He searched, beginning with the oldest, and ending at the youngest. The cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.
Parallel Translations
-
He searched, beginning with the oldest, and ending at the youngest. The cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.
-
And he searched, and began at the eldest, and left at the youngest: and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.
-
And he searched, beginning at the eldest, and leaving off at the youngest; and the goblet was found in Benjamin's sack.
Cross-references (5)
Passages linked to Genesis 44:12 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 42:36-38 Jacob, their father, said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children! Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin away. All these things are against me.” Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “Kill my two sons, if I don’t bring him to you. Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him to you again.” He said, “My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he only is left. If harm happens to him along the way in which you go, then you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.”
- Genesis 43:14 May God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release to you your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.”
- Genesis 43:33 They sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth, and the men marveled with one another.
- Genesis 44:2 Put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack’s mouth of the youngest, with his grain money.” He did according to the word that Joseph had spoken.
- Genesis 44:26-32 We said, ‘We can’t go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down: for we may not see the man’s face, unless our youngest brother is with us.’ Your servant, my father, said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. One went out from me, and I said, “Surely he is torn in pieces;” and I haven’t seen him since. If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.’ Now therefore when I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us; since his life is bound up in the boy’s life; it will happen, when he sees that the boy is no more, that he will die. Your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant, our father, with sorrow to Sheol. For your servant became collateral for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I don’t bring him to you, then I will bear the blame to my father forever.’
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (4 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 44:12 And he searched, [and] began at the…
Gen 44:12 And he searched, [and] began at the eldest, and left at the youngest: and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.
Ver. 12. And he searched, and began at the eldest.] The better to avoid suspicion, for he knew well enough where to find the cup. So Jonadab, Amnon’s carnal friend but spiritual enemy, could tell David that not all the king’s sons, as the report ran, but Amnon only was slain by Absalom. The devil also when he hath conveyed his cups into our sacks, his goods into our houses, - as the Russians use to deal by their enemies, and then accuse them of theft, - his {a} injections into our hearts, if we fancy them never so little, will accuse us to God, and claim both them and us too for his own.
Read full note →
And the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.] Sacco soluto apparuit argentum, saith Ambrose. When God comes to turn the bottom of the bag upward, all will out. Sin not, therefore, in hope of secrecy; on the fair day, at the last day, all packs shall be opened.
{a} Heyl., Geog., p. 243.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Began at the eldest, to take off all their…
Began at the eldest, to take off all their suspicion of his fraud.
The cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. He found doubtless the money there, but he accused them not about that matter, both because they had an answer ready to that charge from his own mouth, Gen 43:23, and because the greater crime, the stealing of the cup which Joseph so much prized and used, might seem to extinguish the less, or at least cause him to neglect it.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And he searched,.... To the bottom of them, not…
And he searched,.... To the bottom of them, not content to look into the mouth of them being opened, but rummaged them, and searched deeply into them to find the cup, which was the thing charged upon them he was solicitous to find; as for the money in the sack's mouth he took no notice of that, nor is there any mention of it:
and began at the oldest; at Reuben, as the Targum of Jonathan expresses it: the steward might know their different ages in course, by the order in which they were placed at Joseph's table when they dined with him:
Read full note →
and left off at the youngest; at Benjamin, he ended his scrutiny with him; this method he took partly to hold them in fear as long as he could, and partly to prevent any suspicion of design, which might have been entertained had he went directly to Benjamin's sack:
and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack; where the steward himself had put it, and as it is usually said, they that hide can find.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 12. searched] There is no mention of the money…
12. searched] There is no mention of the money in the sacks’ mouths (Gen_44:1). The interest centres on the cup. That the search is made in order of age is a dramatic touch adding to the excitement of the scene described, and probably carried out by the directions of Joseph himself, as if it might be assumed that the youngest was the least likely to be the thief. Cf. Gen_43:33.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.