5 But if you are not willing, we will not go down, because the man told us, ‘You shall not see me unless your brother is with you.’”
6 Israel demanded, “Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man that you had another brother?”
7 They answered: “The man kept asking about us and our family: ‘Is your father still living? Do you have another brother?’ We answered him accordingly. How could we know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down here’?”
8 Then Judah urged his father Israel: “Let the boy go with me, that we may be off and on our way if you and we and our children are to keep from starving to death.
9 I myself will serve as a guarantee for him. You can hold me responsible for him. If I fail to bring him back and set him before you, I will bear the blame before you forever.
10 Had we not delayed, we could have been there and back twice by now!”
11 Israel their father then told them: “If it must be so, then do this: Put some of the land’s best products in your baggage and take them down to the man as gifts: some balm and honey, gum and resin, and pistachios and almonds.