Genesis 43:3-10 ▼

3 But Judah reminded him, |The man distinctly warned us: 'You'll never see my face unless your brother comes with you.'

4 So if you send our brother with us, we'll go down and buy some food.

5 But if you don't send him, we're not going, because the man told us, 'You'll never see my face unless your brother is with you.'|

6 Israel replied, |Why did you make all this trouble by telling the man that you have another brother?|

7 |The man specifically asked about us and our relatives,| they responded. |He asked us, 'Is your father still alive?' and 'Do you have another brother?' So we answered his questions. How could we have known that he would tell us to bring our brother back with us?|

8 |Send the young man with me,| Judah told his father Israel, |and we'll get up and go so we can survive and not die—and that includes all of us, you and our families.

9 I'll even offer myself to guarantee that I'll be responsible for him. If I don't bring him back and present him to you, I'll personally bear the consequences forever.

10 After all, if we hadn't delayed, we could have been there and back twice by now!|