Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G Message"For your servant personally guaranteed the boy's safe return to my father, saying, 'If I fail to bring him back to you, I will carry this guilt before you for the rest of my life.'"
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.G"For your servant stood surety for the lad before my father, saying, 'If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the guilt before my father all my days.'"
KJV
King James VersionFor thy servant became surety for the lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father for ever.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleIndeed, your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father, saying, ‘If I do not return him to you, I will bear the guilt before you, my father, all my life.’
Footnotes
עָרַב (arab) — "to be surety, to pledge oneself as guarantor." This is a formal legal term in the ancient Near East: Yehudah has made himself personally liable for Binyamin's safe return. This is not sentimental language but the language of a binding legal contract. It is the legal ground on which his offer of substitution in the next verse stands — he is not appealing to mercy alone but to the obligations of a sworn surety.
