Genesis 42:22

42:22 Reuben said to them, “Didn’t I say to you, ‘Don’t sin against the boy,’ but you wouldn’t listen? So now we must pay for shedding his blood!” ¹ 

Genesis 43:9

43:9 I myself pledge security ²  for him; you may hold me liable. If I do not bring him back to you and place him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life. ³ 

Genesis 44:32

44:32 Indeed, ⁴  your servant pledged security for the boy with my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I will bear the blame before my father all my life.’

[42:22]  ¹ tn Heb “and also his blood, look, it is required.” God requires compensation, as it were, from those who shed innocent blood (see Gen 9:6). In other words, God exacts punishment for the crime of murder.

[43:9]  ² tn The pronoun before the first person verbal form draws attention to the subject and emphasizes Judah’s willingness to be personally responsible for the boy.

[43:9]  ³ sn I will bear the blame before you all my life. It is not clear how this would work out if Benjamin did not come back. But Judah is offering his life for Benjamin’s if Benjamin does not return.

[44:32]  ³ tn Or “for.”