Genesis 44:34

34 How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery that would come on my father.”

Genesis 44:34 in Other Translations

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.

34 For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father."

34 For how can I return to my father if the boy is not with me? I couldn’t bear to see the anguish this would cause my father!”

34 How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? Oh, don't make me go back and watch my father die in grief!"

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

Genesis 44:34 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 44:34

For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad [be] not with
me?
&c.] Signifying that he must abide in Egypt, and chose to do it, and could not go up to the land of Canaan any more or see his father's face without Benjamin along with him, to whom he was a surety for him: lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father;
see him die, or live a life of sorrow worse than death: this he could not bear, and chose rather to be a slave in Egypt, than to be the spectator of such an affecting scene. By this speech of Judah, Joseph plainly saw the great affection which his brethren, especially Judah, had for his father and his brother Benjamin, as well as the sense they had of their evil in selling him, which lay uppermost on their minds, and for which they thought themselves brought into all this trouble; wherefore he could no longer conceal himself from them, but makes himself known unto them, which is the principal subject of the following chapter.

Genesis 44:34 In-Context

32 Your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father. I said, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before you, my father, all my life!’

33 “Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers.

34 How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery that would come on my father.”

Cross References

• 1. S Genesis 42:38
• 2. Esther 8:6