Genesis 44:18-28

18 Soothly Judah nighed near, and said trustily (and plaintively said), My lord, I pray thee, (let) thy servant speak a word in thine ears, and be thou not wroth to thy servant; for after Pharaoh thou art my lord.

19 Thou askedest first thy servants (Thou first askedest thy servants), Have ye a father, or a brother?

20 And we answered to my lord, An eld father is to us, and a little child that was born in his eld (age), whose brother of the same womb is dead, and his mother hath him alone; forsooth his father loveth him tenderly. (And we answered to my lord, We have an old father, and he hath a young son who was born in his old age, whose brother from the same womb is dead, and he alone is left of his mother's children; and his father tenderly loveth him.)

21 And thou saidest to thy servants, Bring ye him (down) to me, and I shall set mine eyes on him.

22 We made (the) suggestion to thee, my lord, the child may not forsake his father (that the youngest son cannot leave his father); for if he shall leave his father, his father shall die.

23 And thou saidest to thy servants, If your youngest brother shall not come (down) with you, ye shall no more see my face (ye shall not see my face again).

24 Therefore when we had gone up to thy servant, our father, we told to him all things which my lord spake to us;

25 and our father said, Turn ye again, and buy ye to you a little of wheat; (and later our father said to us, Return ye there, and buy ye some corn, or some grain, for us;)

26 to whom we said, We may not go; (only) if our least brother shall go down with us, we shall go forth together; else, if he is absent, we dare not see the lord's face (to whom we said, We cannot go down there; only if our youngest brother shall go down with us, then shall we go forth together; for if he is absent, we shall not be able to see our lord's face.)

27 To which things our father answered, Ye know that my wife childed two sons to me;

28 one went out (from me), and ye said, A beast [hath] devoured him (and it was said, A beast hath devoured him), and hitherto he appeareth not;

Genesis 44:18-28 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 44

This chapter relates the policy of Joseph in making an experiment of his brethren's regard and affection for Benjamin; he ordered his steward to put every man's money into his sack, and his silver cup in Benjamin's, and when they were got out of the city, to follow after them, and charge them with the theft, as he did; and having searched their sacks, as they desired he would, found the cup with Benjamin, which threw them into the utmost distress, and obliged them to return to Joseph, Ge 44:1-14; who charged them with their ill behaviour towards him; they acknowledge it, and propose to be his servants; but he orders them to depart to their father, retaining Benjamin in servitude, Ge 44:15-17; upon which Judah addressed him in a very polite and affectionate manner, and relates the whole story, both of what passed between Joseph and them, concerning Benjamin, the first time they were in Egypt, and between their father and them upon the same subject, when he directed them to go a second time thither to buy corn, and how he became a surety to his father for him, and therefore proposed to be his bondman now, not being able to see his father's face without Benjamin, Ge 44:18-34.