Judah pleaded that he be allowed to become Joseph’s slave instead of Benjamin

18 Then Judah came near to Joseph and said, “Sir, please let me say something to you. You are equal to the king himself, so you could command that I be executed; but do not be angry with me for speaking to you. 19 You asked us, ‘Is your father still living, and do you have another brother?’ 20 We answered, ‘Our father is alive, but he is an old man. He has a young son who was born after our father became an old man. That son had an older brother, who is now dead. So the youngest son is the only one of his mother’s sons who is still alive, and his father loves him very much.’ 21 Then you said to us, ‘The next time you come here, bring your younger brother down to me, so that I can see him.’ 22 We said to you, ‘No, we cannot do that, because the boy cannot leave his father. If he leaves his father, his father will die from sorrow.’ 23 But you told us, ‘If your youngest brother does not come back with you, I will not let you see me again!’ 24 When we returned to our father, we told him what you said. 25 Months later our father said, ‘Go back to Egypt and buy some more grain!’ 26 But we said, ‘We cannot go back by ourselves. We will go only if our youngest brother is with us. We will not be able to see the man who sells grain if our youngest brother is not with us.’ 27 Our father replied, ‘You know that my wife Rachel gave birth to two sons for me. 28 One of them disappeared, and I said, “A wild animal has surely torn him to pieces.” And I have not seen him since then. 29 I am an old gray-haired man. If you take this other one from me, too, and something harms him, you would cause me to die because of my sorrow.’

30 “So please listen. My father will remain alive only if his youngest son remains alive. 31 If he sees that the boy is not with us when we return to him, he will die. We will cause our gray-haired father to die because of his sorrow. 32 I guaranteed/promised to my father that the boy would return safely. I told him, ‘You can require me to do what I am promising. If I do not bring him back to you, you can say forever that ◄I am to blame/it is my fault► for not bringing him back to you.’

33 “So, please let me remain here as your slave instead of my youngest brother, and let the boy return home with his other older brothers. 34 ◄I cannot return to my father if the boy is not with me!/How can I return to my father if the boy is not with me?► [RHQ] I do not want to see how miserable/sad my father would become!”