16. When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the one over his house, “Bring the men into the house. Slaughter an animal and prepare it, for the men will eat with me this afternoon.
17. So the man did as Joseph said, and the man brought the men into Joseph’s house.
18. But the men were afraid, because they had been brought into Joseph’s house. They said, “It’s because of the silver that was returned to our sacks the first time that we are being brought in—to pounce on us and fall on us and take us as slaves, along with our donkeys.”
19. So they approached the man who was over Joseph’s house and spoke to him at the entrance of the house.
20. “I beg your pardon, my lord!” they said. “We indeed came down on the previous occasion to buy grain for food.