42:1 When Jacob heard 1 there was grain in Egypt, he 2 said to his sons, “Why are you looking at each other?” 3 42:2 He then said, “Look, I hear that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy grain for us 4 so that we may live 5 and not die.” 6
41:56 While the famine was over all the earth, 8 Joseph opened the storehouses 9 and sold grain to the Egyptians. The famine was severe throughout the land of Egypt.
43:1 Now the famine was severe in the land. 10 43:2 When they finished eating the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Return, buy us a little more food.”
1 tn Heb “saw.”
2 tn Heb “Jacob.” Here the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
3 sn Why are you looking at each other? The point of Jacob’s question is that his sons should be going to get grain rather than sitting around doing nothing. Jacob, as the patriarch, still makes the decisions for the whole clan.
4 tn Heb “and buy for us from there.” The word “grain,” the direct object of “buy,” has been supplied for clarity, and the words “from there” have been omitted in the translation for stylistic reasons.
5 tn Following the imperatives, the prefixed verbal form with prefixed vav expresses purpose of result.
6 tn The imperfect tense continues the nuance of the verb before it.
7 tn Heb “and they went from there.”
8 tn Or “over the entire land”; Heb “over all the face of the earth.” The disjunctive clause is circumstantial-temporal to the next clause.
9 tc The MT reads “he opened all that was in [or “among”] them.” The translation follows the reading of the LXX and Syriac versions.
10 tn The disjunctive clause gives supplemental information that is important to the storyline.
11 tn Heb “according to this.”