1. The famine in Canaan got worse,
2. until finally, Jacob's family had eaten all the grain they had bought in Egypt. So Jacob said to his sons, “Go back and buy some more grain.”
3-5. Judah replied, “The governor strictly warned us that we would not be allowed to see him unless we brought our youngest brother with us. If you let us take Benjamin along, we will go and buy grain. But we won't go without him!”
6. Jacob asked, “Why did you cause me so much trouble by telling the governor you had another brother?”
7. They answered, “He asked a lot of questions about us and our family. He wanted to know if you were still alive and if we had any more brothers. All we could do was answer his questions. How could we know he would tell us to bring along our brother?”
8. Then Judah said to his father, “Let Benjamin go with me, and we will leave straight away, so that none of us will starve to death.
9. I promise to bring him back safely, and if I don't, you can blame me as long as I live.
10. If we had not wasted all this time, we could already have been there and back twice.”