Genesis 42:38

42:38 But Jacob ¹  replied, “My son will not go down there with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. ²  If an accident happens to him on the journey you have to make, then you will bring down my gray hair ³  in sorrow to the grave.” ⁴ 

Genesis 47:18

47:18 When that year was over, they came to him the next year and said to him, “We cannot hide from our ⁵  lord that the money is used up and the livestock and the animals belong to our lord. Nothing remains before our lord except our bodies and our land.

[42:38]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[42:38]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “to Sheol,” the dwelling place of the dead.

[47:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “my.” The expression “my lord” occurs twice more in this verse.