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44:1  Then he ordered the manager of his household, “Fill the men’s packs with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man’s money just inside his pack.
44:2  And put my goblet, the silver one, just inside the pack of the youngest, along with his grain money.” He did what Yosef told him to do.
44:3  At daybreak the men were sent off with their donkeys;
44:4  but before they were far from the city Yosef said to his manager, “Up, go after the men; and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil?
44:5  Isn’t this the goblet my lord drinks from, indeed the one he uses for divination? What you have done is evil!’”
44:6  So he caught up with them and said these words to them.
44:7  They replied, “Why does my lord speak this way? Heaven forbid that we should do such a thing!
44:8  Why, the money we found inside our packs we brought back to you from the land of Kena‘an! So how would we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house?
44:9  Whichever one of us the goblet is found with, let him be put to death — and the rest of us will be my lord’s slaves!”
44:10  He replied, “Fine; let it be as you have said: whichever one it is found with will be my slave. But the rest of you will be blameless.”
44:11  Then each hurried to put his pack down on the ground, and each one opened his pack.
44:12  He searched, starting with the oldest and ending with the youngest; and the goblet was found in the pack belonging to Binyamin.
44:13  At this, they tore their clothes from grief. Then each man loaded up his donkey and returned to the city.
44:14  (A: Maftir) Y’hudah and his brothers arrived at Yosef’s house. He was still there, and they fell down before him on the ground.
44:15  (S: Maftir) Yosef said to them, “How could you do such a thing? Don’t you know that a man such as myself can learn the truth by divination?”
44:16  Y’hudah said, “There’s nothing we can say to my lord! How can we speak? There’s no way we can clear ourselves! God has revealed your servants’ guilt; so here we are, my lord’s slaves — both we and also the one in whose possession the cup was found.”
44:17  But he replied, “Heaven forbid that I should act in such a way. The man in whose possession the goblet was found will be my slave; but as for you, go in peace to your father.” Haftarah Mikketz: M’lakhim Alef (1 Kings) 3:15–4:1 B’rit Hadashah suggested reading for Parashah Mikketz: Acts 7:9–16 (specifically vv. 11–12)
44:18  Then Y’hudah approached Yosef and said, “Please, my lord! Let your servant say something to you privately; and don’t be angry with your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself.
44:19  My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father? or a brother?’
44:20  We answered my lord, ‘We have a father who is an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one whose brother is dead; so that of his mother’s children he alone is left; and his father loves him.’
44:21  But you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, so that I can see him.’
44:22  We answered my lord, ‘The boy can’t leave his father; if he were to leave his father, his father would die.’
44:23  You said to your servants, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’
44:24  We went up to your servant my father and told him what my lord had said;
44:25  but when our father said, ‘Go again, and buy us some food,’
44:26  we answered, ‘We can’t go down. Only if our youngest brother is with us will we go down, because we can’t see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’
44:27  Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons:
44:28  the one went out from me, and I said, “Surely he has been torn to pieces,” and I haven’t seen him since.
44:29  Now if you take this one away from me too, and something happens to him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sh’ol with grief.’
44:30  So now if I go to your servant my father, and the boy isn’t with us — seeing how his heart is bound up with the boy’s heart —
44:31  (ii) when he sees that the boy isn’t with us, he will die; and your servants will bring the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sh’ol with grief.
44:32  For your servant himself guaranteed his safety; I said, ‘If I fail to bring him to you, then I will bear the blame before my father forever.’
44:33  Therefore, I beg you, let your servant stay as a slave to my lord instead of the boy, and let the boy go up with his brothers.
44:34  For how can I go up to my father if the boy isn’t with me? I couldn’t bear to see my father so overwhelmed by anguish.”