﴿ قَالَ بَلْ سَوَّلَتْ لَكُمْ أَنفُسُكُمْ أَمْرًۭا ۖ فَصَبْرٌۭ جَمِيلٌ ۖ عَسَى ٱللَّهُ أَن يَأْتِيَنِى بِهِمْ جَمِيعًا ۚ إِنَّهُۥ هُوَ ٱلْعَلِيمُ ٱلْحَكِيمُ ﴾

“[AND WHEN they returned to their father and told him what had happened,] he exclaimed: "Nay, but it is your [own] minds that have made [so terrible] a happening seem a matter of little account to you! But [as for myself,] patience in adversity is most goodly; God may well bring them all [back] unto me: verily, He alone is all-knowing, truly wise!"”

By saying this Jacob exposed the evil in the hearts of Joseph’s brothers. When they left their father, they had taken Benjamin with them, promising his complete safety; and when a cup was discovered among Benjamin’s belongings, they could not even say in his defence that just the finding of the cup did not prove him to be a thief. Perhaps somebody had put it in his baggage; or it might have been packed up in his baggage by mistake. Instead, they confirmed the Egyptians’ suspicion about Benjamin’s alleged guilt by their referring to a theft formerly committed by his brother.