“What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?”
The full verse · Genesis 37:26 · KJV
And unto his , What is it if we our , and his ?
Asked by
Asked to
Judah’s ten brothers who were present at the pit where Joseph had been thrown, specifically those who had already conspired to kill him.
Why It Was Asked
The purpose behind the questionJudah redirects his brothers from murder to profit by framing the question economically rather than morally. By asking what they gain from killing Joseph, he introduces a pragmatic calculation that makes selling him appear rational without directly condemning their hatred.
The Response
What Scripture recordsThe brothers agreed with Judah’s proposal and lifted Joseph out of the pit. They sold him to the Ishmaelite traders for twenty shekels of silver, who then took him to Egypt (Genesis 37:27-28).
The Bigger Picture
Where this fits in God's storyJudah’s question marks the moment when outright murder transforms into calculated exploitation. Rather than appealing to conscience or brotherhood, he frames the issue in purely economic terms: what profit, or betsa in Hebrew, meaning material gain or advantage. The question form is strategic. Judah doesn’t command his brothers to stop, but leads them to conclude that selling Joseph makes better sense than killing him. By using a question rather than a statement, he avoids direct confrontation with their rage while introducing an alternative they can embrace as their own idea. The theological weight is sobering: even when evil is restrained, the restraint may come not from righteousness but from shrewder sin. Judah’s question saves Joseph’s life while deepening the brothers’ guilt, for they profit from the very brother whose dreams they despised.
When you rationalize sin by calculating its advantages, you’ve already chosen your path. Judah’s question exposes how easily we dress up evil in practical terms, asking what we gain instead of what is right. Before you justify a compromise by weighing its benefits, remember that Joseph’s brothers got their profit but carried guilt for decades until they faced their sin in Egypt (Genesis 42:21). God calls us to obedience, not cost-benefit analysis: “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36). Choose righteousness over advantage, knowing that God’s way always proves most profitable in the end.
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