For 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.
Parallel translations
- WEB For how will I go up to my father, if the boy isn’t with me? — lest I see the evil that will come on my father.”
- BSB For how can I go back to my father without the boy? I could not bear to see the misery that would overwhelm him.”
- NKJV For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me, lest perhaps I see the evil that would come upon my father?”
- NASB For how shall I go up to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear that I may see the evil that would overtake my father.”
- NLT For how can I return to my father if the boy is not with me? I couldn’t bear to see the anguish this would cause my father!”
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 cannot bear to face his father without Benjamin and witness the grief it would cause. Love for his father completes his selfless appeal.
Overview
Judah ends by saying he could not endure returning to see the ruin his father's grief would bring. His concern is wholly for Jacob and Benjamin, not himself. This selfless love so moves Joseph that he can no longer maintain his disguise, and reconciliation breaks forth.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Esth 8:6For how can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people? or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?
- 1 Sam 2:33–34And the man of thine, whom I shall not cut off from mine altar, shall be to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thine heart: and all the increase of thine house shall die in the flower of their age.
- Ps 116:3The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.
- Exod 18:8And Moses told his father in law all that the LORD had done unto Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, and all the travail that had come upon them by the way, and how the LORD delivered them.
- Ps 119:143Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me: yet thy commandments are my delights.
- 2 Chr 34:28Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same. So they brought the king word again.
- Job 31:29If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him:
- Jer 52:10–11And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 44:34 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.