brethren and inspiring them to reply according to their usage_. We exalt unto degrees [of knowledge and honour] whom We please, _as Joseph_; and [there is who is] knowing above every one [else] endowed with knowledge.—They said, If he steal, a brother of his hath stolen before; _namely, Joseph;[241] for he stole an idol of gold belonging to the father of his mother, and broke it, that he might not worship it._ And Joseph concealed it in his mind, and did not discover it to them. He said _within himself_, Ye are in a worse condition _than Joseph and his brother, by reason of your having stolen your brother from your father and your having treated him unjustly_; and God well knoweth what ye state _concerning him_.—They said, O prince, verily he hath a father, a very old man, _who loveth him more than us, and consoleth himself by him for the loss of his son who hath perished, and the separation of him grieveth him_; therefore take one of us _as a slave_ in his stead; for we see thee [to be one] of the beneficent. He replied, God preserve us from taking [any] save him in whose possession we found our property; for then (_if we took another_), we [should be] unjust. And when they despaired of [obtaining] him, they retired to confer privately together. The chief of them _in age_ (_namely, Reuben, or in judgment, namely, Judah_), said, Do ye not know that your father hath obtained of you a solemn promise in the name of God, _with respect of your brother_, and how ye formerly failed of your duty with respect to Joseph? Therefore I will by no means depart from the land _of Egypt_ until my father give me permission _to return to him_, or God decide for me _by the delivery of my brother_; and He is the best, _the most just_, of those who decide. Return ye to your father, and say, O our father, verily thy son hath committed theft, and we bore not testimony _against him_ save according to that which we knew _of a certainty, by our seeing the cup in his sack_; and we were not acquainted with what was unseen _by us when we gave the solemn promise: had we known that he would commit theft, we had not taken him. And send thou_, and ask _the people of_ the city in which we have been (_namely, Miṣr_)[242] and the company of travellers with whom we have arrived (_who were a people of Canaan_): and we are surely speakers of truth.—_So they returned to him, and said unto him those words_. He replied, Nay, your minds have made a thing seem pleasant unto you, _and ye have done it_ (_he suspected them, on account of their former conduct in the case of Joseph_); but patience is seemly: peradventure God will bring them back (_namely, Joseph and his brother_) unto me, together; for He is the Knowing _with respect to my case_, the Wise _in His acts_. And he turned from them, and said, O! my sorrow for Joseph! And his eyes became white in consequence of mourning, and he was oppressed with silent grief. They said, By God, thou wilt not cease to think upon