Genesis 42:3

42:3 So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.

Genesis 42:10

42:10 But they exclaimed, ¹  “No, my lord! Your servants have come to buy grain for food!

Genesis 43:20

43:20 They said, “My lord, we did indeed come down ²  the first time ³  to buy food.

Genesis 44:25

44:25 “Then our father said, ‘Go back and buy us a little food.’

Genesis 41:57

41:57 People from every country ⁴  came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain because the famine was severe throughout the earth.

Genesis 42:5

42:5 So Israel’s sons came to buy grain among the other travelers, ⁵  for the famine was severe in the land of Canaan.

Genesis 43:4

43:4 If you send ⁶  our brother with us, we’ll go down and buy food for you.

Genesis 43:22

43:22 We have brought additional money with us to buy food. We do not know who put the money in our sacks!”

Genesis 41:56

41:56 While the famine was over all the earth, ⁷  Joseph opened the storehouses ⁸  and sold grain to the Egyptians. The famine was severe throughout the land of Egypt.

Genesis 42:2

42:2 He then said, “Look, I hear that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy grain for us ⁹  so that we may live ¹⁰  and not die.” ¹¹ 

Genesis 42:6

42:6 Now Joseph was the ruler of the country, the one who sold grain to all the people of the country. ¹²  Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down ¹³  before him with ¹⁴  their faces to the ground.

Genesis 43:2

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.”

Genesis 42:7

42:7 When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger ¹⁵  to them and spoke to them harshly. He asked, “Where do you come from?” They answered, ¹⁶  “From the land of Canaan, to buy grain for food.” ¹⁷ 

Genesis 47:14

47:14 Joseph collected all the money that could be found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan as payment ¹⁸  for the grain they were buying. Then Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s palace. ¹⁹ 

¹ tn Heb “and they said to him.” In context this is best understood as an exclamation.

¹ tn The infinitive absolute is used for emphasis before the finite verbal form.

² tn Heb “in the beginning” (see the note on the phrase “last time” in v. 18).

¹ 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.

¹ tn Heb “in the midst of the coming ones.”

¹ tn Heb “if there is you sending,” that is, “if you send.”

¹ tn Or “over the entire land”; Heb “over all the face of the earth.” The disjunctive clause is circumstantial-temporal to the next clause.

² tc The MT reads “he opened all that was in [or “among”] them.” The translation follows the reading of the LXX and Syriac versions.

¹ 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.

² tn Following the imperatives, the prefixed verbal form with prefixed vav expresses purpose of result.

³ tn The imperfect tense continues the nuance of the verb before it.

¹ tn The disjunctive clause either introduces a new episode in the unfolding drama or provides the reader with supplemental information necessary to understanding the story.

² sn Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down before him. Here is the beginning of the fulfillment of Joseph’s dreams (see Gen 37). But it is not the complete fulfillment, since all his brothers and his parents must come. The point of the dream, of course, was not simply to get the family to bow to Joseph, but that Joseph would be placed in a position of rule and authority to save the family and the world (41:57).

³ tn The word “faces” is an adverbial accusative, so the preposition has been supplied in the translation.

¹ sn But pretended to be a stranger. Joseph intends to test his brothers to see if they have changed and have the integrity to be patriarchs of the tribes of Israel. He will do this by putting them in the same situations that they and he were in before. The first test will be to awaken their conscience.

² tn Heb “said.”

³ tn The verb is denominative, meaning “to buy grain”; the word “food” could simply be the direct object, but may also be an adverbial accusative.

¹ tn Or “in exchange.” On the use of the preposition here see BDB 90 s.v. בְּ.

² tn Heb “house.”