I am Yosef! Also, How is Dad Doing?

(1) Then he (Yosef) instructed his house steward as follows, “Fill the men’s bags with food, as much as they can carry, and put each one’s money in the mouth of his bag. (2) Put my silver goblet in the mouth of the bag of the youngest one, together with his money for the rations.” And he did as Joseph told him..... (4) They had just left the city and had not gone far, when Joseph said to his steward, “Up, go after the men! And when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why did you repay good with evil? (5) It is the very one from which my master drinks and which he uses for divination. It was a wicked thing for you to do!’” (6) He overtook them and spoke those words to them. (7) And they said to him, “Why does my lord say such things? Far be it from your servants to do anything of the kind!....... (9) Whichever of your servants it is found with shall die; the rest of us, moreover, shall become slaves to my lord.” (10) He replied, “Although what you are proposing is right, only the one with whom it is found shall be my slave; but the rest of you shall go free.” (11) So each one hastened to lower his bag to the ground, and each one opened his bag. (12) He searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest; and the goblet turned up in Benjamin’s bag.....

(19) Meanwhile Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father’s household idols. (20) Jacob kept Laban the Aramean in the dark,^-c not telling him that he was fleeing, (21) and fled with all that he had. Soon he was across the Euphrates and heading toward the hill country of Gilead. (22) On the third day, Laban was told that Jacob had fled. (23) So he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him a distance of seven days, catching up with him in the hill country of Gilead.....(30) Very well, you had to leave because you were longing for your father’s house; but why did you steal my gods?” (31) Jacob answered Laban, saying, “I was afraid because I thought you would take your daughters from me by force. (32) But anyone with whom you find your gods shall not remain alive! In the presence of our kinsmen, point out what I have of yours and take it.” Jacob, of course, did not know that Rachel had stolen them. (33) So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and Leah’s tent and the tents of the two maidservants; but he did not find them. Leaving Leah’s tent, he entered Rachel’s tent.....(35) ...... Thus he searched, but could not find the household idols.

(18) Then Judah went up to him and said, “Please, my lord, let your servant appeal to my lord, and do not be impatient with your servant, you who are the equal of Pharaoh......(20) We told my lord, ‘We have an old father, and there is a child of his old age, the youngest; his full brother is dead, so that he alone is left of his mother, and his father dotes on him.’......(22) We said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father; if he were to leave him, his father would die.’ (23) But you said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, do not let me see your faces.’ ......(32) Now your servant has pledged himself for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, I shall stand guilty before my father forever.’ (33) Therefore, please let your servant remain as a slave to my lord instead of the boy, and let the boy go back with his brothers. (34) For how can I go back to my father unless the boy is with me? Let me not be witness to the woe that would overtake my father!”

(1) Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Have everyone withdraw from me!” So there was no one else about when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. (2) His sobs were so loud that the Egyptians could hear, and so the news reached Pharaoh’s palace. (3) Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, so dumfounded were they on account of him.