Bible Strands
Genesis 44:31
sees that the boy is not with us, he will die. Then your servants will have brought the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Judah addresses Joseph, warning that Benjamin’s absence will kill their father. This statement occurs during Judah’s plea to secure the younger brother’s release from Egypt.
The words — The verb וְ/הוֹרִ֨ידוּ (ve./ho.Ri.du) translates literally as “and they will bring down,” describing the servants’ action of carrying Jacob’s mourning into the grave. The text states this physical descent before interpreting it as a symbol of irreversible paternal grief.
The thread — The phrase echoes Genesis 44:29 and Genesis 37:35, where Jacob’s descent into Sheol through sorrow is repeatedly recorded. These passages establish a consistent narrative pattern of paternal loss and the physical weight of mourning.
Why it lands — The text requires acknowledgment that human guarantees carry irreversible consequences when tied to another’s survival. It asks the reader to confront the concrete reality of failing to protect the vulnerable without offering comfort or resolution.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
It 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.
Cross-references
- Genesis 44:29 Now if you also take this one from me and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.’
- Genesis 37:35 All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him.
- Genesis 37:26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?
- 1 Samuel 4:17 The messenger answered, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are both dead, and the ark of God has been captured.”
- 1 Samuel 22:22 Then David said to Abiathar, “I knew that Doeg the Edomite was there that day, and that he was sure to tell Saul. I myself am responsible for the lives of everyone in your father’s house.
- 2 Corinthians 7:10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:13 Brothers, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who are without hope.