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. My lord asked his
servants, saying, 'Have ye a father, or a brother?' 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.' And thou saidst unto thy servants, 'Bring
him down unto me, that I may set mine eyes upon him.' And we said unto
my lord, 'The lad cannot leave his father: for if he should leave his
father, his father would die.' And thou saidst unto thy servants,
'Except your youngest brother come down with you, ye shall see my face
no more.' And it came to pass when we came up unto my father, we told
him the words of my lord. And our father said, 'Go again, buy us a
little food.' 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.' And my father said unto us, 'Ye
know that my wife bare me two sons: and the one went out from me, and I
said, Surely he is torn in pieces; and I have not seen him since: and if
ye take this one also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall bring
down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.' Now therefore when I come
to my father, and the lad be not with us; seeing that his life is bound
up in the lad's life; 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 our father with sorrow to the grave. For thy servant
became surety for the lad unto my father, saying, 'If I bring him not
unto thee, then shall I bear the blame to my father for ever.' Now
therefore, let thy servant, I pray thee, abide instead of the lad a
bondman to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brethren. For how
shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me? lest I see the
evil that shall come on my father."