# Connecting Statement:

The three-level quote that began in verse 27 ends here.

# Now if you also take this one from me, and harm comes to him, you will bring down my gray hair with sorrow to Sheol

The three-level quote that began with the words "Your servant ... said to us, 'You know ... two sons" in verse 27 and continued with the words "and I said, 'Surely ... since" in verse 28 ends here. You may need to change one or more of these levels to indirect quotes. "This is what your servant my father said to us: 'You know that my wife bore me two sons. One of them went out from me and I said that surely he had been torn in pieces, and I have not seen him since. Now if you also take this one from me, and harm comes to him, you will bring down my gray hair with sorrow to Sheol.'" or "Your servant my father told us that we knew that his wife had borne him two sons. One of them went out from him, and he said that surely that son had been torn in pieces, and he has not seen him since. He then said that if we also took this one from him, and harm came to him, we would bring down his gray hair with sorrow to Sheol." (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-quotesinquotes]] and [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-quotations]])

# harm comes to him

Something bad happening to a person is spoken of as if "harm" were something that travels and comes to a person. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-metaphor]])

# you will bring down my gray hair with sorrow to Sheol

To "bring down ... to Sheol" is way of saying they will cause him to die and go to Sheol. He uses the word "down" because it was commonly believed Sheol is somewhere underground. Alternate translation: "then you will cause me, an old man, to die of sorrow" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-idiom]])

# my gray hair

This stands for Jacob and emphasizes his old age. Alternate translation: "me, an old man" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-synecdoche]])

