1. Now the famine was severe in the land.
2. When they had eaten up the grain which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little food.”
3. Judah spoke to him, saying, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.’
4. If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy food for you.
5. But if you will not send him, we will not go down. For the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ ”
6. Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly as to tell the man that you had another brother?”
7. And they said, “The man asked us directly about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ So we answered his questions. How could we even know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?”
8. And Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, so that we may live and not die, both we and you, and also our little ones.