הבוקר אור, became lit, as in Samuel I 14,29 ראו כי אורו עיני, “see for yourselves how my eyes have lit up.” A reference to what had occurred already. Similarly, when Bileam referred to the tents of the Jewish people with the words מה טובו אהליך יעקב, “how goodly are your tents O Yaakov,” he did not refer to something that occurred just then, but to a phenomenon which was already well known (Numbers 24,5).

יצאו את העיר, similar to Joshua 6,7 עברו את העיר, “go through the city,” or Exodus 9,29 כצאתי את העיר, “when I leave the city.” A similar construction with pronoun ending instead is found in Jeremiah 10,20 בני יצאוני, “my children have left me.” [the point is the construction in the accusative, with or without the word את. Ed.]

והוא נחש ינחש, we have to assume that Joseph pretended to get his information about the brothers’ personal data by consulting his goblet. Perhaps a magic formula was hidden within the goblet. Some commentators say that a wise man of Joseph’s caliber would consult the goblet as to who had stolen it, seeing that the Torah quotes Joseph as speaking about איש אשר כמוני, “a man of my type.” [he had, after all, proven that he could see hidden things, hence his name tzofnat paaneach, the one who reveals what is hidden. Ed.] It does not say in the text ינחש בו which would suggest that he consulted the goblet, but נחש ינחש, independent of the inherent power of the goblet to reveal things to its owner.

כדבריכם כן הוא, you are truly all partners in all that you do. It is the custom of merchants to always attribute blame to one another. But I am not willing to go along; only the one in whose bag the goblet was found הוא יהיה לי עבד, he alone will be my slave.

איש אשר כמוני, princes and ministers were in the habit of performing magic tricks as we know from Ezekiel 21,26 where the King of Babylon is described as standing at the crossroads in order to engage in this kind of divination. Joseph is saying that he knows who stole my property.

כי כמוך כפרעה, seeing that Your position is one equivalent to that of king, I am afraid of your anger.

אדוני שאל, you are the one who caused us to bring this man (Binyamin) here, and now it seems easy for you to detain him.

ואשימה עיני עליו, it is a severe wrong for a ruler not to keep his word. (you claimed you only wanted to be convinced of his existence.)

ועזב את אביו ומת, his father will die as a result.

ונפשו קשורה בנפשו, this is why, the moment he becomes aware that Binyamin did not return he will die.

כי עבדך, the reason why I speak up more than my brothers is that I guaranteed his safety. Therefore I will take his place as your slave.