Chap. XLIV

And to his steward Joseph spake, and said,
Give these men corn as much as they can lade;
And in their sacks bind each man’s money up,
And in the youngest’s put my silver cup
Besides his money: and he made haste and did
According as his master had commanded.
And in the morning by the break of day,
With asses laden they were sent away:
And now, e’er they had scarce the town’s end pass’d,
He sent his steward after them in haste,
And said, Go, follow them, and ask them why
They have dealt by me so ungratefully?
And say unto them, You have done great evil
To rob my master, who hath been so civil,
And steal the cup wherein he drinks his wine;
Is it not it whereby he doth divine?
Then he pursu’d and quickly overtook
Them, and these very words to them he spoke.
To whom they said, Why hath my lord such thought?
Oh, God forbid that we should be so naught;
Behold, thou know’st we brought the money back
The which we found bound up in each man’s sack,
Which shews that we had no design to cheat;
How then should we now steal your master’s plate?
With which of us thy servants it is found
Let him be slain, and we to slavery bound.
Now as you say, said he, so let it be,
He shall be bound, but you shall all go free.
Then they unladed ev’ry man his beast,
And to his view expos’d their sacks in haste.
And he from first to last them searched round,
And lo, the cup on Benjamin was found:
Thereat surpris’d, each man his garment rent,
And lade his beast, and back again they went.
And now when Judah and the rest were come
To Joseph’s house, (for he was yet at home)
They fell before him to the ground, to whom
He said, What deed is this that you have done?
Are you not sensible that such a one
As I, can certainly thereof make trial?
Then Judah said, My lord, there’s no denial:
We cannot clear ourselves. The Lord hath sent,
For our misdeed, this heavy punishment.
Behold, to be thy slaves we all are bound,
Both we, and he on whom the cup was found.
Then Joseph said, The Lord forbid that I
Should exercise so great severity:
For he with whom ’tis found, and he alone
Shall be my servant, you may all be gone.
Then unto Joseph, Judah drawing near,
Said, O my lord! I pray be pleas’d to hear
Thy servant speak, and be not angry now,
For as King Pharaoh is ev’n so art thou.
My lord did bid thy servants to discover
Whether we had a father or a brother;
And we made answer that thy servants had
An ancient father and a little lad,
The child of his old age, who was our brother,
And he the only child left of his mother,
His brother being dead; and that this lad
Was all the comfort that our father had.
Then thou wert pleas’d to bid thy servants bring
The lad, that thou might’st have a sight of him.
And we made answer, if the lad should leave
His father, it would bring him to his grave:
And thou didst then protest it was in vain
For us without him to come here again.
Then towards home thy servants went their way,
And told our father what my lord did say.
And in a while, when all our corn was spent,
Thy servant, ev’n our father, would have sent
To buy more food; to whom thy servant said,
We cannot go except thou send the lad.
Because the man did solemnly declare,
Unless we brought him we should not come there.
And then thy servant, ev’n our father, said,
Ye know that by my wife two sons I had,
And one of them went forth and came no more,
Which made me think some beast did him devour.
And if I now should also condescend
To let this go, and mischief should attend,
You will with sorrow bring me to my end.
When to my father I shall come therefore,
And he shall see that I do not restore
The lad again, he certainly will die,
(Since in his life my father’s life doth lie)
And we shall bring him to his grave thereby.
For I became a surety for the lad
Unto my father, unto whom I said,
If I do not in safety him deliver,
Then let me bear the blame to thee for ever.
I humbly pray thee, therefore, to accept
Me in his stead, and let me here be kept
My lord’s bond-slave, and let the lad go free:
For how can I, thy servant, bear to see
The evil that shall on my father come,
If that the lad return not safely home.