Judah is the spokesman for the brothers because he is the one who must account for Benjamin’s absence if they return to Jacob without him. See 43.9.

What shall we say to my lord?: Judah realizes there is nothing that can be said to the ruler that would prove the innocence of the brothers. Therefore the question is rhetorical and may also be expressed as a negative statement; for example, “There is nothing we can say, my lord, nothing we can speak to you.” Most modern versions retain the question form, but if the futility of answering or arguing can be better expressed with a negative statement, that form should be used. Note Good News Translation‘s adjustment of my lord to “to you, sir?”

How can we clear ourselves?: again the question is rhetorical. Clear translates the Hebrew tsadeq, which means to “justify” or “put ourselves in the right.” Here the sense is to justify the wrong that has been done, or better, to clear of suspicion of wrongdoing. We may translate by using the question form or by saying, for example, “We can do nothing to prove that we are innocent” or “… that we are not guilty.”

God has found out the guilt of your servants: are we to understand by Judah’s confession that he refers only to the stolen cup? Probably not. Judah’s words reveal that the brothers’ crime of long ago against Joseph has finally been uncovered by God. The day of reckoning has finally come, and ironically, it is through the use of Joseph’s beloved and innocent brother that the confession of guilt has finally emerged. In some translations this clause is linked to the earlier part of the verse as the reason why the brothers could not say or do anything: “We can’t do anything because God has found out our wrong” or “… because God has paid us back for what we did.”

The test Joseph has put his brothers through is to see if they will let Benjamin be sacrificed in order to save their own skins. If they do that, they have not changed at all—they are still the cruel crowd that let Joseph be sold into slavery and suffer for years in an Egyptian prison.

Behold, we are my lord’s slaves: Judah’s surrender of the brothers to share the enslavement with Benjamin tells Joseph the answer he has been seeking.

Both we and he also in whose hand the cup has been found: in some languages we requires an exclusive pronoun form that refers to the speaker and others, but excludes the listener, Joseph. In whose hand means “the one who had the cup.” In translation we may say “in whose sack the cup was found.” In contrast to the steward’s statement in verse 10, that only the one in whose sack the cup is found will become a slave, Judah surrenders all the brothers along with Benjamin. Some translations emphasize this by saying “It is not only the one who has your cup who will be your slave. No. All of us together.”

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 .