When they presented themselves before Joseph, he took his brother [Benjamin] aside. He said, "I am your brother, so do not feel distressed about whatever they have been doing." 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, turning towards them, said: "What is it that you have missed?" 71 They said: "We miss the great beaker of the king; for him who produces it, is (the reward of) a camel load; I will be bound by it." 72 (The brothers) said: "By Allah! well ye know that we came not to make mischief in the land, and we are no thieves!" 73 The accusers said, "Then what would be its recompense if you should be liars?" 74 They replied, "The penalty should be that he in whose saddlebag it is found, should be held [as bondman] to atone for the crime. That is how we punish the wrongdoers." 75 So he began (the search) with their baggage, before (he came to) the baggage of his brother: at length he brought it out of his brother's baggage. Thus did We plan for Joseph. He could not take his brother by the law of the king except that Allah willed it (so). We raise to degrees (of wisdom) whom We please: but over all endued with knowledge is one, the All-Knowing. 76 ۞ They said: "If he steals, there was a brother of his who did steal before (him)." But these things did Joseph keep locked in his heart, revealing not the secrets to them. He (simply) said (to himself): "Ye are the worse situated; and Allah knoweth best the truth of what ye assert!" 77 They said: "O thou great one! Behold, he has a father, a very old man: detain, therefore, one of us in his stead. Verily, we see that thou art a doer of good!" 78 He said, 'God forbid that we should take any other but him in whose possession we found the goods; for if we did so, we would be evildoers.' 79