16. "What can we say to you?" Judah replied. "What can we say? How can we prove we haven't done anything wrong? God has shown you that we are guilty. We are now your slaves. All of us are, including the one who was found to have the cup."
17. But Joseph said, "I would never do anything like that! Only the man who was found to have the cup will become my slave. The rest of you may go back to your father in peace."
18. Then Judah went up to him. He said, "Please, sir. Let me speak a word to you. Don't be angry with me, even though you are equal to Pharaoh himself.
19. You asked us, 'Do you have a father or a brother?'
20. We answered, 'We have an old father. A young son was born to him when he was old. His brother is dead. He's the only one of his mother's sons left. And his father loves him.'
21. "Then you said to us, 'Bring him down to me. I want to see him for myself.'
22. "We said to you, 'The boy can't leave his father. If he does, his father will die.'
23. "But you told us, 'Your youngest brother must come down here with you. If he doesn't, you won't see my face again.'
24. So we went back to my father. We told him what you had said.
25. "Then our father said, 'Go back. Buy a little more food.'
26. "But we said, 'We can't go down. We'll only go if our youngest brother goes there with us. We can't even see the man's face unless our youngest brother goes with us.'
27. "Your servant my father said to us, 'You know that my wife had two sons by me.
28. One of them went away from me. And I said, "He must have been torn to pieces." I haven't seen him since.
29. What if you take this one from me too and he is harmed? Then you would cause me to die as a sad old man. I would go down into the grave full of pain and suffering.'
30. "So now, what will happen if the boy isn't with us when I go back to my father? His life is closely tied up with the boy's life.
31. When he sees that the boy isn't with us, he'll die as a sad old man. Because of us, he'll go down into the grave full of sorrow.