Then Judah spoke in answer for them all. ‘What shall we say unto my lord? How shall I speak? Of what use are words to clear ourselves from a charge so black against us, yet one of which we are wholly innocent? That, my lord, is the truth. But doubtless the judgment of God has fallen upon us not for this evil of which we are innocent, but for the wickedness we have done in the past. We are strangers in a strange land, and have none to defend us. We cannot even speak in a tongue that might persuade my lord to listen. We can but cast ourselves upon the mercy of my lord, and if he so will it, let him make bondsmen of us all, so that we suffer together, and not alone.’

And Joseph answered: ‘God forbid that I should do so! It is known to me which among you was found in possession of the cup. He alone is guilty, and he alone shall suffer. As for the rest of you, there is nothing to keep you here; get you gone in peace, then, while you may. Return to your father in Canaan and let me see your faces no more.’

Then Judah drew near to him and spoke earnestly with him face to face, telling him everything that was in his heart and keeping nothing back.

‘Oh, my lord,’ he said, ‘let thy servant, I pray thee, tell out everything that is in his mind. Have patience, and let not thine anger burn against thy servant, for thou art all-powerful, even as Pharaoh himself. When first we came into Egypt—I myself and these men, my brothers—to buy corn, my lord questioned us, who we were and whence we had come, and who our father was, and were we his only sons. And we told my lord: we have a father, who is now an old man. We said that there was one son remaining with him, a child of his old age, dearest to him of us all, and the only son left of his mother, his brother being dead.

‘And my lord gave command to his servants: “Go and return and bring back with you this brother of whom you speak that I may see him with my own eyes.” And we told my lord, the lad cannot leave his father, for if he should, and any harm came to him, his father would die. And my lord said expressly to his servants: “Unless your youngest brother come down with you into Egypt, and that soon, you shall see my face no more.”

‘Well, my lord, when we came up unto thy servant our father, we laid before him all that my lord had said. And the time came when our need being extreme because of the famine, he bade us come again and buy a little food. We answered that we could not do this unless our youngest brother went with us, since without him we should not even be admitted into my lord’s presence. And our father said: “Why did you so much as mention your youngest brother? You knew well how dearly I love him. You knew that he is the only son left to me of his mother who is dead. Long, long ago his brother, young and happy, bade me farewell and set out upon a journey, and, haply, was torn to pieces by wild beasts. He never came back to me. And now you would take his younger brother also, knowing well that if any mischief befall him, you will bring down my grey hairs in sorrow to the grave.”

‘Oh, my lord, my father’s life itself is bound up with this lad’s safety. If I return without him and he look for him and find him not, surely his grief will be greater than he can bear; and it is we ourselves, his own sons, that shall have brought down this grey-haired old man with sorrow to the grave. And I myself, alas, shall be the most to blame, for I vowed solemnly to my father to take every care of him. “If,” I said, “I bring him not back unharmed and in safety, then the blame be mine for ever!”

‘I beseech thee, then, my lord, have pity. Let the lad go free, and return home with his brothers, and let me be bondsman in his stead. My lord, I could not bear to return without him and see my father’s grief.’

Joseph heard him in silence to the end; glancing from one to another of his brothers, as they stood in fear and disgrace before him, and letting his eyes rest on Benjamin, who was a little apart from them, not daring to lift his head for shame that he should have been thought guilty of stealing the cup. And when Judah spoke of his father, and there returned into Joseph’s mind all that had passed since he had seen him, he could refrain himself no longer.