Genesis 44:34
in Genesis 44For how can I go back to my father without the boy? I could not bear to see the misery that would overwhelm him.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For how shall I go up to my father, if the lad be not with me? lest I see the evil that shall come on my father.
KJV
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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This verse in Genesis 44
Commentary
6 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.
This site's exposition
I could not bear to see the misery that would overwhelm him
Judah had watched his father refuse all comfort for Joseph at 37:35. He cannot face that grief a second time. Joseph breaks down at the next words, in 45:1.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
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.
For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me?....
Thus the love that descended first must again ascend, and something must be done towards a recompense for their care. Judah, in honour to the justice of Joseph's sentence, and to show his sincerity in this plea, offers himself to become a bondsman instead of Benjamin,
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
15 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אֵיךְ֙ | ʾeikh | how? | H349 → | 82 times |
| אֶֽעֱלֶ֣ה | ʾeeleh | will I go up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אָבִ֔י | ʾavi | father my | H1 → | 1212 times |
| וְהַנַּ֖עַר | vehanaar | and the lad | H5288 → | 239 times |
| אֵינֶ֣נּוּ | ʾeinenu | not [is] he | H369 → | 789 times |
| אִתִּ֑י | ʾiti | with me | H854 → | 929 times |
| פֶּ֚ן | pen | lest | H6435 → | 133 times |
| אֶרְאֶ֣ה | ʾereh | I should look | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| בָרָ֔ע | vara' | on the calamity | H7451 → | 662 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֥ר | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| יִמְצָ֖א | yimtza' | it will find | H4672 → | 455 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| אָבִֽי׃ | ʾavi | father my | H1 → | 1212 times |
כִּי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
אֵיךְ֙how?
ʾeikhH349 →82 times
אֶֽעֱלֶ֣הwill I go up
ʾeelehH5927 →890 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
אָבִ֔יfather my
ʾaviH1 →1212 times
וְהַנַּ֖עַרand the lad
vehanaarH5288 →239 times
אֵינֶ֣נּוּnot [is] he
ʾeinenuH369 →789 times
אִתִּ֑יwith me
ʾitiH854 →929 times
פֶּ֚ןlest
penH6435 →133 times
אֶרְאֶ֣הI should look
ʾerehH7200 →1300 times
בָרָ֔עon the calamity
vara'H7451 →662 times
אֲשֶׁ֥רwhich
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
יִמְצָ֖אit will find
yimtza'H4672 →455 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
אָבִֽי׃father my
ʾaviH1 →1212 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
Psalms 116:3The ropes of death entangled me; the anguish of Sheol overcame me; I was confronted by trouble and sorrow.
it leads to
- Psalms 38:6
I am bent and brought low; all day long I go about mourning.
- Psalms 18:4–6
The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of chaos overwhelmed me.
- Psalms 88:6–7
You have laid me in the lowest Pit, in the darkest of the depths.
- Psalms 32:3–4
When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long.
- Luke 22:44
And in His anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground.
- Psalms 38:6
Through
Psalms 119:143Trouble and distress have found me, but Your commandments are my delight.
it leads to
- Job 23:12
I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my daily bread.
- Psalms 119:107
I am severely afflicted, O LORD; revive me through Your word.
- Job 23:12
Through
Esther 8:6For how could I bear to see the disaster that would befall my people? How could I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?”
it leads to
- Esther 7:4
For my people and I have been sold out to destruction, death, and annihilation. If we had merely been sold as menservants and maidservants, I would have remained silent, because no such distress would…
- Esther 7:4
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.