Genesis 44:16-34

¹⁶“What can we say to my lord?” Judah replied. “How can we plead? How can we justify ourselves? God has exposed the iniquity of your servants. We are now my lord’s slaves — both we and the one who was found with the cup.”

¹⁷But Joseph replied, “Far be it from me to do this. The man who was found with the cup will be my slave. The rest of you may return to your father in peace.”

¹⁸Then Judah approached Joseph and said, “Sir, please let your servant speak personally to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, for you are equal to Pharaoh himself.

¹⁹My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’

²⁰And we answered, ‘We have an elderly father and a younger brother, the child of his old age. The boy’s brother is dead. He is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.’

²¹Then you told your servants, ‘Bring him down to me so that I can see him for myself.’

²²So we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father. If he were to leave, his father would die.’

²³But you said to your servants, ‘Unless your younger brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’

²⁴Now when we returned to your servant my father, we relayed your words to him.

²⁵Then our father said, ‘Go back and buy us some food.’

²⁶But we answered, ‘We cannot go down there unless our younger brother goes with us. So if our younger brother is not with us, we cannot see the man.’

²⁷And your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons.

²⁸When one of them was gone, I said: “Surely he has been torn to pieces.” And I have not seen him since.

²⁹Now if you also take this one from me and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.’

³⁰So if the boy is not with us when I return to your servant, and if my father, whose life is wrapped up in the boy’s life,

³¹sees that the boy is not with us, he will die. Then your servants will have brought the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow.

³²Indeed, your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father, saying, ‘If I do not return him to you, I will bear the guilt before you, my father, all my life.’

³³Now please let your servant stay here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy. Let him return with his brothers.

³⁴For how can I go back to my father without the boy? I could not bear to see the misery that would overwhelm him.”

Related Resources from Heartlight

Cross References for Genesis 44:16-34

The Berean Standard Bible