Genesis 44:16

Judah said. Judah, the leader of this second mission to Egypt (ch. 43:8), stepped forward as spokesman. He made no attempt to justify himself and his brothers or to clear himself and them from suspicion, but acknowledged freely their guilt. He referred, without doubt, to the crime committed against their brother Joseph, a crime that had been haunting their consciences ever since its perpetration (ch. 42:21, 22). To the Egyptian bystanders, particularly the steward, the words of Judah meant the acknowledgment of their guilt, and this no doubt astonished the Egyptians, since they knew the men were really innocent. Joseph must have felt the anguish of their souls, realizing that they felt the punishment soon to be meted out was deserved. In reply to Judah’s offer that all should remain as slaves in Egypt, where they had once sold their brother into slavery, Joseph declared that his sentence would be mild and just. The guilty one alone should be his slave; the others might go back to their father unharmed and unmolested.