Genesis 44

Translator Notes

1. Joseph now orchestrates the decisive test. After the banquet's warmth, he sets a trap that will expose the brothers' true character. The instructions are precise and deliberate: maximum grain (generosity) combined with returned silver (the first layer of the setup).
2. 'As much as they can carry' (ka'asher yuklun se'et) — Joseph is lavishly generous even in his testing. The brothers will leave with full sacks, a detail that makes the accusation of theft all the more jarring.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'My cup' (gevi'i) — Joseph specifies his personal cup, a goblet of particular significance. The word gavi'a denotes a bowl or goblet, used elsewhere for the cups on the golden lampstand (Exodus 25:31-34). As Joseph's personal drinking vessel, it carries both material value and symbolic weight.
2. 'The silver cup' (gevi'a hakkesef) — the appositive specification emphasizes the cup's material: silver, matching the silver already returned in the sacks. Silver pervades this narrative as a symbol of guilt and restitution — the brothers sold Joseph for silver (37:28), and silver keeps mysteriously reappearing in their sacks.
3. 'In the mouth of the youngest one's sack' — Benjamin is targeted precisely because he is the innocent one, the brother who had no part in selling Joseph. The test is designed to place the guiltless brother in jeopardy: will the others abandon him as they once abandoned Joseph, or will they stand by him? Joseph needs to know if they have changed.

Translator Notes

1. 'At the light of morning' (habboqer or) — dawn. The brothers depart at first light, eager to return home with Benjamin, Simeon, and full sacks of grain. They have no reason to suspect anything. The narrative builds suspense through their innocent departure: the reader knows what they do not.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Not yet far off' (lo hirchiqu) — Joseph times the pursuit carefully. The brothers must be close enough to be overtaken quickly but far enough from the city to feel the full shock of being chased down. The pacing is theatrical — Joseph is directing a dramatic scene.
2. 'Why have you repaid evil for good?' (lammah shillamtem ra'ah tachat tovah) — the accusation is devastating in its moral framing. The brothers were treated with extraordinary generosity (banquet, full sacks, Simeon's release), and now they are accused of repaying that kindness with theft. The phrase tachat ('in place of, in exchange for') implies a deliberate inversion of just reciprocity.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'By which he indeed divines' (nacheish yenacheish) — the infinitive absolute of nachash ('to practice divination, to observe signs') emphatically asserts Joseph's supposed divinatory powers. Cup divination (lecanomancy) was widely practiced in the ancient Near East: liquids were poured into a cup, and patterns in the liquid's movement were interpreted as omens. Whether Joseph actually practiced this or merely maintained the appearance is debated. In context, the claim serves to frighten the brothers — they face not merely a powerful lord but one with supernatural knowledge.
2. 'You have done evil' (hare'otem asher asitem) — the steward's accusation is categorical. The brothers, who moments ago were celebrating, are now charged with ingratitude and theft. The emotional whiplash is part of Joseph's design.

Translator Notes

1. The steward faithfully delivers Joseph's scripted accusation. The brevity of this verse — 'he overtook them and spoke these words' — mirrors the speed of the pursuit. The brothers' freedom is measured in minutes; the joyful homeward journey is cut brutally short.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Far be it from your servants' (chalilah la'avadekha) — the word chalilah is an exclamation of moral horror, expressing something so repugnant that it is unthinkable. It derives from chalal ('to profane, defile') — literally, 'it would be profanation!' The brothers' outrage is genuine; they have not stolen the cup. Their innocence on this specific charge is absolute, which makes their rash oath in verse 9 all the more dramatic.

Translator Notes

1. The brothers mount a logical defense: they voluntarily returned silver they could have kept; why would they then steal from the same house? The argument from character is compelling. They cite evidence of their honesty (returning the silver) to argue for the impossibility of the theft. Their reasoning is sound — but Joseph has stacked the evidence against them.
2. 'Silver or gold' (kesef o zahav) — the brothers escalate: not merely silver but gold too — they would steal neither. The rhetorical question expects the answer 'impossible.'

Translator Notes

1. 'Shall die' (vamet) — the brothers propose the death penalty for the thief and collective slavery for the rest. Their confidence in their innocence leads them to propose terms far harsher than necessary. This rash oath echoes Jacob's unknowing death sentence on Rachel when Laban searched for his household gods: 'Whoever has your gods shall not live' (31:32). In both cases, the innocent beloved is imperiled by a hasty oath.
2. The brothers' willingness to become slaves is deeply ironic: they once sold their brother into slavery, and now they offer themselves for the same fate. The narrative circles back on itself with devastating precision.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The steward accepts the brothers' framework but softens the terms: only the guilty party becomes a slave; the rest go free (neqiyyim, 'clean, innocent, blameless'). This modification is critical to Joseph's test. If the brothers can walk away free while Benjamin alone bears the punishment, will they abandon him? Or will they stay and fight for his freedom?
2. The steward's revision creates the exact moral scenario Joseph needs: the brothers can save themselves at Benjamin's expense — precisely what they did to Joseph twenty years earlier. Their response will reveal whether they have fundamentally changed.

Translator Notes

1. 'Quickly' (vayemaharu) — the verb mahar ('to hurry') conveys the brothers' eagerness to be vindicated. They are confident; they rush to prove their innocence. The haste of the guilty man is to flee; the haste of the innocent is to demonstrate — and the brothers hasten to demonstrate. They do not know what awaits them in Benjamin's sack.

Translator Notes

1. 'Beginning with the eldest and ending with the youngest' (baggadol hechel uvaqqaton killah) — the search proceeds in birth order, from Reuben to Benjamin. This methodical sequence builds unbearable suspense. Each sack opened and found clean raises the brothers' confidence — and the reader's dread. By the time the steward reaches Benjamin, ten brothers have been cleared. The narrative slows to its most excruciating pace.
2. 'The cup was found in Benjamin's sack' (vayyimmatse haggavi'a be'amtachat Binyamin) — the passive verb 'was found' (nimtsa) carries the weight of the entire chapter. The brothers' world collapses. The innocent one, the one they were sworn to protect, the one for whom Judah pledged his own life — he is the one holding the incriminating evidence. Joseph's trap has closed.

Translator Notes

1. 'They tore their garments' (vayyiqre'u simlotam) — garment-tearing is the standard ancient Israelite expression of grief, horror, and mourning. The act recalls Jacob tearing his garments when shown Joseph's bloodied robe (37:34). The sons now experience the same devastation they once inflicted on their father. The measure-for-measure symmetry is exact: they caused a father to tear his garments; now they tear their own.
2. 'They returned to the city' (vayyashuvu ha'irah) — this is the decisive moment. The steward offered them freedom: only Benjamin would be held. They could have continued to Canaan, presented their grain to Jacob, and reported Benjamin's 'crime.' Instead, every single brother turns back. Not one abandons Benjamin. This collective return is the first clear evidence that the brothers have changed. They will not repeat the sin of twenty years ago.

Translator Notes

1. 'Judah and his brothers' (Yehudah ve'echav) — the narrator names Judah first, signaling his leadership. This is no longer 'the brothers' as an undifferentiated group; it is Judah leading his brothers. The shift in designation marks the culmination of Judah's rise from the brother who sold Joseph (37:26-27) to the brother who will offer his life for Benjamin (v. 33).
2. 'They fell before him to the ground' (vayyippelu lefanav artsah) — the verb naphal ('to fall') is more extreme than hishtachavah ('to bow'). This is not formal obeisance but the collapse of desperate men. They throw themselves at Joseph's feet in utter submission. The dream of the sheaves and stars finds its most complete fulfillment.
3. 'He was still there' (vehu odenu sham) — Joseph has remained in his house, waiting. He knows exactly what will happen. The brief parenthetical underscores Joseph's total control of the situation.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'What is this deed that you have done?' (mah hamma'aseh hazzeh asher asitem) — Joseph's accusation echoes the language of confrontation used throughout Genesis: God to Eve (3:13), Jacob to Laban (29:25), Abimelech to Abraham (20:9). The formula demands an accounting.
2. 'A man such as I indeed practices divination' (nacheish yenacheish ish asher kamoni) — the infinitive absolute again (cf. v. 5). Joseph presents himself as one who can discern hidden truths through supernatural means. The claim serves the theatrical purpose: how can you steal from a man who sees all secrets? The irony is that Joseph does know the truth — but through orchestration, not divination.
3. The question of whether Joseph actually practiced divination or merely used it as a cover is debated. Most traditional interpreters view it as a deliberate deception consistent with his Egyptian persona. Joseph is playing a role; the divination claim is part of the mask.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'What can we say... what can we speak... how can we clear ourselves' (mah-nomar... mah-nedabber... mah-nittstadaq) — three rhetorical questions cascade in mounting despair. The first two concern speech itself: words have failed them. The third concerns justification: the root ts-d-q ('to be righteous, to justify') appears in the reflexive — 'how can we declare ourselves righteous?' They cannot.
2. 'God has found out the guilt of your servants' (ha'Elohim matsa et-avon avadekha) — this is Judah's most profound statement. He does not protest Benjamin's innocence regarding the cup. Instead, he makes a stunning theological confession: God has uncovered a deeper guilt — the guilt (avon) they have carried since selling Joseph. The cup is merely the occasion; the true crime is twenty years old. Judah recognizes divine justice operating through apparently unjust circumstances.
3. 'Both we and the one in whose hand the cup was found' (gam-anachnu gam asher-nimtsa haggavi'a beyado) — Judah refuses the steward's earlier offer of freedom for the brothers (v. 10). He insists on collective solidarity: all will be slaves, or none. This is the opposite of what they did to Joseph, when they let one brother bear the punishment while they went free.

Translator Notes

1. 'Far be it from me' (chalilah li) — Joseph returns the brothers' own word (v. 7) back to them. He refuses collective punishment and insists on individual justice: only the 'guilty' party stays.
2. 'Go up in peace to your father' (alu leshalom el-avikhem) — this is the cruelest mercy imaginable. Joseph offers the brothers exactly what the steward offered: freedom for all except Benjamin. They can return to Jacob in 'peace' (shalom) — but how could there be shalom if Benjamin is left behind? The word shalom becomes bitterly ironic: there is no wholeness, no well-being, no peace possible if the brothers return without the boy.
3. This is the crux of Joseph's test. Everything has led to this moment. The brothers can walk away. They have legal cover — the steward modified their oath (v. 10). They have Joseph's own permission. Benjamin is not their full brother. They can go home, tell Jacob that Benjamin was caught stealing, and live with one more lie. Or they can refuse. Judah's response in the following verses will be the single most important speech in Genesis.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Judah approached him' (vayyiggash elav Yehudah) — the verb nagash ('to draw near, approach') marks a decisive physical and moral step. Judah closes the distance between himself and the most powerful man in Egypt. This approach is an act of courage that borders on recklessness — uninvited proximity to a ruler could be lethal. The word vayyiggash will give this chapter its traditional Jewish name: Parashat Vayiggash.
2. 'Please, my lord' (bi adoni) — the same deferential formula used in v. 20 of the previous chapter (43:20). Judah requests permission to speak at length, a courtesy that recognizes the extraordinary nature of what he is about to do: a foreign slave-shepherd is about to deliver the longest speech in Genesis to the governor of Egypt.
3. 'You are like Pharaoh' (ki kamokha ke-Phar'oh) — this comparison serves multiple functions: (1) flattery, acknowledging Joseph's supreme authority; (2) a veiled reminder that Pharaoh is known for justice, implying Joseph should also be just; (3) dramatic irony, since Joseph is second only to Pharaoh and the comparison is more apt than Judah knows.

Translator Notes

1. Judah begins his speech by recounting the history of their interactions with Joseph. He starts from the beginning — the first interrogation — establishing the narrative context for his appeal. By rehearsing the facts, Judah demonstrates that every step was initiated by Joseph: it was the governor who asked the questions, the governor who demanded Benjamin, the governor who created the present crisis.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'A father, an old man' (av zaqen) — Judah's description of Jacob emphasizes age and vulnerability. The patriarch is not presented as a powerful clan leader but as an elderly, fragile man whose emotional survival depends on one remaining son.
2. 'A child of his old age, a young one' (yeled zequnim qaton) — Benjamin is described tenderly, in terms that stress his youth and his special place as a child born to aged parents. The designation qaton ('little one, youngest') emphasizes his vulnerability.
3. 'His brother is dead' (achiv met) — Judah states this as fact. He does not know Joseph is alive. The irony is absolute: Judah tells Joseph, to his face, that Joseph is dead. For Joseph, hearing these words from the brother who proposed selling him must be an experience of shattering emotional complexity.
4. 'He alone is left of his mother' (hu levaddo notar le'immo) — Rachel, the beloved wife, bore two sons. One is presumed dead. Benjamin is the sole surviving link to her. This detail explains Jacob's desperate attachment and grounds it not in mere favoritism but in grief for a dead wife and a lost son.
5. 'His father loves him' (ve'aviv ahevo) — the verb ahav ('to love') is stated simply and without apology. Jacob loves Benjamin. Judah acknowledges this favoritism without resentment — a remarkable change from the brothers who 'could not speak peacefully' to Joseph because Jacob loved him (37:4).

Translator Notes

1. 'Set my eyes on him' (asimah eini alav) — in Joseph's original demand, the phrase likely meant 'so that I may examine him' or 'keep watch over him.' But Judah's repetition of it subtly reframes the expression: to 'set one's eyes' on someone can mean to watch over with either benevolence or malice. Judah is gently suggesting that Joseph's interest in Benjamin has become something dangerous.

Translator Notes

1. 'The boy cannot leave his father' (lo-yukhal hanna'ar la'azov et-aviv) — Judah conveys not physical impossibility but emotional truth: Benjamin's departure would be lethal to Jacob. The father and son are bound in a relationship so deep that separation would kill the father.
2. 'His father would die' (vamet) — the simple word vamet ('and he would die') places the ultimate consequence before Joseph. Judah is warning the governor that his actions have life-and-death stakes for an old man in Canaan. The appeal shifts from legal argument to human compassion.

Translator Notes

1. Judah is carefully building a chain of causation: Joseph demanded Benjamin's presence (the cause), Jacob was forced to comply (under duress), and now Benjamin is here (the consequence). The implication is that responsibility for the current crisis rests not with the brothers but with the Egyptian governor himself. This is rhetorically brilliant: Judah is not accusing Joseph of injustice but leading him to see the humanitarian cost of his own demands.

Translator Notes

1. 'Your servant my father' (avdekha avi) — Judah maintains the language of deference, calling Jacob 'your servant,' while also claiming the intimate relationship — 'my father.' The dual designation keeps Judah's speech within diplomatic protocol while making the personal stakes unmistakable.

Translator Notes

1. Judah now shifts from recounting what happened with Joseph to recounting what happened at home with Jacob. He is drawing the Egyptian governor into the domestic scene in Canaan — making Joseph see the family's private pain. The simplicity of Jacob's request — 'a little food' (me'at okhel) — underscores the family's desperation.

Translator Notes

1. Judah's repetition of the condition — 'unless our youngest brother is with us' — drives home the point that the brothers were not willing accomplices but constrained agents. They tried to resist; the governor's ultimatum left them no choice. Every appearance of Benjamin before this official is a consequence of the official's own demand.

Translator Notes

1. 'My wife' (ishti) — Jacob says 'my wife,' singular. He has had four women who bore his children — Leah, Rachel, Bilhah, and Zilpah — but in his heart, Rachel alone was 'my wife.' This is one of the most revealing and painful moments in Judah's speech. He quotes his father's words without comment, but the implication is staggering: by calling Rachel 'my wife,' Jacob implicitly relegates Leah (Judah's own mother) to secondary status. Yet Judah repeats these words without rancor, without protest. He has accepted his father's favoritism and moved beyond resentment. This acceptance is itself evidence of Judah's transformation.
2. 'Bore me two sons' (shenayim yaldah-li) — Rachel's two sons: Joseph and Benjamin. Jacob defines his deepest identity through these two children. The other ten sons exist, are loved in some measure, but do not occupy the same place in Jacob's heart. Judah knows this and recites it without bitterness.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'One went out from me' (vayyetse ha'echad me'itti) — Jacob's description of Joseph's disappearance as 'going out from me' (rather than 'being sold by his brothers') reflects his ignorance of the true circumstances. The phrase me'itti ('from me, from my presence') conveys loss as a departure — Joseph simply left and never returned.
2. 'Surely he has been torn to pieces' (akh tarof toraf) — the infinitive absolute intensifies the certainty: 'he has absolutely been torn apart.' This is what the bloodied robe told Jacob (37:33). Judah, who helped devise the deception with the robe, now stands before the 'torn' brother and repeats their father's anguished conclusion. For Joseph, hearing his own death reported to his face by the brother who engineered the deception must be almost unbearable.
3. 'I have not seen him since' (velo re'itiv ad-hennah) — the finality of this clause carries twenty years of grief compressed into five Hebrew words. Jacob has given up hope. Joseph is dead to him. The pathos of this statement, delivered to Joseph himself, explains why Joseph will soon be unable to control his emotions (45:1).

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'This one also' (gam-et-zeh) — the word gam ('also, even') carries the weight of accumulating loss. Jacob has already lost Joseph; losing Benjamin too would be the final, fatal blow.
2. 'Harm' (ason) — the same rare word from 42:4 and 42:38. It denotes catastrophic, potentially fatal harm. Jacob's fear is specific and recurrent, expressed with the same word each time, creating a verbal motif of dread.
3. 'My gray hairs in misery to Sheol' (et-seivati bera'ah she'olah) — literally 'my gray-headedness in evil to Sheol.' 'Gray hairs' (seivah) is a metonymy for old age and the honored dignity it carries. 'Misery' (ra'ah) means evil or calamity. 'Sheol' is the realm of the dead, the shadowy underworld. Jacob envisions his remaining years destroyed and his death transformed from peaceful rest to anguished descent. The image is of an old man's dignity stripped away, his final days consumed by grief so total it follows him into the grave.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'His soul is bound up with the boy's soul' (nafsho qeshurah venafsho) — one of the most beautiful phrases in the Hebrew Bible. The verb qashar ('to bind, tie, join') describes Jacob's emotional bond with Benjamin as a literal binding of souls. Nefesh here means the totality of a person — life, self, being. Jacob's very existence is tied to Benjamin's; to sever one is to destroy the other. This metaphor of soul-binding echoes the language of 1 Samuel 18:1, where Jonathan's soul was 'bound' (niqsherah) to David's. It describes love so complete that two lives become one.
2. Judah's ability to articulate his father's love with such tenderness — for a son who is not Judah's full brother, whose favored status once provoked the brothers' jealousy — demonstrates the depth of his moral transformation. He does not resent this bond; he protects it.

Translator Notes

1. 'He will die' (vamet) — Judah states this as medical certainty, not rhetorical exaggeration. Jacob will not merely grieve; the shock of losing Benjamin will kill him. The old man's fragile existence hangs by the thread of Benjamin's return.
2. 'In sorrow to Sheol' (beyagon she'olah) — this time the word is yagon ('sorrow, grief, anguish') rather than ra'ah ('misery, evil') as in v. 29. Judah varies Jacob's own language, intensifying the emotional register. Yagon is deep, prolonged grief — the kind that consumes a person from within. Jacob's descent to Sheol will be marked not by the peace of a life well-lived but by the sorrow of a father who has lost everything.
3. 'Your servants will have brought down' — Judah includes himself and his brothers in the responsibility. They will be the proximate cause of their father's death. This acceptance of collective guilt is precisely what Joseph needs to hear: the brothers now understand the consequences of their actions on the family system.

Translator Notes

1. 'Your servant became surety' (avdekha arav et-hanna'ar) — Judah now reveals his pledge from 43:9. The verb arav ('to pledge, guarantee') appears again, connecting this moment to the promise that set the second journey in motion. Judah staked his moral standing on Benjamin's safe return, and now that pledge must be honored.
2. 'I will bear the blame before my father all my days' (vechatati le'avi kol-hayyamim) — the verb chata ('to sin') is used again: failure to return Benjamin would mark Judah as a permanent sinner against his father. This is not empty rhetoric but a solemn covenant-like commitment. Judah's sense of obligation transcends self-interest; he will carry the weight of this failure as a lifelong moral burden.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Let your servant remain instead of the boy' (yeshev-na avdekha tachat hanna'ar) — this is the climactic moment of Judah's speech and, arguably, of the entire book of Genesis. The preposition tachat ('in place of, instead of') carries the full weight of substitutionary sacrifice. Judah offers himself as a substitute — his freedom for Benjamin's, his life for a boy's. The brother who once sold Joseph into slavery for twenty pieces of silver now volunteers to become a slave himself to save Joseph's full brother.
2. The moral transformation is complete. Judah has moved from callous betrayal (37:26-27) through the Tamar incident (ch. 38, where he learned to say 'she is more righteous than I') to this moment of total self-sacrifice. He does not merely advocate for Benjamin; he offers his own body, his own freedom, his own future. This is the act that demonstrates conclusively to Joseph that his brothers have changed.
3. 'As a slave to my lord' (eved la'adoni) — Judah uses the word eved ('slave, servant') in its most literal sense. He is not offering courteous deference but actual servitude. He will remain in Egypt, in bondage, permanently separated from his family, so that Benjamin may go free.
4. 'Let the boy go up with his brothers' (vehanna'ar ya'al im-echav) — the verb alah ('to go up') denotes the ascent from Egypt to Canaan, both geographically and symbolically. Judah asks that Benjamin return home, that Jacob's soul-bound son be restored, that the old man live. And Judah will pay the price.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'How can I go up to my father if the boy is not with me?' (ki-eikh e'eleh el-avi vehanna'ar einennu itti) — Judah's final words are a question without an answer. He cannot go home without Benjamin. The impossibility is not physical but moral: he cannot face his father's destruction. The question hangs in the air, unanswerable, a plea that transcends logic and enters the realm of pure compassion.
2. 'I could not bear to see the evil that would find my father' (pen er'eh bara asher yimtsa et-avi) — the Hebrew pen ('lest') introduces a feared outcome too terrible to contemplate. The verb matsa ('to find') personalizes the evil: it will 'find' Jacob, seek him out, hunt him down. Evil is not an abstraction but an active force that will locate and destroy the old man.
3. With these words, Judah's speech ends. There is no peroration, no final plea for mercy, no concluding formality. The speech simply stops, leaving Joseph — and the reader — in stunned silence. Judah has said everything that can be said. He has offered everything he has to offer. The next move belongs to Joseph.
4. This speech, the longest in Genesis, accomplishes what twenty years of separation could not: it proves to Joseph that his brothers are no longer the men who sold him. They will not abandon the favored son. They will not sacrifice the beloved brother. Judah, who once profited from Joseph's sale, now offers himself as the price of Benjamin's freedom. The chapter ends on the precipice of revelation — Joseph, in 45:1, will be unable to restrain himself any longer.