For how will I go up to my father, if the boy isn’t with me?—lest I see the evil that will come on my father.”
Parallel Translations
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For how will I go up to my father, if the boy isn’t with me?—lest I see the evil that will come on my father.”
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For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me? lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father.
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For how shall I go up to my father, if the lad be not with me? lest I look upon the evil that shall come on my father.'
Cross-references (8)
Passages linked to Genesis 44:34 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Esther 8:6 For how can I endure to see the evil that would come to my people? How can I endure to see the destruction of my relatives?”
- Exodus 18:8 Moses told his father-in-law all that Yahweh had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardships that had come on them on the way, and how Yahweh delivered them.
- 1 Samuel 2:33-34 The man of yours whom I don’t cut off from my altar will consume your eyes and grieve your heart. All the increase of your house will die in the flower of their age. This will be the sign to you that will come on your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they will both die.
- 2 Chronicles 34:28 “Behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes won’t see all the evil that I will bring on this place and on its inhabitants.” ’ ” They brought back word to the king.
- Job 31:29 “If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him
- Psalms 116:3 The cords of death surrounded me, the pains of Sheol got a hold of me. I found trouble and sorrow.
- Psalms 119:143 Trouble and anguish have taken hold of me. Your commandments are my delight.
- Jeremiah 52:10-11 The king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. He also killed all the princes of Judah in Riblah. He put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison until the day of his death.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (4 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Meaning, he had rather remain their prisoner, than to…
Meaning, he had rather remain their prisoner, than to return and see his father in heaviness.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 44:34 For how shall I go up to…
Gen 44:34 For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad [be] not with me? lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father.
Ver. 34. For how shall I go up, &c.] Here love ascends, as fit it should. Judah, a man wise and well spoken, prefers his father’s life before his own liberty. He could not live to see the death of his aged father. A certain citizen of Toledo being condemned to die, his son ceased not with prayers and tears to entreat that he might be put to death instead of his father. This he obtained after much suit, and most gladly died for him. {a} At Gaunt in Flanders, when a father and his son were condemned to die together, the earl, desirous to make trial whether of the two were more loving, granted that he should live that would cut off the other’s head. And after much ado between them, the father, by many arguments, persuaded his son to be his executioner. {b}
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{a} B. Fulgos, lib. v.
{b} Philip. Camerar., cent. i. cap. 92.
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.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For how shall I go up to my father,…
For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me?.... Signifying that he must abide in Egypt, and chose to do it, and could not go up to the land of Canaan any more or see his father's face without Benjamin along with him, to whom he was a surety for him:
lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father; see him die, or live a life of sorrow worse than death: this he could not bear, and chose rather to be a slave in Egypt, than to be the spectator of such an affecting scene. By this speech of Judah, Joseph plainly saw the great affection which his brethren, especially Judah, had for his father and his brother Benjamin, as well as the sense they had of their evil in selling him, which lay uppermost on their minds, and for which they thought themselves brought into all this trouble; wherefore he could no longer conceal himself from them, but makes himself known unto them, which is the principal subject of the following chapter.
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Next: Genesis Chapter 45
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain My father; who will drop down dead, oppressed with…
CHAPTER XLIV.
My father; who will drop down dead, oppressed with grief. How eloquent and pathetic was this address! Joseph could bear no more.
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).