Genesis 43

¹And the famine was grievous in the land.

²And it came to pass, when they had finished eating the grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, Go again, buy us a little food.

³And Judah spoke to him, saying, The man did positively testify to us, saying, Ye shall not see my face, unless your brother be with you.

⁴If thou wilt send our brother with us, we will go down and buy thee food;

⁵but if thou do not send [him], we will not go down, for the man said to us, Ye shall not see my face, unless your brother be with you.

⁶And Israel said, Why did ye deal [so] ill with me [as] to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother?

⁷And they said, The man asked very closely after us, and after our kindred, saying, Is your father yet alive? have ye a brother? And we told him according to the tenor of these words. Could we at all know that he would say, Bring your brother down?

⁸And Judah said to Israel his father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live, and not die, both we and thou and our little ones.

⁹I will be surety for him: of my hand shalt thou require him; if I bring him not to thee, and set him before thy face, then shall I be guilty toward thee for ever.

¹⁰For had we not lingered, we should now certainly have returned already twice.

¹¹And their father Israel said to them, If it is then so, do this: take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a gift: a little balsam and a little honey, tragacanth and ladanum, pistacia-nuts and almonds.