serious
crime!’”
6 When the servant caught up
with them, he repeated these words.
7 They answered him, “What do you
mean, sir, by talking like this? We
swear that we have done no such
thing.
8 You know that we brought
back to you from the land of Canaan
the money we found in the top of our
sacks. Why then should we steal silver
or gold from your master's
house?
9 Sir, if any one of us is found
to have it, he will be put to death,
and the rest of us will become your
slaves.”
10 He said, “I agree; but only the
one who has taken the cup will become
my slave, and the rest of you
can go free.”
11 So they quickly lowered
their sacks to the ground, and
each man opened his sack.
12 Joseph's
servant searched carefully,
beginning with the oldest and ending
with the youngest, and the cup
was found in Benjamin's sack.
13 The
brothers tore their clothes in sorrow,
loaded their donkeys, and returned
to the city.
14 When Judah and his brothers
came to Joseph's house, he was still
there. They bowed down before him,
15 and Joseph said, “What have you
done? Didn't you know that a man in
my position could find you out by
practicing divination?”
16 “What can we say to you, sir?”
Judah answered. “How can we argue?
How can we clear ourselves?
God has uncovered our guilt. All of
us are now your slaves and not just
the one with whom the cup was
found.”
17 Joseph said, “Oh, no! I would
never do that! Only the one who had
the cup will be my slave. The rest of
you may go back safe and sound to
your father.”
Judah Pleads for Benjamin
18 Judah went up to Joseph and
said, “Please, sir, allow me to speak
with you freely. Don't be angry with
me; you are like the king himself.
19 Sir, you asked us, ‘Do you have a
father or another brother?’
20 We answered,
‘We have a father who is old
and a younger brother, born to him
in his old age. The boy's brother is
dead, and he is the only one of his
mother's children still alive; his father
loves him very much.’
21 Sir, you
told us to bring him here, so that you
could see him,
22 and we answered
that the boy could not leave his father;
if he did, his father would die.
23 Then you said, ‘You will not be admitted
to my presence again unless
your youngest brother comes with
you.’
24 “When we went back to our father,
we told him what you had said.
25 Then he told us to return and buy a
little food.
26 We answered, ‘We cannot
go; we will not be admitted to
the man's presence unless our
youngest brother is with us. We can
go only if our youngest brother goes
also.’
27 Our father said to us, ‘You
know that my wife Rachel bore me
only two sons.
28 One of them has already
left me. He must have been
torn to pieces by wild animals, because
I have not seen him since he
left.
29 If you take this one from me
now and something happens to him,
the sorrow you would cause me
would kill me, as old as I am.’
30
31 “And now, sir,” Judah continued,
“if I go back to my father without
the boy, as soon as he sees that
the boy is not with me, he will die.
His life is wrapped up with the life of
-- --
the boy, and he is so old that the sorrow
we would cause him would kill
him.
32 What is more, I pledged my
life to my father for the boy. I told
him that if I did not bring the boy
back to him, I would bear the blame
all my life.
33 And now, sir, I will stay
here as your slave in place of the
boy; let him go back with his brothers.
34 How can I go back to my father
if the boy is not with me? I cannot
bear to see this disaster come
upon my father.”
Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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