Genesis 43:1-34

God’s Ancient People

Genesis

Alun Owen

Chapter 43

Jacob sends his sons to Egypt again

v1 Now there was an extreme lack of food in the region. v2 And they had eaten the grain that the brothers had brought from Egypt. So their father said to them, ‘Go again. Buy a little food for us.’ v3 But Judah said to him, ‘The man warned us definitely. He said, “You shall not see my face again unless your brother is with you.” v4 If you will send our brother with us, we will go. We will go to Egypt and we will buy food for you. v5 But if you will not send him, we will not go. The man said to us, “You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.” ’

v6 Israel said, ‘Why were you so cruel to me? Why did you tell the man that you had another brother?’ v7 They replied, ‘The man asked us all about ourselves and about our relatives. He said, “Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?” We gave him answers to these questions. We could not know what he would say. But he said, “Bring your brother here.” ’

v8 And Judah spoke to Israel his father. He said, ‘Send the boy with me and we will set out on the journey. So we and you and our children may live and we may not die. v9 I will be responsible for him. If anybody hurts him, you shall blame me. I shall bring him back to you and I shall put him in front of you again. And if I do not, then the blame shall be on me for all ages. v10 If we had not delayed, we would now have gone and returned twice.’