1. Now the famine in the land grew severe.
2. So when they had used up all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little more food.”
3. But Judah replied: “The man strictly warned us, ‘You shall not see me unless your brother is with you.’
4. If you are willing to let our brother go with us, we will go down to buy food for you.
5. But if you are not willing, we will not go down, because the man told us, ‘You shall not see me unless your brother is with you.’”
6. Israel demanded, “Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man that you had another brother?”
7. They answered: “The man kept asking about us and our family: ‘Is your father still living? Do you have another brother?’ We answered him accordingly. How could we know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down here’?”
8. Then Judah urged his father Israel: “Let the boy go with me, that we may be off and on our way if you and we and our children are to keep from starving to death.
9. I myself will serve as a guarantee for him. You can hold me responsible for him. If I fail to bring him back and set him before you, I will bear the blame before you forever.
10. Had we not delayed, we could have been there and back twice by now!”