44:16 Judah replied, “What can we say 4 to my lord? What can we speak? How can we clear ourselves? 5 God has exposed the sin of your servants! 6 We are now my lord’s slaves, we and the one in whose possession the cup was found.”
44:33 “So now, please let your servant remain as my lord’s slave instead of the boy. As for the boy, let him go back with his brothers.
12:11 So Aaron said to Moses, “O my lord, 10 please do not hold this sin against us, in which we have acted foolishly and have sinned!
1 tn Heb “saying.”
2 tn It has been suggested that this word should be translated “conception,” not “pleasure.” See A. A. McIntosh, “A Third Root ‘adah in Biblical Hebrew,” VT 24 (1974): 454-73.
3 tn The word “too” has been added in the translation for stylistic reasons.
4 tn The imperfect verbal form here indicates the subject’s potential.
5 tn The Hitpael form of the verb צָדֵק (tsadeq) here means “to prove ourselves just, to declare ourselves righteous, to prove our innocence.”
6 sn God has exposed the sin of your servants. The first three questions are rhetorical; Judah is stating that there is nothing they can say to clear themselves. He therefore must conclude that they have been found guilty.
7 tn Heb “and a small boy of old age,” meaning that he was born when his father was elderly.
8 tn Heb “his”; the referent (the boy just mentioned) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9 tn Heb “he, only he, to his mother is left.”
10 tn The expression בִּי אֲדֹנִי (bi ’adoni, “O my lord”) shows a good deal of respect for Moses by Aaron. The expression is often used in addressing God.