Genesis 43:1-9 ▼

1 Now the famine was heavy in the land.

2 And it happened when they had finished eating the grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, “Go back, buy us a little food.”

3 Judah spoke to him, however, saying, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’

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

5 But if you do not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.’”

6 Then Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly by telling the man whether you still had another brother?”

7 But they said, “The man questioned particularly about us and our kin, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?’ So we told him concerning these things. Could we possibly have known that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?”

8 Then Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, we as well as you and our little ones.

9 I myself will be the guarantee for him; from my hand you may require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then I shall bear the sin before you all my days.