And when they entered in the company Yusuf, he seated his brother close to him and said, “Be assured, I really am your brother – therefore do not grieve for what they do.” 69 And when he provided them with their provision, he put the drinking-cup in his brother's saddlebag, and then a crier cried: O camel-riders! Lo! ye are surely thieves! 70 They turned back and asked: 'What have you lost' 71 They said: we miss the king's cup; and for him who bringeth it shall be a camel-load; and thereof I am a guarantor. 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 They said, “And what shall be the punishment for it, if you are liars?” 74 They replied: "He in whose saddlebag the cup is found, he himself shall be its recompense." Thus do we punish the wrong-doers. 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 ۞ Said the brothers: "If he has stolen (no wonder), his brother had stolen before." But Joseph kept this secret and did not disclose it to them, and said (to himself): "You are worse in the degree of evil, for God knows better of what you allege." 77 They said: "O Minister, he has an aged father, so keep one of us in his place. We see you are a virtuous man." 78 He replied, "God forbid! How could I take someone in place of the thief? In doing so I would be committing injustice." 79