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Judah Pleads for Benjamin’s Release

18 Then Judah stepped up to him and said, ‘O my lord, let your servant please speak a word in my lord’s ears, and do not be angry with your servant; for you are like Pharaoh himself. ¹⁹My lord asked his servants, saying, “Have you a father or a brother?” ²⁰And we said to my lord, “We have a father, an old man, and a young brother, the child of his old age. His brother is dead; he alone is left of his mother’s children, and his father loves him.” ²¹Then you said to your servants, “Bring him down to me, so that I may set my eyes on him.” ²³Then you said to your servants, “Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall see my face no more.” ²⁴When we went back to your servant my father we told him the words of my lord. ²⁵And when our father said, “Go again, buy us a little food”, ²⁶we said, “We cannot go down. Only if our youngest brother goes with us, will we go down; for we cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.” ²⁷Then your servant my father said to us, “You know that my wife bore me two sons; ²⁸one left me, and I said, Surely he has been torn to pieces; and I have never seen him since. ²⁹If you take this one also from me, and harm comes to him, you will bring down my grey hairs in sorrow to Sheol.”

Joseph Reveals Himself to His Brothers

45Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, ‘Send everyone away from me.’ So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. ²And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. ³Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?’ But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence.

4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Come closer to me.’ And they came closer. He said, ‘I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. ⁵And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.

¹⁶ When he summoned famine against the land,
   and broke every staff of bread,
¹⁷ he had sent a man ahead of them,
   Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
¹⁸ His feet were hurt with fetters,
   his neck was put in a collar of iron;
¹⁹ until what he had said came to pass,
   the word of the Lord kept testing him.
²⁰ The king sent and released him;
   the ruler of the peoples set him free.
²¹ He made him lord of his house,
   and ruler of all his possessions,

⁷As you go, proclaim the good news, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.”^{* 8}Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers,^* cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. ⁹Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, ¹⁰no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for labourers deserve their food. ¹¹Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. ¹²As you enter the house, greet it. ¹³If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. ¹⁴If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. ¹⁵Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgement than for that town.