When Judah and his brothers went back to Joseph’s house, Joseph was still there, so the brothers bowed facedown on the ground before him. Joseph said to them, “What have you done? Didn’t you know that a man like me can learn things by signs and dreams?”
Judah said, “Master, what can we say? And how can we show we are not guilty? God has uncovered our guilt, so all of us will be your slaves, not just Benjamin.”
But Joseph said, “I will not make you all slaves! Only the man who stole the cup will be my slave. The rest of you may go back safely to your father.”
Then Judah went to Joseph and said, “Master, please let me speak plainly to you, and please don’t be angry with me. I know that you are as powerful as the king of Egypt himself. When we were here before, you asked us, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’ And we answered you, ‘We have an old father. And we have a younger brother, who was born when our father was old. This youngest son’s brother is dead, so he is the only one of his mother’s children left alive, and our father loves him very much.’ Then you said to us, ‘Bring that brother to me. I want to see him.’ And we said to you, ‘That young boy cannot leave his father, because if he leaves him, his father would die.’ But you said to us, ‘If you don’t bring your youngest brother, you will not be allowed to see me again.’ So we went back to our father and told him what you had said.
“Later, our father said, ‘Go again and buy us a little more food.’ We said to our father, ‘We cannot go without our youngest brother. Without our youngest brother, we will not be allowed to see the governor.’ Then my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife Rachel gave me two sons. When one son left me, I thought, “Surely he has been torn apart by a wild animal,” and I haven’t seen him since. Now you want to take this son away from me also. But something terrible might happen to him, and I would be miserable until the day I die.’ Now what will happen if we go home to our father without our youngest brother? He is so important in our father’s life that when our father sees the young boy is not with us, he will die. And it will be our fault. We will cause the great sorrow that kills our father.
“I gave my father a guarantee that the young boy would be safe. I said to my father, ‘If I don’t bring him back to you, you can blame me all my life.’ So now, please allow me to stay here and be your slave, and let the young boy go back home with his brothers. I cannot go back to my father if the boy is not with me. I couldn’t stand to see my father that sad.”
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