Judah said to Israel, his father, “Send the boy with me, and we’ll get up and go, so that we may live, and not die, both we, and you, and also our little ones.
Parallel Translations
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Judah said to Israel, his father, “Send the boy with me, and we’ll get up and go, so that we may live, and not die, both we, and you, and also our little ones.
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And Judah said unto Israel his father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go; that we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, and also our little ones.
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And Judah said unto Israel his father: 'Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, and also our little ones.
Cross-references (13)
Passages linked to Genesis 43:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 42:2 He said, “Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there, and buy for us from there, so that we may live, and not die.”
- Deuteronomy 33:6 “Let Reuben live, and not die; Nor let his men be few.”
- Genesis 42:38 He said, “My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he only is left. If harm happens to him along the way in which you go, then you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.”
- Genesis 44:26 We said, ‘We can’t go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down: for we may not see the man’s face, unless our youngest brother is with us.’
- Genesis 45:19 Now you are commanded to do this: Take wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come.
- Genesis 50:8 All the house of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s house. Only their little ones, their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen.
- Genesis 50:21 Now therefore don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones.” He comforted them, and spoke kindly to them.
- Exodus 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.
- Numbers 14:31 But I will bring your little ones that you said should be captured or killed in, and they shall know the land which you have rejected.
- 2 Kings 7:4 If we say, ‘We will enter into the city,’ then the famine is in the city, and we will die there. If we sit still here, we also die. Now therefore come, and let’s surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they save us alive, we will live; and if they kill us, we will only die.”
- 2 Kings 7:13 One of his servants answered, “Please let some people take five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city. Behold, they are like all the multitude of Israel who are left in it. Behold, they are like all the multitude of Israel who are consumed. Let’s send and see.”
- Ezra 8:21 Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a straight way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our possessions.
- Psalms 118:17 I will not die, but live, and declare Yah’s works.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 43:8 And Judah said unto Israel his father,…
Gen 43:8 And Judah said unto Israel his father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go; that we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, [and] also our little ones.
Ver. 8. Send the lad.] A large lad, that was thirty years old, and had ten children. But he is so called, because the youngest son of them, and the father’s darling.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Judah, for his age and prudence, and penitent carriage…
Judah, for his age and prudence, and penitent carriage for his youthful follies, was most beloved and regarded by his father.
The lad; so he calls him, because he was the youngest of all, though he was now thirty years old, and a father of divers children. See Gen 30:22; 35:18; 41:46; 46:21.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain I will be surety for him,.... Engage for his…
I will be surety for him,.... Engage for his safe return:
of my hand shall thou require him; I will be answerable for him:
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if I bring him not to thee, and set him before thee: do not return him from Egypt, and bring him to Canaan, into his father's house and presence safe, and sound:
then let me bear the blame for ever; of persuading his father to let him go with him; all this he said, to show what care he would take of him, and what confidence he had that no evil would befall him, that he would be returned with them in safety; which he might ground upon the assurance that Joseph had given, that they should not die if they brought their brother with them, Gen 42:20; and perhaps Judah, as Schmidt thinks, might be under a special instinct of divine Providence, which directed him to say these things: and it may be added, that Jacob also might be under a divine impulse, which influenced him to regard what Judah said, or otherwise his suretyship was but a poor security, and of little avail.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 8. Send the lad with me] As the…
Verse 8. Send the lad with me] As the original is not ילד yeled, from which we have derived our word lad, but נער naar, it would have been better had our translators rendered it by some other term, such as the youth, or the young man, and thus the distinction in the Hebrew would have been better kept up. Benjamin was at this time at least twenty-four years of age, some think thirty, and had a family of his own. See Ge 46:21.
That we may live, and not die] An argument drawn from self-preservation, what some have termed the first law of nature. By your keeping Benjamin we are prevented from going to Egypt; if we go not to Egypt we shall get no corn; if we get no corn we shall all perish by famine; and Benjamin himself, who otherwise might live, must, with thee and the whole family, infallibly die.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Gen 43:8. Judah said unto his father — He,…
Gen 43:8. Judah said unto his father — He, on account of his age, prudence, and penitent carriage for his youthful follies, was much beloved and regarded by his father, and, on this occasion, was likely to have the greatest influence in persuading him. Send the lad with me — So he terms him, because he was the youngest of all, though he was now thirty years old, and a father of divers children.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain The boy; now 24 years old, (Calmet) and the…
The boy; now 24 years old, (Calmet) and the father of a family, chap. xlvi. 21. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 8. Judah said — The eloquent plea of Judah…
8. Judah said — The eloquent plea of Judah seems to have had more weight with Jacob than the expressed wishes of all his other sons.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (8) The lad.—Benjamin was now between twenty and thirty…
(8) The lad.—Benjamin was now between twenty and thirty years of age. The term “lad” in Judah’s mouth is one of affection, but even in itself it suits very well to a youth of this age. Rebekah (in Gen_24:16) is called in the Hebrew a lad (see Note there), and so is Shechem in Gen_34:19. The assertion, therefore, that Benjamin is here represented as a mere boy, is disproved by the use of the word in the Hebrew.
Our little ones.—Heb., our “tafs” that is, our households. (See Note on Gen_34:29.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 8-10. And Judah said unto Israel his father,…
Vers. 8-10. And Judah said unto Israel his father, Send the lad with me (Benjamin, though styled a lad, must have been at this time upwards of twenty years of age), and we will arise and go; that we may (literally, and we shall) live, and not die, both we, and thou, and also our little ones. I will be surety for him (the verb conveys the idea of changing places with another); of my hand shalt thou require him: (vide Gen_9:5) if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, the words are even more emphatic than those of Reuben (Gen_42:37) then let me bear the blame for ever literally, and I shall be a sinner (i.e. liable to punishment as a sinner) against the& all the gays; (sc. of my life). The thought is elliptical. Judah means that if he does not return with Benjamin he shall both have failed in his promise and be guilty of a dire transgression against his father (cf. 1Ki_1:21) For except we had lingered, surely now we had returned this second time literally, these two times. The nobility of character which shines out so conspicuously in Judah"s language is afterwards signally illustrated in his pathetic pleading before Joseph, and goes far to countenance the suggestion that a change must have taken place in his inner life since the incidents recorded of him in Ge 37, and Ge 38.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 We will rise and go that we may live…
We will rise and go that we may live and not die, both we, you, and also our children
The phrases "we may live" and "not die" mean the same thing. Judah is emphasizing that they have to buy food in Egypt in order to survive. AT: "We will go now to Egypt and get grain so our whole family will live" (See: Parallelism)
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We will rise
Here "We" refers to the brothers who will travel to Egypt. (See: Exclusive and Inclusive "We")
we may live
Here "we" refers to the brothers, Israel, and the whole family. (See: Inclusive "We")
both we
Here "we" refers to the brothers. (See: Exclusive and Inclusive "We")
we, you
Here "you" is singular and refers to Israel. (See: Forms of You)
also our children
Here "our" refers to the brothers. This refers to the small children who were most likely to die during a famine. (See: Exclusive and Inclusive "We")
I will be a guarantee for him
The abstract noun "guarantee" can be stated as the verb "promise." AT: "I will promise to bring him back" (See: Abstract Nouns)
You will hold me responsible
How Jacob will hold Judah responsible can be stated clearly. AT: "You will make me answer to you about what happens to Benjamin" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
let me bear the blame
This speaks about "blame" as if it were an object that a person has to carry. AT: "you may blame me" (See: Metaphor)
For if we had not delayed
Judah is describing something that could have happened in the past but did not. Judah is scolding his father for waiting so long to send his sons to Egypt to get more food. (See: Hypothetical Situations)
we would have come back here a second time
"we would have returned twice"
translationWords
Judah
Jacob
eternity
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 43:8-10 Judah broke the deadlock by taking responsibility for…
43:8-10 Judah broke the deadlock by taking responsibility for Benjamin’s well-being, thus succeeding where Reuben failed. His action was fitting, since it had been his idea to sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites (37:26-27) instead of killing him. Now he would secure Benjamin’s safety with his own life (see 44:18-34).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.