Isn’t this that from which my lord drinks, and by which he indeed divines? You have done evil in so doing.’ ”
Parallel Translations
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Isn’t this that from which my lord drinks, and by which he indeed divines? You have done evil in so doing.’ ”
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Is not this it in which my lord drinketh, and whereby indeed he divineth? ye have done evil in so doing.
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Is not this it in which my lord drinketh, and whereby he indeed divineth? ye have done evil in so doing.'
Cross-references (6)
Passages linked to Genesis 44:5 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 30:27 Laban said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, stay here, for I have divined that Yahweh has blessed me for your sake.”
- Leviticus 19:26 “ ‘You shall not eat any meat with the blood still in it. You shall not use enchantments, nor practice sorcery.
- 2 Kings 21:6 He made his son to pass through the fire, practiced sorcery, used enchantments, and dealt with those who had familiar spirits, and with wizards. He did much evil in Yahweh’s sight, to provoke him to anger.
- Genesis 44:15 Joseph said to them, “What deed is this that you have done? Don’t you know that such a man as I can indeed do divination?”
- Deuteronomy 18:10-14 There shall not be found with you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who tells fortunes, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or someone who consults with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh. Because of these abominations, Yahweh your God drives them out from before you. You shall be blameless with Yahweh your God. For these nations that you shall dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery and to diviners; but as for you, Yahweh your God has not allowed you so to do.
- 1 Kings 20:33 Now the men observed diligently, and hurried to take this phrase; and they said, “Your brother Ben Hadad.” Then he said, “Go, bring him.” Then Ben Hadad came out to him; and he caused him to come up into the chariot.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 5. Whereby indeed, he divineth This clause is variously…
5. Whereby indeed, he divineth This clause is variously expounded. For some take it as if Joseph pretended that he consulted soothsayers in order to find out the thief. Others translate it, “by which he has tried you, or searched you out;” others, that the stolen cup had given Joseph an unfavorable omen. The genuine sense seems to me to be this: that he had used the cup for divinations and for magical arts; which, however, we have said, he feigned, for the sake of aggravating the charge brought against them. But the question arises, how does Joseph allow himself to resort to such an expedient? For besides that it was sinful for him to profess augury; he vainly and unworthily transfers to imaginary deities the honor due only to divine grace. On a former occasion, he had declared that he was unable to interpret dreams, except so far as God should suggest the truth to him; now he obscures this entire ascription of praise to divine grace; and what is worse, by boasting that he is a magician rather than proclaiming himself a prophet of God, he impiously profanes the gift of the Holy Spirit. Doubtless, in this dissimulation, it is not to be denied, that he sinned grievously. Yet I think that, at the first, he had endeavored, by all means in his power, to give unto God his due honor; and it was not his fault that the whole kingdom of Egypt was ignorant of the fact that he excelled in skill, not by magical arts, but by a celestial gift. But since the Egyptians were accustomed to the illusions of the magicians, this ancient error so prevailed, that they believed Joseph to be one of them; and I do not doubt that this rumor was spread abroad among the people, although contrary to his desire and intention. Now Joseph, in feigning himself to be a stranger to his brethren, combines many falsehoods in one, and takes advantage of the prevailing vulgar opinion that he used auguries. Whence we gather, that when any one swerves from the right line, he is prone to fall into various sins. Wherefore, being warned by this example, let us learn to allow ourselves in nothing except what we know is approved by God. But especially must we avoid all dissimulation, which either produces or confirms mischievous impostures. Besides, we are warned, that it is not sufficient for any one to oppose a prevailing vice for a time; unless he add constancy of resistance, even though the evil may become excessive. For he discharges his duty very defectively, who, having once testified that he is displeased with what is evil, afterwards, by his silence or connivance, gives it a kind of assent.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Because the people thought he could divine, he attributeth…
Because the people thought he could divine, he attributeth to himself that knowledge: or else he feigneth that he consulted with soothsayers for it: Which simulation is worthy to be reproved.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 44:5 [Is] not this [it] in which my…
Gen 44:5 [Is] not this [it] in which my lord drinketh, and whereby indeed he divineth? ye have done evil in so doing.
Ver. 5. And whereby indeed he divineth.] Junius reads it thus - Et nonne ipse experimento certo didicerit per illum, quales sitls? q.d., Hath he not by this fact of yours, found out your fraud and false dealing; whereby ye have hitherto sought to delude him? Is it not plain ye are spies and naughty-packs? The Jerusalem Targum seemeth to tax Joseph here for a soothsayer; or, at least, a seeker to such; which God forbade. {Deu 18:10} Calvin also thinks he did grievously offend in pretending to be such a one; and did impiously profane the gift of the Spirit in professing himself a magician. But, pace tanti viri, this is too heavy a censure, and a forcing of the text, saith Junius. All that Joseph did was to sift his brethren, and to try their affection to Benjamin. And if he took upon him to be a diviner, he did it not seriously; but made use of that conceit the vulgar had of him: like as St Paul made use of that superstitious custom among the Corinthians, of baptizing over the dead, to prove the resurrection. {a}
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{a} 1Co 15:29. Scalig. Not.
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 Amongst the several kinds of divination in use among…
Amongst the several kinds of divination in use among the Egyptians and other heathens, this was one, to do it by a cup or bason, which they filled with water, and put in them plates of silver, or precious stones, in which certain characters were engraven, by which, and some words they used, they called upon the devil, who gave them answer. Joseph did not use this course, nor was a diviner, but the people thought him such a one, and the steward might represent him as such, for the better covering or carrying on his design. But this sense agrees not with Gen 44:15, Wot you not, & c. Which words show that he speaks of something which they all might easily know; but they did not know that Joseph was a diviner, much less that he divined by that cup, whereas that kind of divination was generally performed by a glass, not by a cup. Others observe, that the Hebrew word ofttimes signifies not to divine, but only to observe and discover a thing, as Gen 30:27; 1Ki 20:33, and render the place thus, whereby he will certainly observe or discover, to wit, what you are and do. But this also seems not to consist with Gen 44:15, and the supplement is too large and remote. The true sense then is this, the Hebrew bo is not to be rendered by which, but concerning which, as the particle beth is oft used, and it notes not the instrument whereby, but the object about which, he did divine, and the words must be rendered, concerning which he can or would certainly divine. And this agrees well with Gen 44:15; q.d. Did you think you could deceive my master? Did not you and all others know that he could divine, and discover secret things, whence he had both his name and preferment? And this cup being much prized and used by him, you might easily judge that he would use his art to recover it.
Ye have done evil, i.e. very evil, unjustly, unthankfully, and foolishly.
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 Is not this it, in which my lord drinketh,....…
Is not this it, in which my lord drinketh,.... Which was for his own particular use, and so the more ungrateful in them to take it:
and whereby indeed he divineth? according to our version and others, Joseph is here represented by his steward as a diviner or soothsayer, and so he might be thought to be by the Egyptians, from being such an exact interpreter of dreams, foretelling things to come, and that he made his divinations by the silver cup; and we are told that the Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Egyptians, used to fill basins with water, in which they put plates of silver and precious stones, marked with certain characters, and pronouncing certain words, called to the devil, who uttered a voice in the water like an hissing, and returned answers to the things inquired about (i): a like practice is used by the Africans now (k); which method Andronicus took to know who would be his successor, but was reckoned among the most infamous and scandalous parts of the magic art (l) wherefore, as Joseph never practised any thing of this kind, so neither would he dissemble, or make as if he did; though it must be owned that the Arabs (m) in Egypt at this day pretend to consult with the cup and divine by it: but the words will bear another version and sense, for it may signify to tempt, to try, to make an experiment, and by experience to know a thing, as in Gen 30:27; and so the Arabic version, "and indeed he hath tried you by it": so Aben Ezra interprets it of his trying of them by it, whether they were thieves or not, whether they were a parcel of light fingered filching fellows: the cup, he pretends, was set before them, and he turned himself another way, either Joseph or the steward, and they took the opportunity of carrying it off; or else, as others think, he tried them by drinking in it very freely and liberally, what sort of men they were, how they would behave themselves in their cups, when truth is commonly spoke, the wit being out when the wine is in: but of these two senses the former is to be preferred; though it seems best of all to understand this not of the cup as the instrument by which he tried, searched, and inquired into things, but as the object searched after and inquired of; for the word signifies to inquire, and make a strict observation of things, and thereby make shrewd guesses and conjectures, as in Kg1 20:33; and so the sense is, either according to R. Jonah (n), that his master would diligently inquire of the soothsayers concerning it, in order to find out who took it away, and so Ben Melech; for the words may be rendered, "for which he certainly makes", or has made, or will make "divination", which agrees with Gen 44:15; for if the cup was gone, how could he make divination with it? it must be for it; or indeed they might well conclude themselves, that as such a thing would soon be missed, diligent inquiry would be made after it, and it would be at once conjectured that it was taken away, not by any of the household, but by those strangers that had dined with Joseph; and a man of his sagacity and penetration would soon find it out, and therefore it was madness and folly to do such an action, and think to get off clear:
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ye have done evil in so doing: both a mad and foolish action, and a base, wicked, and ungrateful one, as well as what was infamous and scandalous; for nothing was reckoned more so than for a guest at a prince's table to carry away a cup, or anything of that kind, with him: so Claudius the Roman emperor, a guest of his, the day before, having taken away a golden cup, as was supposed, ordered an earthen one to be put in its place (o), which was a putting him to public shame and reproach: Dioxippus the Athenian, being at table with Alexander the great, a golden cup was taken away privately, by some that envied him; and the hint being given as if he had done it, all eyes were turned on him as the thief, which he could not bear, but went out, and wrote a letter to the king, and then killed himself (p).
(i) Julius Serenus de fato, l. 9. c. 18. apud Rivet. Exercit. 165. p. 808. (k) R. Leo. African. Descriptio Africae, l. 3. p. 335. (l) Nic. Choniates in Andronico, l. 2. (m) Norden's Travels in Egypt, vol. 2. p. 150. (n) Apud Aben Ezram in loc. (o) Suetonius in Vita Claudii, c. 32. (p) Curtii Hist. l. 9. c. 7.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Is not this it in which my Lord drinketh?…
Is not this it in which my Lord drinketh? And for which he would search thoroughly - So it may be rendered.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 5. Whereby - he divineth?] Divination by cups…
Verse 5. Whereby - he divineth?] Divination by cups has been from time immemorial prevalent among the Asiatics; and for want of knowing this, commentators have spent a profusion of learned labour upon these words, in order to reduce them to that kind of meaning which would at once be consistent with the scope and design of the history, and save Joseph from the impeachment of sorcery and divination. I take the word נחש nachash here in its general acceptation of to view attentively, to inquire. Now there has been in the east a tradition, the commencement of which is lost in immemorial time, that there was a CUP, which had passed successively into the hands of different potentates, which possessed the strange property of representing in it the whole world, and all the things which were then doing in it. The cup is called [Persian] jami Jemsheed, the cup of Jemsheed, a very ancient king of Persia, whom late historians and poets have confounded with Bacchus, Solomon, Alexander the Great, c. This CUP, filled with the elixir of immortality, they say was discovered when digging to lay the foundations of Persepolis. The Persian poets are full of allusions to this cup, which, from its property of representing the whole world and its transactions, is styled by them [Persian] jam jehan nima, "the cup showing the universe" and to the intelligence received by means of it they attribute the great prosperity of their ancient monarchs, as by it they understood all events, past, present, and to come. Many of the Mohammedan princes and governors affect still to have information of futurity by means of a cup. When Mr. Norden was at Derri in the farthest part of Egypt, in a very dangerous situation, an ill-natured and powerful Arab, in a threatening way, told one of their people whom they sent to him that "he knew what sort of people they were, for he had consulted his cup, and found by it that they were those of whom one of their prophets had said, that Franks (Europeans) would come in disguise; and, passing everywhere, examine the state of the country; and afterwards bring over a great number of other Franks, conquer the country, and exterminate all." By this we see that the tradition of the divining cup still exists, and in the very same country too in which Joseph formerly ruled. Now though it is not at all likely that Joseph practised any kind of divination, yet probably, according to the superstition of those times, (for I suppose the tradition to be even older than the time of Joseph), supernatural influence might be attributed to his cup; and as the whole transaction related here was merely intended to deceive his brethren for a short time, he might as well affect divination by his cup, as he affected to believe they had stolen it. The steward therefore uses the word נחש nachash in its proper meaning: Is not this it out of which my lord drinketh, and in which he inspecteth accurately? Ge 44:5. And hence Joseph says, Ge 44:15: Wot ye not-did ye not know, that such a person as I (having such a cup) would accurately and attentively look into it? As I consider this to be the true meaning, I shall not trouble the reader with other modes of interpretation.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Gen 44:5. Whereby indeed he divineth — The original…
Gen 44:5. Whereby indeed he divineth — The original word may be rendered, For which he would search thoroughly, or, Concerning which he would certainly divine, or make trial and discovery. As if he had said, Did you think that you could deceive my master? Did you not know that he could divine and discover secret things, whence he hath both his name and preferment? And this cup being much prized and used by him, you might easily think that he would use his art to recover it. You have done evil — Very evil, have acted unjustly, unthankfully, and foolishly in so doing.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain To divine. This was spoken by Joseph to his…
To divine. This was spoken by Joseph to his steward in jest; alluding to the notion of the people, who took him to be a diviner. (Challoner) --- St. Thomas Aquinas, [Summa Theologiae] 2, 2, q. 195, a. 7. Hebrew may be translated without attending to the points, "Is not this the cup, out of which my lord drinketh; and he has augured, or discovered, by it the evil which you have committed." Pliny (Natural History xxx. 2.) mentions a method of divining, by means of water in a basin. (Calmet) --- The Egyptians probably supposed that Joseph used some means to disclose what was hidden; and he alludes, in jest, to their foolish notion. (Haydock) --- He had a right to afflict his guilty brethren; and as for Benjamin, who was innocent, he made him ample recompense for this transitory terror. Some think that the steward said, in which he is wont to divine, unauthorized by his master. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Is not this it in which my lord drinketh--not…
Is not this it in which my lord drinketh--not only kept for the governor's personal use, but whereby he divines. Divination by cups, to ascertain the course of futurity, was one of the prevalent superstitions of ancient Egypt, as it is of Eastern countries still. It is not likely that Joseph, a pious believer in the true God, would have addicted himself to this superstitious practice. But he might have availed himself of that popular notion to carry out the successful execution of his stratagem for the last decisive trial of his brethren.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 5. whereby he indeed divineth] “Divineth,” Heb. naḥash: see…
5. whereby he indeed divineth] “Divineth,” Heb. naḥash: see Gen_30:27; Deu_18:10, “useth divination”; 1Ki_20:33 marg. The word shews that the silver cup was a sacred one, by means of which Joseph sought and obtained oracles. Some have inferred that he must have been admitted into the priests’ guild, in order to be able to practise divination. It appears that water having been poured into a vessel or cup, gold or silver or precious stones were thrown into it, and the oracle or divination was derived from the rings, ripples, or sparkles, which appeared. The name given to this class of magic was “hydromancy,” ὑδρομαντεία, or κυλικομαντεία (Jamblichus, De Myst. iii. 14; Varro in August., De Civ. Dei, vii. 35). LXX renders αὐτὸς δὲ οἰωνισμῷ οἰωνίζεται ἐν αὐτῷ.
Driver quotes from the Travels of Norden (circ. 1750 a.d.) a passage in which a Nubian Sheikh says: “I have consulted my cup, and I find that you are Franks in disguise, who have come to spy out the land.”
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.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain HOMILIES BY J.F. MONTGOMERY Ver. 5.
HOMILIES BY J.F. MONTGOMERY Ver. 5.
Probation.
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Divination by cups was practiced by the ancient Egyptians. But no reason to suppose that Joseph actually used this art. It would have been inconsistent with his habitual faithfulness to God, and with the ascription to him alone of the power to reveal secrets. (Gen_40:7-23; Gen_41:1-16) He was now acting a part. He spoke in the character of an Egyptian ruler, to whom the nation ascribed supernatural wisdom. We need not now inquire how far he was right in this. But his object was to try his brethren, whether, and how much, they loved their father and their young brother. He contrived that Benjamin should appear to have incurred the penalty of servitude. What would the rest do? Would they, as they had done to him, leave their brother in slavery? Would they go home and deceive their father by a false story of his death? Could they bear to renew his grief? Had they learned that God marked their actions, and ordained the things that happened to them? The cup hidden in Benjamin"s sack was indeed that whereby he was divining their secret thoughts. They Stood the test. They acknowledged God"s hand, and refused to purchase their own safety at the price of their brother"s freedom. (contrast Gen_37:26, Gen_37:27, with Gen_44:30, Gen_44:34) Forthwith the clouds passed away. In him whom they feared they found a brother.
I GOD BY HIS PROVIDENCE TRIES THE SPIRIT THAT IS IN US. The events of our lives are ordered so as to bring this about. (Deu_8:2) They are to us as Joseph"s cup. Daily work, family life, professional duties, the common intercourse of society, raise questions which are answered according as God or self rules the heart and guides the actions. Hence no part of our life is unimportant in a spiritual point of view. Things, in themselves of small account, test the character and motives of the life, as floating straws show the current; and this all the more because their spiritual bearing is not apparent. Kindness, truth, unselfishness, in little matters, reveal the man more truly than on greater and more conspicuous occasions (cf. 1Co_13:3)
II TRIALS ARE SENT IN LOVE AS INSTRUMENTS OF BLESSING. (Jam_1:12) Through their operation the Christian life is matured. (Rom_5:3-5) Every grace must be exercised in order to grow, and trial is the opportunity of exercise. Without trial there could be no real victory over evil, no real submission of the will to God. We pray to be kept from temptation. To run into it is to court a fall. But where God sends trial grace is provided, (1Co_10:13) answering every need; help for the falling or fallen as well as strength for the steadfast.
III How TO STAND IN THE DAY OF TRIAL. In each of the messages to the Churches (Re 2 Re 3) trial is implied now of persecution, now of false doctrine, now of indolent spiritual ease. And the blessing is "to him that overcometh." How? "By the blood of the Lamb", (Rev_12:11) i.e. by faith in it. Not merely belief in the doctrine, but realizing what the work of Christ has won for us, and the love of the Father from which it proceeds, and the claim which the mercies of God make upon us. (Rom_12:1) The first step is receiving with an undoubting spirit the love of God; not letting in unbelief in the garb of humility. The next is keeping that truth present in the mind in the midst of daily work, that the love of Christ may constrain the direction of our life. M.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 44:5 This description would make the brothers understand that…
44:5 This description would make the brothers understand that the ruler knew things that others could not. • Hydromancy (pouring water into oil) and oenomancy (pouring wine into other liquids) were methods of divination used in the ancient Near East that would have required such a cup. Joseph was continuing his ruse (see 42:7; cp. 30:27; see also Lev 19:26; Num 23:23; Deut 18:10-11)—he knew that only God grants revelation (see Gen 37:5-9; 40:8; 41:16).
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