AND WHEN [the sons of Jacob] presented themselves before Joseph, he drew his brother [Benjamin] unto himself, saying [to him in secret]: "Behold, I am thy brother! So grieve thou not over their past doings!" 69 Then, when he had equipped them with their equipment, he put his drinking-cup into the saddlebag of his brother. Then a herald proclaimed, 'Ho, cameleers, you are robbers!' 70 They turned back and asked: 'What have you lost' 71 They said: We have lost the king's cup, and he who bringeth it shall have a camel-load, and I (said Joseph) am answerable for it. 72 They said: By Allah! you know for certain that we have not come to make mischief in the land, and we are not thieves. 73 (The Egyptians) said: "What then shall be the penalty of this, if ye are (proved) to have lied?" 74 They said, 'This shall be its recompense -- in whoever's saddlebag the goblet is found, he shall be its recompense. So we recompense the evildoers.' 75 So he searched their saddle-bags before his brother's, then produced the cup from his brother's bag. That is how We planned an excuse for Joseph, for under the law of the king he could not detain his brother unless God so willed. We raise the status of whom We please. Over every man of knowledge there is one more knowing. 76 ۞ [As soon as the cup came to light out of Benjamin's bag, the brothers] exclaimed: "If he has stolen - well, a brother of his used to steal afore-time!" Thereupon Joseph said to himself, without revealing his thought to them: "You are far worse in this respect, and God is fully aware of what you are saying. 77 They said, "O 'Azeez, indeed he has a father [who is] an old man, so take one of us in place of him. Indeed, we see you as a doer of good." 78 He said, "[I seek] the refuge of Allah [to prevent] that we take except him with whom we found our possession. Indeed, we would then be unjust." 79