Genesis 44:24-34

44:24 When we returned to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord.

44:25 “Then our father said, ‘Go back and buy us a little food.’ 44:26 But we replied, ‘We cannot go down there. ¹  If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go, ²  for we won’t be permitted to see the man’s face if our youngest brother is not with us.’

44:27 “Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife gave me two sons. ³  44:28 The first disappeared ⁴  and I said, “He has surely been torn to pieces.” I have not seen him since. 44:29 If you take ⁵  this one from me too and an accident happens to him, then you will bring down my gray hair ⁶  in tragedy ⁷  to the grave.’ ⁸ 

44:30 “So now, when I return to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us – his very life is bound up in his son’s life. ⁹  44:31 When he sees the boy is not with us, ¹⁰  he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hair of your servant our father in sorrow to the grave. 44:32 Indeed, ¹¹  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.’

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. 44:34 For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I couldn’t bear to see ¹²  my father’s pain.” ¹³ 

[44:26]  ¹ tn The direct object is not specified in the Hebrew text, but is implied; “there” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[44:26]  ² tn Heb “go down.”

[44:27]  ³ tn Heb “that two sons my wife bore to me.”

[44:28]  ⁴ tn Heb “went forth from me.”

[44:29]  ⁵ tn The construction uses a perfect verbal form with the vav consecutive to introduce the conditional clause and then another perfect verbal form with a vav consecutive to complete the sentence: “if you take…then you will bring down.”

[44:29]  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. See Gen 42:38.

[44:29]  ⁷ tn Heb “evil/calamity.” The term is different than the one used in the otherwise identical statement recorded in v. 31 (see also 42:38).

[44:29]  ⁸ tn Heb “to Sheol,” the dwelling place of the dead.

[44:30]  ⁹ tn Heb “his life is bound up in his life.”

[44:31]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “when he sees that there is no boy.”

[44:32]  ¹¹ tn Or “for.”

[44:34]  ¹² tn The Hebrew text has “lest I see,” which expresses a negative purpose – “I cannot go up lest I see.”

[44:34]  ¹³ tn Heb “the calamity which would find my father.”