Genesis 44:25

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
Our father said, 'Go again, buy us a little food.'

King James Version
And our father said, Go again, and buy us a little food.

Lexham English Bible
And when our father said, ‘Buy a little food for us,'

New Century Version
"Later, our father said, ‘Go again and buy us a little more food.'

New English Translation
"Then our father said, ‘Go back and buy us a little food.'

Amplified Bible
"Our father said, 'Go back [to Egypt], and buy us a little food.'

New American Standard Bible
"And our father said, 'Go back, buy us a little food.'

Geneva Bible (1587)
And our father sayde vnto vs, Goe againe, bye vs a litle foode,

Legacy Standard Bible
And our father said, ‘Go back, buy us a little food.'

Contemporary English Version
Later our father told us to come back here and buy more grain.

Complete Jewish Bible
but when our father said, ‘Go again, and buy us some food,'

Darby Translation
And our father said, Go again, buy us a little food.

Easy-to-Read Version
"Later, our father said, ‘Go back and buy us some more food.'

English Standard Version
And when our father said, ‘Go again, buy us a little food,'

George Lamsa Translation
And your servant our father said to us, Go back again and buy us a little grain.

Good News Translation
Then he told us to return and buy a little food.

Christian Standard Bible®
But our father said, ‘Go again, and buy us a little food.’

Literal Translation
And our father said, Go back, buy a little food for us.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Then sayde oure father: Go youre waye agayne, and bye vs a litle foode.

American Standard Version
And our father said, Go again, buy us a little food.

Bible in Basic English
And our father said, Go again and get us a little food.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And our father sayde vnto vs: go agayne, and bye vs a litle foode.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And our father said: Go again, buy us a little food.

King James Version (1611)
And our father said, Goe againe, and buy vs a little food.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And our father said, Go again, and buy us a little food.

English Revised Version
And our father said, Go again, buy us a little food.

Berean Standard Bible
Then our father said, 'Go back and buy us some food.'

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Turne ye ayen, and bie ye to you a litil of wheete;

Young's Literal Translation
and our father saith, Turn back, buy for us a little food,

Update Bible Version
And our father said, Go again, buy us a little food.

Webster's Bible Translation
And our father said, Go again; buy us a little food.

World English Bible
Our father said, 'Go again, buy us a little food.'

New King James Version
And our father said, "Go back and buy us a little food.'

New Living Translation
Later, when he said, ‘Go back again and buy us more food,'

New Life Bible
Our father said, ‘Go again and buy us a little food.'

New Revised Standard
And when our father said, ‘Go again, buy us a little food,'

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then said our father, - Go again buy us a little food,

Douay-Rheims Bible
And our father said: Go again, and buy us a little wheat.

Revised Standard Version
And when our father said, 'Go again, buy us a little food,'

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Our father said, 'Go back, buy us a little food.'

Contextual Overview

¹⁸Judah came forward. He said, "Please, master; can I say just one thing to you? Don't get angry. Don't think I'm presumptuous—you're the same as Pharaoh as far as I'm concerned. You, master, asked us, ‘Do you have a father and a brother?' And we answered honestly, ‘We have a father who is old and a younger brother who was born to him in his old age. His brother is dead and he is the only son left from that mother. And his father loves him more than anything.' ²¹"Then you told us, ‘Bring him down here so I can see him.' We told you, master, that it was impossible: ‘The boy can't leave his father; if he leaves, his father will die.' ²³ "And then you said, ‘If your youngest brother doesn't come with you, you won't be allowed to see me.' ²⁴"When we returned to our father, we told him everything you said to us. So when our father said, ‘Go back and buy some more food,' we told him flatly, ‘We can't. The only way we can go back is if our youngest brother is with us. We aren't allowed to even see the man if our youngest brother doesn't come with us.' ²⁷"Your servant, my father, told us, ‘You know very well that my wife gave me two sons. One turned up missing. I concluded that he'd been ripped to pieces. I've never seen him since. If you now go and take this one and something bad happens to him, you'll put my old gray, grieving head in the grave for sure.' ³⁰"And now, can't you see that if I show up before your servant, my father, without the boy, this son with whom his life is so bound up, the moment he realizes the boy is gone, he'll die on the spot. He'll die of grief and we, your servants who are standing here before you, will have killed him. And that's not all. I got my father to release the boy to show him to you by promising, ‘If I don't bring him back, I'll stand condemned before you, Father, all my life.' ³³"So let me stay here as your slave, not this boy. Let the boy go back with his brothers. How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? Oh, don't make me go back and watch my father die in grief!"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Genesis 43:2, Genesis 43:5

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And our father said,.... After some time, when the corn was almost consumed they had bought in Egypt:

go again, [and] buy us a little food; that may suffice fill the famine is over; see Genesis 43:1.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

- The Ten Brothers Were Tested

Joseph has had the satisfaction of seeing his brother Benjamin safe and well. He has heard his brothers acknowledging their guilt concerning himself. He resolves to put their attachment to Benjamin, and the genuineness of their change of disposition, to a test that will at the same time expose Benjamin to no hazard.

Genesis 44:1-5

And my cup. - Besides returning each man’s money as before, a silver cup of Joseph’s is put in Benjamin’s bag, after which, when daylight comes, they are dismissed. They are scarcely out of the town when Joseph’s steward is ordered to overtake them, and charge them with stealing the cup. “And whereby indeed he divineth.” Divining by cups, we learn from this, was a common custom in Egypt (Herodotus ii. 83). It is here mentioned to enhance the value of the cup. Whether Joseph really practised any sort of divination cannot be determined from this passage.

Genesis 44:6-12

The cup is found in Benjamin’s bag. “Spake unto them these words.” The words of Joseph, supplying of course the mention of the cup which is expressed in the text only by the pronoun this. “We brought back to thee.” Silver that we might have retained, and to which you made no claim when we tendered it, we brought back. How or why should we therefore, steal silver? “Now also according to your words let it be.” He adopts their terms with a mitigation. He with whom the cup is found shall become a slave for life, and the rest be acquitted. The steward searches from the oldest to the youngest. The cup is found where it was put.

Genesis 44:13-17

“They rent their garments;” the natural token of a sorrow that knows no remedy. “And Judah went.” He had pledged himself for the safety of Benjamin to his father. And he was yet there; awaiting no doubt the result which he anticipated. “They fell before him on the earth.” It is no longer a bending of the head or bowing of the body, but the posture of deepest humiliation. How deeply that early dream penetrated into the stern reality! “Wot ye not that such a man as I doth certainly divine?” Joseph keeps up the show of resentment for a little longer, and brings out from Judah the most pathetic plea of its kind that ever was uttered. “The God,” the great and only God, “hath found out the iniquity of thy servants;” in our dark and treacherous dealing with our brother. “Behold, we are servants to my lord.” He resigns himself and all to perpetual bondage, as the doom of a just God upon their still-remembered crime. “He shall be my servant; and ye, go up in peace to your father.” Now is the test applied with the nicest adjustment. Now is the moment of agony and suspense to Joseph. Will my brothers prove true? says he within himself. Will Judah prove adequate to the occasion? say we. His pleading with his father augured well.

Verse 18-34

“And Judah came near unto him.” He is going to surrender himself as a slave for life, that Benjamin may go home with his brothers, who are permitted to depart. “Let thy servant now speak a word in the ears of my lord.” There is nothing here but respectful calmness of demeanor. “And let not thine anger burn against thy servant.” He intuitively feels that the grand vizier is a man of like feelings with himself. He will surmount the distinction of rank, and stand with him on the ground of a common humanity. “For so art thou as Pharaoh.” Thou hast power to grant or withhold my request. This forms, the exordium of the speech. Then follows the plea. This consists in a simple statement of the facts, which Judah expects to have its native effect upon a rightly-constituted heart. We will not touch this statement, except to explain two or three expressions. A young lad - a comparative youth. “Let me set mine eyes upon him” - regard him with favor and kindness. “He shall leave his father and he shall die.” If he were to leave his father, his father would die. Such is the natural interpretation of these words, as the paternal affection is generally stronger than the filial. “And now let thy servant now abide instead of the lad a servant to my lord.” Such is the humble and earnest petition of Judah. He calmly and firmly sacrifices home, family, and birthright, rather than see an aged father die of a broken heart.