In spite of Reuben’s promise and his willingness to gamble the lives of his own children, Jacob is not willing to agree to Benjamin going away from him.

My son shall not go down with you [plural]: in some languages a strong negative is required at the beginning of this speech: “No! My son can’t go with you” or “No! I won’t let him go with you.” For go down see verse 2. The plural pronoun you shows that Jacob is addressing not just Reuben but all the brothers who returned from Egypt.

His brother is dead: that is, “Benjamin’s older brother Joseph is dead.”

And he only: that is, “only Benjamin is left.” Benjamin is not the only son left to Jacob; he is the only son left to the union of Jacob and Rachel. A translation that brings this out says “he is the last boy of his mother.”

If harm should befall him on the journey … make: that is, “If something were to happen to him….” Another way of expressing this is “Something might happen to him on the road, and then I would….”

You [plural] would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol: gray hairs translates the Hebrew noun meaning “a head that is old and gray.” In this way Jacob refers to himself as an old man. Bring down … to Sheol means “cause me to die [and go to my grave].” One translation of this is simply “I would die from it!”

We may translate this expression, for example, “If something should happen, … you [plural] would cause me to die an old man full of sorrow,” “I am an old gray head; if…, you [plural] would make me die of sorrow,” or “He might have an accident on the road. I am an old man, and if … you [plural] would give me great grief and I would go to….” See also Good News Translation.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .