Judah Begs Joseph to Set Benjamin Free

44:18-34

18 Then Judah approached Joseph and said to him, “Please, sir, I humbly ask you to let me speak freely to you. Please do not be angry with me, especially since you are as powerful as King Pharaoh himself. 19 Sir, previously you asked us if our father was still alive and if we had any other brothers. 20 And we told you, sir, that we have an elderly father and also a younger brother who was born when our father was already old. That brother’s mother only had one other son, who is now dead. So our father especially loves our youngest brother.

21 “Then you told us, sir, to bring our youngest brother here to you, so that you could see him for yourself. 22 But we told you, sir, that the young man should not leave his father and come here, because if he did, his father would die from anxiety. 23 But then, sir, you told us that unless our youngest brother came with us, we could never see you again.

24 “When we returned home to our father, who highly respects you, we reported to him what you told us. 25 Months later our father told us, ‘Go back to Egypt and buy some more grain for us.’ 26 But we replied to him, ‘We cannot go there unless our youngest brother is with us. Then we can go. The governor who sells grain there will not allow us to see him again if our youngest brother is not with us.’ 27 Then our father said to us, ‘As you know, my wife Rachel and I only had two sons together. 28 One of her sons left here one day, and I have not seen him since then. I am sure that a wild animal must have killed him and torn him apart. 29 So if you also take her other son away from me, and anything harms him, you will cause me, your gray-haired father, so much grief that I will die and go down to the afterworld.

30 “So now, sir, if we go home to our father without his youngest son, since our father’s life depends on his son’s life, 31 if he sees that his son is gone, he will die! Yes, we will cause our gray-haired father so much grief that he will die and go to the afterworld! 32 Besides that, sir, I promised my father that I would return his son to him safely. I told him that if I did not bring his son back to him, I would be guilty of sinning against him forever.

33 “So then, sir, I beg you to let me stay here and be your slave in place of our youngest brother, and let him go back home with his other brothers. 34 There is no way I can go back to my father if his youngest son is not with me! I could not bear to see how terribly my father would suffer!”