19:2 He said, “Here, my lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house. Stay the night 1 and wash your feet. Then you can be on your way early in the morning.” 2 “No,” they replied, “we’ll spend the night in the town square.” 3
44:16 Judah replied, “What can we say 4 to my lord? What can we speak? How can we clear ourselves? 5 God has exposed the sin of your servants! 6 We are now my lord’s slaves, we and the one in whose possession the cup was found.”
1 tn The imperatives have the force of invitation.
2 tn These two verbs form a verbal hendiadys: “you can rise up early and go” means “you can go early.”
3 sn The town square refers to the wide street area at the gate complex of the city.
4 tn The imperfect verbal form here indicates the subject’s potential.
5 tn The Hitpael form of the verb צָדֵק (tsadeq) here means “to prove ourselves just, to declare ourselves righteous, to prove our innocence.”
6 sn God has exposed the sin of your servants. The first three questions are rhetorical; Judah is stating that there is nothing they can say to clear themselves. He therefore must conclude that they have been found guilty.