1Now the famine was severe in the land.
2When they had finished eating the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy a little more food for us.”
3But Judah said to him, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.’
4If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy food for you.
5But if you do 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.’
6Israel said, “Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man that you had another brother?”
7They replied, “The man kept asking us about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ We simply answered his questions. How could we have known he would say, ‘Bring your brother down here’?”
8Then Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy with me, and we will get up and go, so that we and you and our children may live and not die.