Bible Strands
Genesis 44:12
The steward searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest—and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The steward inspects the brothers' grain sacks, moving from the eldest to the youngest, immediately after they have opened their supplies before Joseph.
The words — וַ/יְחַפֵּ֕שׂ (va/y.cha.Pes) translates as "he searched," and בַּ/גָּד֣וֹל (ba./ga.Dol) means "with the old [one]," marking the deliberate starting point of the inspection.
The thread — The ordered search parallels the age-based seating arrangement noted in Genesis 43:33, while the brothers' immediate reaction in Genesis 44:13 reflects the same crisis Jacob feared in Genesis 42:36 and 43:14.
Why it lands — The passage records the exact location of the recovered cup without editorializing, leaving the reader to observe how the steward's methodical procedure triggers the brothers' sudden realization of their exposed position.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And he searched, and began at the eldest, and left at the youngest: and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.
Cross-references
- Genesis 42:36 Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my sons. Joseph is gone and Simeon is no more. Now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is going against me!”
- Genesis 43:14 May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother along with Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.”
- Genesis 43:33 They were seated before Joseph in order by age, from the firstborn to the youngest, and the men looked at one another in astonishment.
- Genesis 44:2 Put my cup, the silver one, in the mouth of the youngest one’s sack, along with the silver for his grain.” So the steward did as Joseph had instructed.
- Genesis 44:26 But we answered, ‘We cannot go down there unless our younger brother goes with us. So if our younger brother is not with us, we cannot see the man.’