Genesis 43:1-10

1Now the famine was severe in the land.

2When they finished eating the grain they had brought from Egypt their father said to them, “Go back. Buy us a little food.”

3But Judah said to him, “The man warned us firmly saying, ‘You won’t see my face unless your brother is with you.’

4If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy grain for you for food.

5But if you won’t send him, we won’t go down, because the man said to us, ‘You won’t see my face unless your brother is with you.’”

6Then Israel said, “Why did you do evil to me by telling the man that you have another brother?”

7They said, “The man questioned particularly about us and about our relatives saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have a brother?’ So we spoke to him on the basis of these words. How could we possibly know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’”?

8Then Judah said to his father Israel, “Please, send the boy with me and we’ll get up and go, so that we’ll live and not die—we and you, and our children.

9I myself will be his pledge. You can demand him back from my own hand. If I don’t bring him back to you and place him before you, then you can blame me all my days.

10If we had not delayed, we could have returned twice by now.”