³But Judah said to him, “The man gave us a strong warning. He said, ‘You won’t see my face again unless your brother comes with you.’ ⁴So send our brother along with us. Then we’ll go down and buy food for you.

⁵“If you won’t send him, we won’t go down. The man said to us, ‘You won’t see my face again unless your brother comes with you.’ ”

⁶Israel asked, “Why did you bring this trouble to me? Why did you tell the man you had another brother?”

⁷They replied, “The man questioned us closely about ourselves and our family. ‘Is your father still living?’ he asked us. ‘Do you have another brother?’

“We just answered his questions. How could we possibly know he would say, ‘Bring your brother down here’?”

⁸Judah spoke to Israel his father. “Send the boy along with me,” he said. “We’ll go at once. Then we and you and our children will live and not die.

⁹“I myself promise to keep him safe. You can hold me accountable for him. I’ll bring him back to you. I’ll set him right here in front of you. If I don’t, you can put the blame on me for the rest of my life.

¹⁰“As it is, we’ve already waited too long. We could have gone to Egypt and back twice by now.”

¹¹Then their father Israel spoke to them. He said, “If that’s the way it has to be, then do what I tell you. Put some of the best things from our land in your bags. Take them down to the man as a gift. Take some lotion and a little honey. Take some spices and myrrh. Take some pistachio nuts and almonds. ¹²Take twice the amount of money with you. You have to give back the money that was put in your sacks. Maybe it was a mistake.

¹³“Also take your brother. Go back to the man at once. ¹⁴May the Mighty God cause him to show you mercy. May the man let your other brother and Benjamin come back with you. And if I lose my sons, I lose them.”

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