Now therefore when I come to thy servant my father, and the lad be not with us; seeing that his life is bound up in the lad’s life;
Parallel translations
- WEB Now therefore when I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us; since his life is bound up in the boy’s life;
- BSB So if the boy is not with us when I return to your servant, and if my father, whose life is wrapped up in the boy’s life,
- NKJV “Now therefore, when I come to your servant my father, and the lad is not with us, since his life is bound up in the lad’s life,
- NASB So now, when I come to your servant, my father, and the boy is not with us—since our father’s life is so attached to the boy’s life—
- NLT “And now, my lord, I cannot go back to my father without the boy. Our father’s life is bound up in the boy’s life.
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 explains that Jacob's very life is bound up in the boy's life. Father and son are so joined that one cannot survive the other's loss.
Overview
Judah describes the inseparable bond between Jacob and Benjamin, whose lives are knit together. Returning without the boy would therefore be unthinkable. This intimate portrait of a father's love prepares Joseph's heart and ours for the self-sacrifice Judah is about to offer.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- 1 Sam 18:1And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.
- 2 Sam 18:33And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!
- Gen 44:34For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me? lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father.
- 1 Sam 25:29Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling.
- Gen 44:31It shall come to pass, when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die: and thy servants shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the grave.
- Gen 44:17And he said, God forbid that I should do so: but the man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my servant; and as for you, get you up in peace unto your father.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 44:30 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.