When they presented themselves before Joseph, he took his brother aside to himself and said: "Verily I am your own brother Joseph; so do not grieve over the manner they have treated you." 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 said while they turned toward them: what is it that ye miss! 71 "We miss the royal measuring bowl," he replied. "He who brings it shall have a camel-load of corn. I pledge my word 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 They [Yusuf's (Joseph) men] said: "What then shall be the penalty of him, if you are (proved to be) liars." 74 They said: The penalty for it! He in whose bag (the cup) is found, he is the penalty for it. Thus we requite wrong-doers. 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 steals, then indeed his brother has stolen before”; so Yusuf kept this in his heart and did not reveal it to them; he replied within himself, “In fact, you are in a worse position; and Allah well knows the matters you fabricate.” 77 They said, 'Mighty prince, he has a father, aged and great with years; so take one of us in his place; we see that thou art one of the good-doers.' 78 He answered: "May God preserve us from [the sin of] detaining any other than him with whom we have found our property - for then, behold, we would indeed be evildoers!" 79