Old Testament

Genesis

Judah Pleads for Benjamin · 44:18–34

44:18 Then Judah came near unto him, and said, Oh my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not thine anger burn against thy servant: for thou art even as Pharaoh.

44:19 My lord asked his servants, saying, Have ye a father, or a brother?

44:20 And we said unto my lord, We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loveth him.

44:21 And thou saidst unto thy servants, Bring him down unto me, that I may set mine eyes upon him.

44:22 And we said unto my lord, The lad cannot leave his father: for if he should leave his father, his father would die.

44:23 And thou saidst unto thy servants, Except your youngest brother come down with you, ye shall see my face no more.

44:24 And it came to pass when we came up unto thy servant my father, we told him the words of my lord.

44:25 And our father said, Go again, and buy us a little food.

44:26 And we said, We cannot go down: if our youngest brother be with us, then will we go down: for we may not see the man’s face, except our youngest brother be with us.

44:27 And thy servant my father said unto us, Ye know that my wife bare me two sons:

44:28 And the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces; and I saw him not since:

44:29 And if ye take this also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.

44:30 Now therefore when I come to thy servant my father, and the lad be not with us; seeing that his life is bound up in the lad’s life;

44:31 It shall come to pass, when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die: and thy servants shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the grave.

44:32 For thy servant became surety for the lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father for ever.

44:33 Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brethren.

44:34 For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me? lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father.