And when they went in before Joseph, he took his brother unto him, saying: Lo! I, even I, am thy brother, therefore sorrow not for what they did. 69 And when he had provided them their provision, he put the drinking-cup in his brother’s bag, and then an announcer cried, “O people of the caravan! You are indeed thieves!” 70 They, turning towards them, said: "What is it that you have missed?" 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, well ye know we came not to do evil in the land, and are no thieves. 73 They said: But what shall be the requital of this, if you are liars? 74 They replied: 'Its recompense in whosoever's saddle bag it is found, he shall be its recompense. As such we punish the harmdoers' 75 So he [Yusuf (Joseph)] began (the search) in their bags before the bag of his brother. Then he brought it out of his brother's bag. Thus did We plan for Yusuf (Joseph). He could not take his brother by the law of the king (as a slave), except that Allah willed it. (So Allah made the brothers to bind themselves with their way of "punishment, i.e. enslaving of a thief.") We raise to degrees whom We please, but over all those endowed with knowledge is the All-Knowing (Allah). 76 ۞ They said, 'If he is a thief, a brother of his was a thief before.' But Joseph secreted it in his soul and disclosed it not to them, saying, 'You are in a worse case; God knows very well what you are describing.' 77 They said: "O exalted one! Behold! he has a father, aged and venerable, (who will grieve for him); so take one of us in his place; for we see that thou art (gracious) in doing good." 78 "May God forgive us," he said, "if we hold any one but him with whom we found our property, or else we would be unjust." 79