A modern English translation drawn directly from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. Translated word-for-word where possible, by a committee with scholarly oversight.
Uses the same source texts as the ESV, NASB, and most academic Bibles, including the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the Nestle-Aland critical edition.
Genesis 44
Genesis 44 is the forty-fourth chapter of the book of Genesis and the chapter in which Joseph's final test of his brothers culminates in Judah's plea for Benjamin. The 34-verse chapter contains the longest single speech in Genesis and is the turning point that makes the next chapter's reveal possible.
The chapter opens with Joseph giving instructions to his steward. Fill the men's bags with as much grain as they can carry, put each man's silver back at the top of his sack, and put Joseph's own silver cup at the top of Benjamin's sack with his grain money. The brothers leave at dawn.
When they are barely outside the city, Joseph sends his steward after them. He overtakes them and accuses them: why have they repaid good with evil, why have they stolen his master's cup, the one he uses for divination? The brothers protest. They returned the silver they found before; how could they steal? If anyone among them is found with the cup, let him die and the rest become slaves. The steward agrees only to the lesser punishment: the one with the cup will be his slave; the rest go free.
He searches each sack, beginning with the oldest. The cup is found in Benjamin's sack. The brothers tear their clothes, load their donkeys, and return with him to the city.
They throw themselves on the ground before Joseph. Judah speaks. "What can we say to my lord? How can we plead? God has exposed the iniquity of your servants. We are now my lord's slaves, both we and the one in whose possession the cup was found." Joseph answers, "Only the man who was found with the cup will be my slave. The rest of you may go in peace to your father."
Judah then steps forward. He recounts how the governor asked about a father and a younger brother. He recounts how their father said that his wife bore him two sons, that one went out and was torn to pieces and never came back, and that if anything happened to this one his gray head would go down to Sheol in sorrow. He recounts his own pledge to bear the blame forever if Benjamin did not return. He closes, "Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord's slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers. For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery that would overwhelm my father."
Verse 1. Then Joseph instructed his steward: “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each one’s silver in the mouth of his sack.
Verse 2. Put my cup, the silver one, in the mouth of the youngest one’s sack, along with the silver for his grain.” So the steward did as Joseph had instructed.
Verse 3. At daybreak, the men were sent on their way with their donkeys.
Verse 4. They had not gone far from the city when Joseph told his steward, “Pursue the men at once, and when you overtake them, ask, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil?
Verse 5. Is this not the cup my master drinks from and uses for divination? What you have done is wicked!’”
Verse 6. When the steward overtook them, he relayed these words to them.
Verse 7. “Why does my lord say these things?” they asked. “Your servants could not possibly do such a thing.
Verse 8. We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the silver we found in the mouths of our sacks. Why would we steal silver or gold from your master’s house?
Verse 9. If any of your servants is found to have it, he must die, and the rest will become slaves of my lord.”
Verse 10. “As you say,” replied the steward. “But only the one who is found with the cup will be my slave, and the rest of you shall be free of blame.”
Verse 11. So each one quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it.
Verse 12. The steward searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest—and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.
Verse 13. Then they all tore their clothes, loaded their donkeys, and returned to the city.
Verse 14. When Judah and his brothers arrived at Joseph’s house, he was still there, and they fell to the ground before him.
Verse 15. “What is this deed you have done?” Joseph declared. “Do you not know that a man like me can surely divine the truth?”
Verse 16. “What can we say to my lord?” Judah replied. “How can we plead? How can we justify ourselves? God has exposed the iniquity of your servants. We are now my lord’s slaves—both we and the one who was found with the cup.”
Verse 17. But Joseph replied, “Far be it from me to do this. The man who was found with the cup will be my slave. The rest of you may return to your father in peace.”
Verse 18. Then Judah approached Joseph and said, “Sir, please let your servant speak personally to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, for you are equal to Pharaoh himself.
Verse 19. My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’
Verse 20. And we answered, ‘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.’
Verse 21. Then you told your servants, ‘Bring him down to me so that I can see him for myself.’
Verse 22. So we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father. If he were to leave, his father would die.’
Verse 23. But you said to your servants, ‘Unless your younger brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’
Verse 24. Now when we returned to your servant my father, we relayed your words to him.
Verse 25. Then our father said, ‘Go back and buy us some food.’
Verse 26. But we answered, ‘We cannot go down there unless our younger brother goes with us. So if our younger brother is not with us, we cannot see the man.’
Verse 27. And your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons.
Verse 28. When one of them was gone, I said: “Surely he has been torn to pieces.” And I have not seen him since.
Verse 29. Now if you also take this one from me and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.’
Verse 30. So if the boy is not with us when I return to your servant, and if my father, whose life is wrapped up in the boy’s life,
Verse 31. sees that the boy is not with us, he will die. Then your servants will have brought the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow.
Verse 32. Indeed, your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father, saying, ‘If I do not return him to you, I will bear the guilt before you, my father, all my life.’
Verse 33. Now please let your servant stay here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy. Let him return with his brothers.
Verse 34. For how can I go back to my father without the boy? I could not bear to see the misery that would overwhelm him.”
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