1  And the famine was sore in the land.

1  But the famine prevailed in the land.

1  Meanwhile, the famine pressed heavily on all the land.

2  And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the corn which they had brought out of Egypt, that their father said unto them: 'Go again, buy us a little food.'

2  And having consumed the provisions that they had brought out of Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, “Return and buy us a little food.”

2  And when they had finished eating the wheat which they had brought from Egypt, their father Jacob said to them, Go down to Egypt, and buy us a little grain.

3  And Judah spoke unto him, saying: 'The man did earnestly forewarn us, saying: Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you.

3  Judah answered: “The man himself declared to us, under the attestation of an oath, saying: ‘You will not see my face, unless you bring your youngest brother with you.’

4  If thou wilt send our brother with us, we will go down and buy thee food;

4  If therefore you are willing to send him with us, we will travel together, and we will buy necessities for you.

4  If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy grain for ourselves;

5  but if thou wilt not send him, we will not go down, for the man said unto us: Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you.'

5  but if thou send not our brother with us, we will not go: for the man spoke to us, saying, Ye shall not see my face, unless your younger brother be with you.

5  But if you are not willing, we will not go. For the man, as we have often said, declared to us, saying: ‘You will not see my face without your youngest brother.’ ”

6  And Israel said: 'Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me, as to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother?'

6  Israel said to them, “You have done this for my misery, in that you revealed to him that you also had another brother.”

6  Then their father Israel said to them, Why did you cause me this displeasure, as to tell the man whether you had another brother?

7  And they said: 'The man asked straitly concerning ourselves, and concerning our kindred, saying: Is your father yet alive? have ye another brother? and we told him according to the tenor of these words; could we in any wise know that he would say: Bring your brother down?'

7  But they responded: “The man questioned us in order, concerning our family: whether our father lived, if we had a brother. And we answered him respectively, according to what he demanded. How could we know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother with you?’ ”

8  And Judah said unto Israel his father: 'Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, and also our little ones.

8  Likewise, Judah said to his father: “Send the boy with me, so that we may set out and be able to live, lest we and our little ones should die.

9  I will be surety for him; of my hand shalt thou require him; if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever.

9  I accept the boy; require him at my hand. Unless I lead him back and restore him to you, I will be guilty of a sin against you for all time.

10  For except we had lingered, surely we had now returned a second time.'

10  For if we had not tarried, we should now have returned twice.

10  If a delay had not intervened, by now we would have returned here a second time.”