And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?
Parallel translations
- WEB Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?
- BSB Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?
- NKJV So Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?
- NASB And Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up his blood?
- NLT Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain by killing our brother? We’d have to cover up the crime.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Judah asks what is gained by killing their brother and hiding his blood. He proposes an alternative to murder.
Overview
Judah questions the profit of killing Joseph and concealing the crime, steering the brothers away from bloodshed. His motive mixes some restraint with self-interest, as the next verse shows. Notably, it is Judah, ancestor of David and ultimately of Christ, who speaks here, though his proposal still wrongs Joseph.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Gen 37:20Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
- Gen 4:10And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.
- 2 Sam 1:16And David said unto him, Thy blood be upon thy head; for thy mouth hath testified against thee, saying, I have slain the LORD’s anointed.
- Deut 17:8If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into the place which the LORD thy God shall choose;
- Gen 25:32And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?
- Jer 41:8But ten men were found among them that said unto Ishmael, Slay us not: for we have treasures in the field, of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey. So he forbare, and slew them not among their brethren.
- Ps 30:9What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?
- Ezek 24:7For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it upon the top of a rock; she poured it not upon the ground, to cover it with dust;
- Matt 16:26For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
- Rom 6:21What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
- Job 16:18O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place.
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 37:26 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.