Genesis 44:29

New Century Version

Now you want to take this son away from me also. But something terrible might happen to him, and I would be miserable until the day I die.'

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
If you take this one also from me, and harm befalls him, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to She'ol.'

King James Version
And if ye take this also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.

Lexham English Bible
And if you take this one also from me, and he encounters harm, you will bring down my gray head in sorrow to Sheol.'

New English Translation
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.'

Amplified Bible
'If you take this one also from me, and harm or an accident happens to him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.'

New American Standard Bible
'If you also take this one from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.'

Geneva Bible (1587)
Nowe yee take this also away from me: if death take him, then yee shall bring my graye head in sorowe to the graue.

Legacy Standard Bible
If you take this one also from me and harm befalls him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in evil.'

Contemporary English Version
and he said, "I am an old man. If you take Benjamin from me, and something happens to him, I will die of a broken heart."

Complete Jewish Bible
Now if you take this one away from me too, and something happens to him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sh'ol with grief.'

Darby Translation
And if ye take this one also from me, and mischief should befall him, ye will bring down my grey hairs with misery to Sheol.

Easy-to-Read Version
If you take my other son away from me, and something happens to him, I will be sad enough to die.'

English Standard Version
If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs in evil to Sheol.'

George Lamsa Translation
And now you want to take this one also from me, and if misfortune should befall him, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.

Good News Translation
If you take this one from me now and something happens to him, the sorrow you would cause me would kill me, as old as I am.'

Christian Standard Bible®
If you also take this one from me and anything happens to him, you will bring my gray hairs down to Sheol in sorrow.’

Literal Translation
And if you take this one also from my face, and harm happen to him, you will bring down my gray hair to the grave in sorrow.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Yf ye take this fro me also, and eny mysfortune happe him, then shal ye brynge my gray heer with sorowe downe vnto the graue.

American Standard Version
and if ye take this one also from me, and harm befall him, ye will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.

Bible in Basic English
If now you take this one from me, and some evil comes to him, you will make my grey head go down in sorrow to the underworld.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And if ye take this also away from me, and destruction come vnto him, ye shall bryng my gray head with sorowe vnto the graue.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
and if ye take this one also from me, and harm befall him, ye will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.

King James Version (1611)
And if ye take this also from me, and mischiefe befall him, ye shall bring downe my gray haires with sorrow to the graue.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
If then ye take this one also from my presence, and an affliction happen to him by the way, then shall ye bring down my old age with sorrow to the grave.

English Revised Version
and if ye take this one also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.

Berean Standard Bible
So if you take this one from me as well and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.'

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
if ye taken also this sone, and ony thing bifallith to hym in the weye, ye schulen lede forth myn hoor heeris with morenyng to hellis.

Young's Literal Translation
when ye have taken also this from my presence, and mischief hath met him, then ye have brought down my grey hairs with evil to sheol.

Update Bible Version
and if you take this one also from me, and harm befalls him, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.

Webster's Bible Translation
And if ye take this also from me, and mischief shall befall him, ye will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.

World English Bible
If you take this one also from me, and harm befalls him, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.'

New King James Version
But if you take this one also from me, and calamity befalls him, you shall bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave.'

New Living Translation
Now if you take his brother away from me, and any harm comes to him, you will send this grieving, white-haired man to his grave.'

New Life Bible
If you take this one also from me, and something happens to him, you will bring my white hair down to the grave in sorrow.'

New Revised Standard
If you take this one also from me, and harm comes to him, you will bring down my gray hairs in sorrow to Sheol.'

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And I have never seen him since. As surely as ye take, this one also, away from before my face and there befall him any mischief, so surely shall ye bring down my grey hairs, with misfortune to hades.

Douay-Rheims Bible
If you take this also, and any thing befall him in the way, you will bring down my grey hairs with sorrow unto hell.

Revised Standard Version
If you take this one also from me, and harm befalls him, you will bring down my gray hairs in sorrow to Sheol.'

New American Standard Bible (1995)
'If you take this one also from me, and harm befalls him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.'

Contextual Overview

¹⁸ Then Judah went to Joseph and said, "Master, please let me speak plainly to you, and please don't be angry with me. I know that you are as powerful as the king of Egypt himself. ¹⁹ When we were here before, you asked us, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?' ²⁰ And we answered you, ‘We have an old father. And we have a younger brother, who was born when our father was old. This youngest son's brother is dead, so he is the only one of his mother's children left alive, and our father loves him very much.' ²¹ Then you said to us, ‘Bring that brother to me. I want to see him.' ²² And we said to you, ‘That young boy cannot leave his father, because if he leaves him, his father would die.' ²³ But you said to us, ‘If you don't bring your youngest brother, you will not be allowed to see me again.' ²⁴ So we went back to our father and told him what you had said. ²⁵ "Later, our father said, ‘Go again and buy us a little more food.' ²⁶ 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.' ²⁷ Then my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife Rachel gave me two sons.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

And if: Genesis 42:36, Genesis 42:38, Genesis 43:14, Psalms 88:3, Psalms 88:4

sorrow: Genesis 44:31, Genesis 42:38, Deuteronomy 31:17, Psalms 88:4

Reciprocal: Genesis 37:35 - For I Ecclesiastes 12:5 - the almond

Cross-References

Genesis 42:36
Their father Jacob said to them, "You are robbing me of all my children. Joseph is gone, Simeon is gone, and now you want to take Benjamin away, too. Everything is against me."

Genesis 43:14
I pray that God Almighty will cause the governor to be merciful to you and that he will allow Simeon and Benjamin to come back with you. If I am robbed of my children, then I am robbed of them!"

Genesis 44:3
At dawn the brothers were sent away with their donkeys.

Genesis 44:4
They were not far from the city when Joseph said to the servant in charge of his house, "Go after the men. When you catch up with them, say, ‘Why have you paid back evil for good?

Genesis 44:31
when our father sees the young boy is not with us, he will die. And it will be our fault. We will cause the great sorrow that kills our father.

Deuteronomy 31:17
Then I will become very angry at them, and I will leave them. I will turn away from them, and they will be destroyed. Many terrible things will happen to them. Then they will say, ‘It is because God is not with us that these terrible things are happening.'

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And if ye take this also from me,.... His son Benjamin, as he perhaps suspected they had taken Joseph, and made away with him:

and mischief befall him; either in Egypt, or on the road, going or returning, any ill accident, especially death, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, or what may issue in it:

ye shall bring my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave; it would be the means of his death, and while he lived he should be full of sorrow and grief; see Genesis 42:38.

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.