22. We said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father. If he leaves his father, his father will die.’
23. But you said to your servants, ‘If your youngest brother does not come down with you, you will not see my face again.’
24. When we returned to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord.
25. “Then our father said, ‘Go back and buy us a little food.’
26. But we replied, ‘We cannot go down there. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go, for we won’t be permitted to see the man’s face if our youngest brother is not with us.’
27. “Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife gave me two sons.
28. The first disappeared and I said, “He has surely been torn to pieces.” I have not seen him since.
29. If you take this one from me too and an accident happens to him, then you will bring down my gray hair in tragedy to the grave.’
30. “So now, when I return to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us – his very life is bound up in his son’s life.
31. When he sees the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hair of your servant our father in sorrow to the grave.
32. Indeed, your servant pledged security for the boy with my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I will bear the blame before my father all my life.’
33. “So now, please let your servant remain as my lord’s slave instead of the boy. As for the boy, let him go back with his brothers.
34. For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I couldn’t bear to see my father’s pain.”