Genesis 44:26

Myles Coverdale Bible

But we sayde: We can not go downe, excepte oure yongest brother be with vs, then wyll we go downe: for we darre not loke the man in the face, yf oure yongest brother be not with vs.

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
We said, 'We can't go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then will we go down: for we may not see the man's face, unless our youngest brother is with us.'

King James Version
And we said, We cannot go down: if our youngest brother be with us, then will we go down: for we may not see the man's face, except our youngest brother be with us.

Lexham English Bible
then we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we shall go down. For we will not be able to see the face of the man unless our youngest brother is with us.'

New Century Version
We said to our father, ‘We cannot go without our youngest brother. Without our youngest brother, we will not be allowed to see the governor.'

New English Translation
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.'

Amplified Bible
"But we said, 'We cannot go down [to Egypt]. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down [there]; for we [were sternly told that we] cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.'

New American Standard Bible
"But we said, 'We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down; for we cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.'

Geneva Bible (1587)
Then we answered, We can not go downe: but if our yongest brother go with vs, then will we go downe: for we may not see the mans face, except our yongest brother be with vs.

Legacy Standard Bible
But we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down; for we cannot see the man's face if our youngest brother is not with us.'

Contemporary English Version
But we answered, "We can't go back to Egypt without our youngest brother. We will never be let in to see the governor, unless he is with us."

Complete Jewish Bible
we answered, ‘We can't go down. Only if our youngest brother is with us will we go down, because we can't see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.'

Darby Translation
But we said, We cannot go down: if our youngest brother be with us, then will we go down; for we cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.

Easy-to-Read Version
We said to our father, ‘We cannot go without our youngest brother. The governor said he will not sell us grain again until he sees our youngest brother.'

English Standard Version
we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother goes with us, then we will go down. For we cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.'

George Lamsa Translation
And we said to our father, We cannot go down; if our youngest brother goes down with us, then we will go down; for we cannot see the mans face unless our youngest brother is with us.

Good News Translation
We answered, ‘We cannot go; we will not be admitted to the man's presence unless our youngest brother is with us. We can go only if our youngest brother goes also.'

Christian Standard Bible®
We told him, ‘We cannot go down unless our younger brother goes with us. If our younger brother isn’t with us, we cannot see the man.’

Literal Translation
And we said, We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, we will go down. For we cannot see the face of the man if our youngest brother is not with us.

American Standard Version
And we said, We cannot go down: if our youngest brother be with us, then will we go down; for we may not see the man's face, except our youngest brother be with us.

Bible in Basic English
And we said, Only if our youngest brother goes with us will we go down; for we may not see the man's face again if our youngest brother is not with us.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And we aunswered, we can not go downe: neuerthelesse, if our youngest brother be with vs, then wyll we go downe, for we may not see the mans face, except our youngest brother be with vs.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And we said: We cannot go down; if our youngest brother be with us, then will we go down; for we may not see the man's face, except our youngest brother be with us.

King James Version (1611)
And we saide, Wee cannot goe downe: if our yongest brother be with vs, then will we goe downe: for wee may not see the mans face, except our yongest brother be with vs.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And we said, We shall not be able to go down; but if our younger brother go down with us, we will go down; for we shall not be able to see the man’s face, our younger brother not being with us.

English Revised Version
And we said, We cannot go down: if our youngest brother be with us, then will we go down: for we may not see the man's face, except our youngest brother be with us.

Berean Standard Bible
But we answered, 'We cannot go down there unless our younger brother goes with us. So if our younger brother is not with us, we cannot see the man.'

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
to whom we seiden, We moun not go; if oure leeste brother schal go doun with vs, we schulen go forth togidere; ellis, if he is absent, we doren not se the `face of the lord.

Young's Literal Translation
and we say, We are not able to go down; if our young brother is with us, then we have gone down; for we are not able to see the man's face, and our young brother not with us.

Update Bible Version
And 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, except our youngest brother is with us.

Webster's Bible Translation
And we said, We cannot go down: if our youngest brother shall be with us, then will we go down; for we may not see the man's face, except our youngest brother shall [be] with us.

World English Bible
We said, 'We can't go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then will we go down: for we may not see the man's face, unless our youngest brother is with us.'

New King James Version
But we said, "We cannot 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.'

New Living Translation
we replied, ‘We can't go unless you let our youngest brother go with us. We'll never get to see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.'

New Life Bible
But we said, ‘We cannot go there. If our youngest brother is with us, we will go there. For we cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.'

New Revised Standard
we said, ‘We cannot go down. Only if our youngest brother goes with us, will we go down; for we cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.'

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And we said, We cannot go down, - If our youngest brother be with us, then will we go down, for we cannot see the face of the man if, our youngest brother, is not with us.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And we said to him: We cannot go: if our youngest brother go down with us, we will set out together: otherwise, without him we dare not see the man’s face.

Revised Standard Version
we said, 'We cannot go down. If our youngest brother goes with us, then we will go down; for we cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.'

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"But we said, 'We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down; for we cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.'

Contextual Overview

¹⁸ The stepte Iuda vnto him, and sayde: My lorde, let thy seruaunt speake one worde in thine eares my lorde, be not displesed at yi seruaunt also, for thou art eue as Pharao. ¹⁹ My lorde axed his seruauntes, and sayde: Haue ye yet a father or brother? ²⁰ Then answered we: We haue a father, which is olde, and a yonge lad begotten in his age, and his brother is deed, & he is left alone of his mother, and his father loueth him. ²¹ Then saydest thou: Brynge him downe vnto me, and I wil se him. ²² But we answered my lorde: The lad can not come from his father, yf he shulde come from him, he were but a deed man. ²³ Then saydest thou vnto thy seruauntes: Yf youre yongest brother come not hither with you, ye shall se my face nomore. ²⁴ Then wente we vp vnto thy seruaunt my father, and tolde him my lordes wordes. ²⁵ Then sayde oure father: Go youre waye agayne, and bye vs a litle foode. ²⁶ But we sayde: We can not go downe, excepte oure yongest brother be with vs, then wyll we go downe: for we darre not loke the man in the face, yf oure yongest brother be not with vs. ²⁷ Then sayde thy seruaunt my father vnto vs: Ye knowe that my wife bare me two sonnes,

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Genesis 43:4, Genesis 43:5, Luke 11:7

Reciprocal: Genesis 43:8 - lad with me Genesis 44:12 - and the cup 2 Samuel 3:13 - Thou shalt

Cross-References

Genesis 44:4
But whan they were out of the cite, and not come farre, Ioseph sayde to the ruler of his house: Vp, and folowe after the me, and whan thou ouertakest them, saie vnto them: Wherfore haue ye rewarded euell for good?

Genesis 44:5
Is not that it, that my lorde drynketh out of? and that he prophecieth withall? It is euell done of you, that ye haue done.

Luke 11:7
and he within shulde answere and saye: Disquyete me not, the dore is shutt allready, and my children are with me in the chamber, I can not ryse, and geue the.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And we said, we cannot go down,.... With any safety to their persons, which would be in danger, or with any profit to their families, since their end in going down to buy corn would not be answered:

if our youngest brother be with us, then will we go down; let it be agreed to, that Benjamin go along with us, to Egypt, and then no difficulty will be made of it:

for we may not see the man's face, except our youngest brother [be] with us; the face of the great man, the governor of Egypt; for that this phrase, "the man", is not used diminutively, but as expressive of grandeur, is clear, or otherwise it would never have been made use of in his presence, and in such a submissive and polite speech as this of Judah's.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

- The Ten Brothers Were Tested

Joseph has had the satisfaction of seeing his brother Benjamin safe and well. He has heard his brothers acknowledging their guilt concerning himself. He resolves to put their attachment to Benjamin, and the genuineness of their change of disposition, to a test that will at the same time expose Benjamin to no hazard.

Genesis 44:1-5

And my cup. - Besides returning each man’s money as before, a silver cup of Joseph’s is put in Benjamin’s bag, after which, when daylight comes, they are dismissed. They are scarcely out of the town when Joseph’s steward is ordered to overtake them, and charge them with stealing the cup. “And whereby indeed he divineth.” Divining by cups, we learn from this, was a common custom in Egypt (Herodotus ii. 83). It is here mentioned to enhance the value of the cup. Whether Joseph really practised any sort of divination cannot be determined from this passage.

Genesis 44:6-12

The cup is found in Benjamin’s bag. “Spake unto them these words.” The words of Joseph, supplying of course the mention of the cup which is expressed in the text only by the pronoun this. “We brought back to thee.” Silver that we might have retained, and to which you made no claim when we tendered it, we brought back. How or why should we therefore, steal silver? “Now also according to your words let it be.” He adopts their terms with a mitigation. He with whom the cup is found shall become a slave for life, and the rest be acquitted. The steward searches from the oldest to the youngest. The cup is found where it was put.

Genesis 44:13-17

“They rent their garments;” the natural token of a sorrow that knows no remedy. “And Judah went.” He had pledged himself for the safety of Benjamin to his father. And he was yet there; awaiting no doubt the result which he anticipated. “They fell before him on the earth.” It is no longer a bending of the head or bowing of the body, but the posture of deepest humiliation. How deeply that early dream penetrated into the stern reality! “Wot ye not that such a man as I doth certainly divine?” Joseph keeps up the show of resentment for a little longer, and brings out from Judah the most pathetic plea of its kind that ever was uttered. “The God,” the great and only God, “hath found out the iniquity of thy servants;” in our dark and treacherous dealing with our brother. “Behold, we are servants to my lord.” He resigns himself and all to perpetual bondage, as the doom of a just God upon their still-remembered crime. “He shall be my servant; and ye, go up in peace to your father.” Now is the test applied with the nicest adjustment. Now is the moment of agony and suspense to Joseph. Will my brothers prove true? says he within himself. Will Judah prove adequate to the occasion? say we. His pleading with his father augured well.

Verse 18-34

“And Judah came near unto him.” He is going to surrender himself as a slave for life, that Benjamin may go home with his brothers, who are permitted to depart. “Let thy servant now speak a word in the ears of my lord.” There is nothing here but respectful calmness of demeanor. “And let not thine anger burn against thy servant.” He intuitively feels that the grand vizier is a man of like feelings with himself. He will surmount the distinction of rank, and stand with him on the ground of a common humanity. “For so art thou as Pharaoh.” Thou hast power to grant or withhold my request. This forms, the exordium of the speech. Then follows the plea. This consists in a simple statement of the facts, which Judah expects to have its native effect upon a rightly-constituted heart. We will not touch this statement, except to explain two or three expressions. A young lad - a comparative youth. “Let me set mine eyes upon him” - regard him with favor and kindness. “He shall leave his father and he shall die.” If he were to leave his father, his father would die. Such is the natural interpretation of these words, as the paternal affection is generally stronger than the filial. “And now let thy servant now abide instead of the lad a servant to my lord.” Such is the humble and earnest petition of Judah. He calmly and firmly sacrifices home, family, and birthright, rather than see an aged father die of a broken heart.