Genesis 42:36

42:36 Their father Jacob said to them, “You are making me childless! Joseph is gone. ¹  Simeon is gone. ²  And now you want to take ³  Benjamin! Everything is against me.”

Genesis 42:38

42:38 But Jacob ⁴  replied, “My son will not go down there with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. ⁵  If an accident happens to him on the journey you have to make, then you will bring down my gray hair ⁶  in sorrow to the grave.” ⁷ 

[42:36]  ¹ tn Heb “is not.”

[42:36]  ² tn Heb “is not.”

[42:36]  ³ tn The nuance of the imperfect verbal form is desiderative here.

[42:38]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[42:38]  ⁵ sn The expression he alone is left meant that (so far as Jacob knew) Benjamin was the only surviving child of his mother Rachel.

[42:38]  ⁶ sn The expression bring down my gray hair is figurative, using a part for the whole – they would put Jacob in the grave. But the gray head signifies a long life of worry and trouble.

[42:38]  ⁷ tn Heb “to Sheol,” the dwelling place of the dead.