¹ Then he gave orders to the servant who was over his house, saying, Put as much food into the men's bags as will go into them, and Put every man's money in the mouth of his bag;

² And put my cup, my silver cup, in the youngest one's bag, with his money. So he did as Joseph said.

³ And at dawn the men, with their asses, were sent away.

⁴ And when they had gone only a little way out of the town, Joseph said to the servant who was over his house, Go after them; and when you overtake them, say to them, Why have you done evil in reward for good?

⁵ Is not this the cup from which my lord takes wine and by which he gets knowledge of the future? Truly, you have done evil.

⁶ So he overtook them and said these words to them.

⁷ And they said to him, Why does my lord say such words as these? far be it from your servants to do such a thing:

⁸ See, the money which was in the mouth of our bags we gave back to you when we came again from Canaan: how then might we take silver or gold from your lord's house?

⁹ If it comes to light that any of your servants has done this, let him be put to death, and we will be your lord's servants.

¹⁰ And he said, Let it be as you say: he in whose bag it is seen will become my servant; and you will not be responsible.

¹¹ Then every man quickly got his bag down and undid it.

¹² And he made a search, starting with the oldest and ending with the youngest; and the cup was in Benjamin's bag.

¹³ Then in bitter grief they put the bags on the asses again and went back to the town.

¹⁴ So Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house; and he was still there: and they went down on their faces before him.

¹⁵ And Joseph said, What is this thing which you have done? had you no thought that such a man as I would have power to see what is secret?

¹⁶ And Judah said, What are we to say to my lord? how may we put ourselves right in his eyes? God has made clear the sin of your servants: now we are in your hands, we and the man in whose bag your cup was seen.

¹⁷ Then he said, Far be it from me to do so: but the man who had my cup will be my servant; and you may go back to your father in peace.

¹⁸ Then Judah came near him, and said, Let your servant say a word in my lord's ears, and let not your wrath be burning against your servant: for you are in the place of Pharaoh to us.

¹⁹ My lord said to his servants, Have you a father or a brother?

²⁰ And we said to my lord, We have an old father and a young child, whom he had when he was old; his brother is dead and he is the only son of his mother, and is very dear to his father.

²¹ And you said to your servants, Let him come down to me with you, so that I may see him.

²² And we said to my lord, His father will not let him go; for if he went away his father would come to his death.

²³ But you said to your servants, If your youngest brother does not come with you, you will not see my face again.

²⁴ And when we went back to your servant, our father, we gave him an account of my lord's words.

²⁵ And our father said, Go again and get us a little food.

²⁶ And we said, Only if our youngest brother goes with us will we go down; for we may not see the man's face again if our youngest brother is not with us.

²⁷ And our father said to us, You have knowledge that my wife gave me two sons;

²⁸ The one went away from me, and I said, Truly he has come to a violent death; and from that time I have not seen him,

²⁹ If now you take this one from me, and some evil comes to him, you will make my grey head go down in sorrow to the underworld.

³⁰ If then I go back to your servant, my father, without the boy, because his life and the boy's life are one,

³¹ When he sees that the boy is not with us, he will come to his death, and our father's grey head will go down in sorrow to the underworld.

³² For I made myself responsible for the boy to my father, saying, If I do not give him safely back to you, let mine be the sin for ever.

³³ So now let me be my lord's servant here in place of the boy, and let him go back with his brothers.

³⁴ For how may I go back to my father without the boy, and see the evil which will come on my father?

¹ Yahweh said to Moses, "Behold, I have made you as God to Pharaoh; and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.

² You shall speak all that I command you; and Aaron your brother shall speak to Pharaoh, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land.

³ I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.

⁴ But Pharaoh will not listen to you, and I will lay my hand on Egypt, and bring forth my armies, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.

⁵ The Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh, when I stretch forth my hand on Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them."

⁶ Moses and Aaron did so. As Yahweh commanded them, so they did.

⁷ Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

⁸ Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

⁹ "When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, 'Perform a miracle!' then you shall tell Aaron, 'Take your rod, and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it become a serpent.'"

¹⁰ Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, as Yahweh had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent.

¹¹ Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers. They also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same thing with their enchantments.

¹² For they each cast down their rods, and they became serpents: but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods.

¹³ Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he didn't listen to them; as Yahweh had spoken.

¹⁴ Yahweh said to Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is stubborn. He refuses to let the people go.

¹⁵ Go to Pharaoh in the morning. Behold, he goes out to the water; and you shall stand by the river's bank to meet him; and the rod which was turned to a serpent you shall take in your hand.

¹⁶ You shall tell him, 'Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying, "Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness:" and behold, until now you haven't listened.

¹⁷ Thus says Yahweh, "In this you shall know that I am Yahweh. Behold, I will strike with the rod that is in my hand on the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood.

¹⁸ The fish that are in the river shall die, and the river shall become foul; and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink water from the river."'"

¹⁹ Yahweh said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, 'Take your rod, and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, and over their pools, and over all their ponds of water, that they may become blood; and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.'"

²⁰ Moses and Aaron did so, as Yahweh commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and struck the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.

²¹ The fish that were in the river died; and the river became foul, and the Egyptians couldn't drink water from the river; and the blood was throughout all the land of Egypt.

²² The magicians of Egypt did the same thing with their enchantments; and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he didn't listen to them; as Yahweh had spoken.

²³ Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he lay even this to heart.

²⁴ All the Egyptians dug around the river for water to drink; for they couldn't drink of the water of the river.

²⁵ Seven days were fulfilled, after Yahweh had struck the river.