13. Then they tore their clothes, and each one loaded his donkey and returned to the city.
14. When Judah and his brothers reached Joseph’s house, he was still there. They fell to the ground before him.
15. “What is this you have done? ” Joseph said to them. “Didn’t you know that a man like me could uncover the truth by divination? ”
16. “What can we say to my lord? ” Judah replied. “How can we plead? How can we justify ourselves? God has exposed your servants’ iniquity. We are now my lord’s slaves — both we and the one in whose possession the cup was found.”
17. Then Joseph said, “I swear that I will not do this. The man in whose possession the cup was found will be my slave. The rest of you can go in peace to your father.”
18. But Judah approached him and said, “Sir, please let your servant speak personally to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, for you are like Pharaoh.
19. My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother? ’
20. and we answered my lord, ‘We have an elderly father and a younger brother, the child of his old age. The boy’s brother is dead. He is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.’
21. Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him to me so that I can see him.’
22. But we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father. If he were to leave, his father would die.’
23. Then you said to your servants, ‘If your younger brother does not come down with you, you will not see me again.’
24. “This is what happened when we went back to your servant my father: We reported your words to him.
25. But our father said, ‘Go again, and buy us some food.’