Genesis 44:33
in Genesis 44Now please let your servant stay here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy. Let him return with his brothers.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Now therefore, let thy servant, I pray thee, abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brethren.
KJV
Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brethren.
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This verse in Genesis 44
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
let your servant stay here as my lord's slave in place of the boy
on Genesis 44:33-34
Judah asks to stay as a slave in Benjamin's place so the boy can go back to his father. The same man had asked what profit there was in killing a brother and had proposed the sale at 37:26. He now offers himself for the other son of Rachel. Matthew Henry reads the offer as a figure of Christ standing in the room of the guilty, and Christ came from Judah's tribe.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Judah's faithful adherence to Benjamin, now in his distress, was recompensed long after by the constant adherence of the tribe of Benjamin to the tribe of Judah, when all the other ten tribes deserted it. How fitly does the apostle, when he is discoursing of the mediation of Christ, observe, that our Lord sprang out of Judah ( Heb. vii.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
And for which he would search thoroughly - So it may be rendered. God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants - Referring to the injury they had formerly done to Joseph, for which they thought God was now reckoning with them. Even in those afflictions wherein we apprehend ourselves wronged by men, yet we must own that God is righteous, and finds out our iniquity.
Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Joseph's behavior must not be viewed from any single point, or in separate parts, but as a whole--a well-thought, deep-laid, closely connected plan; and though some features of it do certainly exhibit an appearance of harshness, yet the pervading principle of his conduct was real, genuine, brotherly kindness.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְעַתָּ֗ה | veatah | and therefore | H6258 → | 433 times |
| יֵֽשֶׁב־ | yeshev- | let him remain | H3427 → | 1079 times |
| נָ֤א | na' | please | H4994 → | 404 times |
| עַבְדְּךָ֙ | ʾavdekha | servant your | H5650 → | 799 times |
| תַּ֣חַת | tachat | in place of | H8478 → | 505 times |
| הַנַּ֔עַר | hanaar | the young man | H5288 → | 239 times |
| עֶ֖בֶד | ʾeved | a slave | H5650 → | 799 times |
| לַֽאדֹנִ֑י | ladoni | of lord my | H113 → | 333 times |
| וְהַנַּ֖עַר | vehanaar | and the lad | H5288 → | 239 times |
| יַ֥עַל | yaal | let him go up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| עִם־ | ʾim- | with | H5973 → | 1050 times |
| אֶחָֽיו׃ | ʾechav | brothers his | H251 → | 630 times |
וְעַתָּ֗הand therefore
veatahH6258 →433 times
יֵֽשֶׁב־let him remain
yeshev-H3427 →1079 times
נָ֤אplease
na'H4994 →404 times
עַבְדְּךָ֙servant your
ʾavdekhaH5650 →799 times
תַּ֣חַתin place of
tachatH8478 →505 times
הַנַּ֔עַרthe young man
hanaarH5288 →239 times
עֶ֖בֶדa slave
ʾevedH5650 →799 times
לַֽאדֹנִ֑יof lord my
ladoniH113 →333 times
וְהַנַּ֖עַרand the lad
vehanaarH5288 →239 times
יַ֥עַלlet him go up
yaalH5927 →890 times
עִם־with
ʾim-H5973 →1050 times
אֶחָֽיו׃brothers his
ʾechavH251 →630 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 John 3:16By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
it leads to
- 1 John 4:9–11
This is how God’s love was revealed among us: God sent His one and only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.
- Ephesians 5:2
and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.
- John 13:34
A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another.
- John 3:16
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
- Romans 5:8
But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
- 1 John 4:9–11
Through
Exodus 32:32Yet now, if You would only forgive their sin.... But if not, please blot me out of the book that You have written.”
it leads to
- Psalms 69:28
May they be blotted out of the Book of Life and not listed with the righteous.
- Romans 9:3
For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my own flesh and blood,
- Philippians 4:3
Yes, and I ask you, my true yokefellow, to help these women who have labored with me for the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in…
- Psalms 69:28
About Genesis
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on Genesis; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.