3 Judah said to him, "The man was absolutely serious when he said, ‘You may not see me again without your brother with you.’
4 If you agree to send our brother with us, then we will go down and buy you food.
5 But if you don’t agree to send him, then we can’t go down because the man said to us, ‘You may not see me again without your brother with you.’"
6 Israel said, "Why have you caused me such pain by telling the man you had another brother?"
7 They said, "The man asked us pointedly about our family: ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have a brother?’ So we told him just what we’ve said. How were we to know he’d say, ‘Bring your brother down here’?"
8 Judah said to his father Israel, "Send the young man with me. Let’s get ready to leave so that we can stay alive and not die—we, you, and our children.
9 I will guarantee his safety; you can hold me responsible. If I don’t bring him back to you and place him here in front of you, it will be my fault forever.