Genesis 44:20
18 Then Judah approached Joseph and said, “Sir, please let your servant speak personally to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, for you are equal to Pharaoh himself.
19 My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’
And we answered, ‘We have an elderly father and a younger brother, the child of his old age. The boy’s brother is dead. He is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.’
21 Then you told your servants, ‘Bring him down to me so that I can see him for myself.’
22 So we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father. If he were to leave, his father would die.’
Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- And we answered, ‘We have an elderly father and a younger brother, the child of his old age. The boy’s brother is dead. He is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.’
- KJV
- And we said unto my lord, We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loveth him.
- WEB
- We said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother; and his father loves him.’
- ASV
- And we said unto my lord, We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother; and his father loveth him.
- DARBY
- And we said to my lord, We have an aged father, and a child born to him in his old age, [yet] young; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother; and his father loves him.
- BLB
- And we said to my lord, ‘We have to us a father, an old man, and a son of [his] old age, [who is] young. And his brother died, and he alone is left to his mother, and his father loves him.’
- ÅB
- Da sa vi til min herre: Vi har en gammel far, og han har en ung sønn, som er født i hans alderdom; hans bror er død, og han er alene igjen etter sin mor, og hans far har ham så kjær.
- OTB
- Vi svarte, ‘Vi har en gammel far og en ung sønn født til ham i hans alderdom. Hans bror er død, og han er den eneste igjen av sin mors barn, og hans far elsker ham.’
- B1930
- Da sa vi til min herre: Vi har en gammel far, og han har en ung sønn, som er født i hans alderdom; hans bror er død, og han er alene igjen efter sin mor, og hans far har ham så kjær.
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Genesis 37:3
Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons, because Joseph had been born to him in his old age; so he made him a robe of many colors.
Read in contextGenesis 42:38
But Jacob replied, “My son will not go down there with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If any harm comes to him on your journey, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.”
Read in contextGenesis 44:27–30
And your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons.
Read in contextLuke 7:12
As He approached the town gate, He saw a dead man being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her.
Read in contextGenesis 46:21
The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard.
Read in contextGenesis 49:8
Judah, your brothers shall praise you. Your hand shall be on the necks of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down to you.
Read in contextGenesis 42:36
Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my sons. Joseph is gone and Simeon is no more. Now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is going against me!”
Read in contextGenesis 37:33–35
His father recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! A vicious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!”
Read in context