Discovery BoxGenesis 44:26-32
Context44:26 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.’
[44:26] 1 tn The direct object is not specified in the Hebrew text, but is implied; “there” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[44:27] 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.”
