Genesis 44:18-34
Then
Judah went up to Joseph and said, "Please, sir, let me speak openly
with
you. Don''t be angry with me, although you are equal to Pharaoh. Sir, you asked us, ''Do you have a father or a
brother?'' We answered, ''We have a
father who is old and a younger brother born to him when he was already old.
The boy''s brother is dead, so he''s the only one of his mother''s sons left, and
his father loves him.'' "Then you
said to us, ''Bring him here to me so that I can see him myself.'' We replied, ''The boy can''t leave his father. If
the boy leaves him, his father will die.'' Then
you told us, ''If your
youngest brother doesn''t come here with you, you will
never be allowed to see me again.'' When
we went back to our father, we told him what you had said. "Then our father said, ''Go back and buy us
a little more food.'' We answered, ''We
can''t go back. We can only go back if our youngest brother is with us. The man
won''t see us unless our youngest brother is with us.'' "Then
our father said to us, ''You know that my wife
gave me two sons. One is gone, and I said, "He must have
been torn to pieces!" I haven''t seen him since. If
you take this one away from me too and anything happens to him, you''ll drive
this gray-haired old man to his grave.'' "Our
father''s life is wrapped up with the boy''s life. If I come home without the
boy and he sees that the boy isn''t with me, he''ll die. The grief would drive our gray-haired old father to his
grave. "I guaranteed my father
that the boy would come back. I said, ''If I don''t bring him back to you, then
you can blame me the rest of my life, Father.'' Sir,
please let me stay and be your slave in the boy''s place, and let the boy go
back with his brothers. How could I go
back to my father if the boy isn''t with me? I couldn''t bear to see my father''s
misery!"