Font Size
Genesis 44:18-31
New International Version
Genesis 44:18-31
New International Version
18 Then Judah(A) went up to him and said: “Pardon your servant, my lord,(B) let me speak a word to my lord. Do not be angry(C) with your servant, though you are equal to Pharaoh himself. 19 My lord asked his servants,(D) ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’(E) 20 And we answered, ‘We have an aged father, and there is a young son born to him in his old age.(F) His brother is dead,(G) and he is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.’(H)
21 “Then you said to your servants,(I) ‘Bring him down to me so I can see him for myself.’(J) 22 And we said to my lord,(K) ‘The boy cannot leave his father; if he leaves him, his father will die.’(L) 23 But you told your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’(M) 24 When we went back to your servant my father,(N) we told him what my lord(O) had said.(P)
25 “Then our father said, ‘Go back and buy a little more food.’(Q) 26 But we said, ‘We cannot go down. Only if our youngest brother is with us will we go. We cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’(R)
27 “Your servant my father(S) said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons.(T) 28 One of them went away from me, and I said, “He has surely been torn to pieces.”(U) And I have not seen him since.(V) 29 If you take this one from me too and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray head down to the grave(W) in misery.’(X)
30 “So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father,(Y) and if my father, whose life is closely bound up with the boy’s life,(Z) 31 sees that the boy isn’t there, he will die.(AA) Your servants(AB) will bring the gray head of our father down to the grave(AC) in sorrow.
Genesis 44:18-31
New Living Translation
Genesis 44:18-31
New Living Translation
Judah Speaks for His Brothers
18 Then Judah stepped forward and said, “Please, my lord, let your servant say just one word to you. Please, do not be angry with me, even though you are as powerful as Pharaoh himself.
19 “My lord, previously you asked us, your servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’ 20 And we responded, ‘Yes, my lord, we have a father who is an old man, and his youngest son is a child of his old age. His full brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother’s children, and his father loves him very much.’
21 “And you said to us, ‘Bring him here so I can see him with my own eyes.’ 22 But we said to you, ‘My lord, the boy cannot leave his father, for his father would die.’ 23 But you told us, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes with you, you will never see my face again.’
24 “So we returned to your servant, our father, and told him what you had said. 25 Later, when he said, ‘Go back again and buy us more food,’ 26 we replied, ‘We can’t go unless you let our youngest brother go with us. We’ll never get to see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’
27 “Then my father said to us, ‘As you know, my wife had two sons, 28 and one of them went away and never returned. Doubtless he was torn to pieces by some wild animal. I have never seen him since. 29 Now if you take his brother away from me, and any harm comes to him, you will send this grieving, white-haired man to his grave.[a]’
30 “And now, my lord, I cannot go back to my father without the boy. Our father’s life is bound up in the boy’s life. 31 If he sees that the boy is not with us, our father will die. We, your servants, will indeed be responsible for sending that grieving, white-haired man to his grave.
Read full chapter
Genesis 44:18-31
King James Version
Genesis 44:18-31
King James Version
18 Then Judah came near unto him, and said, Oh my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord's ears, and let not thine anger burn against thy servant: for thou art even as Pharaoh.
19 My lord asked his servants, saying, Have ye a father, or a brother?
20 And we said unto my lord, We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loveth him.
21 And thou saidst unto thy servants, Bring him down unto me, that I may set mine eyes upon him.
22 And we said unto my lord, The lad cannot leave his father: for if he should leave his father, his father would die.
23 And thou saidst unto thy servants, Except your youngest brother come down with you, ye shall see my face no more.
24 And it came to pass when we came up unto thy servant my father, we told him the words of my lord.
25 And our father said, Go again, and buy us a little food.
26 And we said, We cannot go down: if our youngest brother be with us, then will we go down: for we may not see the man's face, except our youngest brother be with us.
27 And thy servant my father said unto us, Ye know that my wife bare me two sons:
28 And the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces; and I saw him not since:
29 And if ye take this also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.
30 Now therefore when I come to thy servant my father, and the lad be not with us; seeing that his life is bound up in the lad's life;
31 It shall come to pass, when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die: and thy servants shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the grave.
Read full chapter
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.