Genesis 44:27-29

44:27 “Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife gave me two sons. ¹  44:28 The first disappeared ²  and I said, “He has surely been torn to pieces.” I have not seen him since. 44:29 If you take ³  this one from me too and an accident happens to him, then you will bring down my gray hair ⁴  in tragedy ⁵  to the grave.’ ⁶ 

[44:27]  ¹ tn Heb “that two sons my wife bore to me.”

[44:28]  ² tn Heb “went forth from me.”

[44:29]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “to Sheol,” the dwelling place of the dead.