Genesis 41:54-57

41:54 Then the seven years of famine began, ¹  just as Joseph had predicted. There was famine in all the other lands, but throughout the land of Egypt there was food. 41:55 When all the land of Egypt experienced the famine, the people cried out to Pharaoh for food. Pharaoh said to all the people of Egypt, ²  “Go to Joseph and do whatever he tells you.”

41:56 While the famine was over all the earth, ³  Joseph opened the storehouses ⁴  and sold grain to the Egyptians. The famine was severe throughout the land of Egypt. 41:57 People from every country ⁵  came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain because the famine was severe throughout the earth.

Genesis 43:1

The Second Journey to Egypt

43:1 Now the famine was severe in the land. ⁶ 

Genesis 45:5-6

45:5 Now, do not be upset and do not be angry with yourselves because you sold me here, ⁷  for God sent me ⁸  ahead of you to preserve life! 45:6 For these past two years there has been famine in ⁹  the land and for five more years there will be neither plowing nor harvesting.

Genesis 45:11

45:11 I will provide you with food ¹⁰  there because there will be five more years of famine. Otherwise you would become poor – you, your household, and everyone who belongs to you.”’

Genesis 47:13-15

47:13 But there was no food in all the land because the famine was very severe; the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan wasted away ¹¹  because of the famine. 47:14 Joseph collected all the money that could be found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan as payment ¹²  for the grain they were buying. Then Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s palace. ¹³  47:15 When the money from the lands of Egypt and Canaan was used up, all the Egyptians ¹⁴  came to Joseph and said, “Give us food! Why should we die ¹⁵  before your very eyes because our money has run out?”

Psalms 105:16

105:16 He called down a famine upon the earth;

he cut off all the food supply. ¹⁶ 

¹ tn Heb “began to arrive.”

² tn Heb “to all Egypt.” The name of the country is used by metonymy for the inhabitants.

³ tn Or “over the entire land”; Heb “over all the face of the earth.” The disjunctive clause is circumstantial-temporal to the next clause.

⁴ tc The MT reads “he opened all that was in [or “among”] them.” The translation follows the reading of the LXX and Syriac versions.

⁵ tn Heb “all the earth,” which refers here (by metonymy) to the people of the earth. Note that the following verb is plural in form, indicating that the inhabitants of the earth are in view.

⁶ tn The disjunctive clause gives supplemental information that is important to the storyline.

⁷ tn Heb “let there not be anger in your eyes.”

⁸ sn You sold me here, for God sent me. The tension remains as to how the brothers’ wickedness and God’s intentions work together. Clearly God is able to transform the actions of wickedness to bring about some gracious end. But this is saying more than that; it is saying that from the beginning it was God who sent Joseph here. Although harmonization of these ideas remains humanly impossible, the divine intention is what should be the focus. Only that will enable reconciliation.

⁹ tn Heb “the famine [has been] in the midst of.”

¹⁰ tn The verb כּוּל (kul) in the Pilpel stem means “to nourish, to support, to sustain.” As in 1 Kgs 20:27, it here means “to supply with food.”

¹¹ tn The verb לַהַה (lahah, = לָאָה, la’ah) means “to faint, to languish”; it figuratively describes the land as wasting away, drooping, being worn out.

¹² tn Or “in exchange.” On the use of the preposition here see BDB 90 s.v. בְּ.

¹³ tn Heb “house.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “all Egypt.” The expression is a metonymy and refers to all the people of Egypt.

¹⁵ tn The imperfect verbal form has a deliberative force here.

¹⁶ tn Heb “and every staff of food he broke.” The psalmist refers to the famine that occurred in Joseph’s time (see v. 17 and Gen 41:53-57).