John Calvin Commentary Genesis 44:16

"And Judah said, What shall we say unto my lord? what shall we speak? or how shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants: behold, we are my lord`s bondmen, both we, and he also in whose hand the cup is found." — Genesis 44:16 (ASV)

Behold, we are my lord’s servants. They had before called themselves servants out of modesty; now they consign themselves to him as slaves. But in Benjamin’s case, they plead for a mitigation of the punishment’s severity; and this is a kind of entreaty, that he might not be capitally punished, as they had agreed to at first.