44:16 Judah replied, “What can we say 1 to my lord? What can we speak? How can we clear ourselves? 2 God has exposed the sin of your servants! 3 We are now my lord’s slaves, we and the one in whose possession the cup was found.”
44:33 “So now, please let your servant remain as my lord’s slave instead of the boy. As for the boy, let him go back with his brothers.
1 tn The imperfect verbal form here indicates the subject’s potential.
2 tn The Hitpael form of the verb צָדֵק (tsadeq) here means “to prove ourselves just, to declare ourselves righteous, to prove our innocence.”
3 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.
4 tn Heb “and a small boy of old age,” meaning that he was born when his father was elderly.
5 tn Heb “his”; the referent (the boy just mentioned) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Heb “he, only he, to his mother is left.”