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 ¹  so that we may live ²  and not die.” ³ 

Genesis 42:5-6

42:5 So Israel’s sons came to buy grain among the other travelers, ⁴  for the famine was severe in the land of Canaan.

42:6 Now Joseph was the ruler of the country, the one who sold grain to all the people of the country. ⁵  Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down ⁶  before him with ⁷  their faces to the ground.

Genesis 43:1

The Second Journey to Egypt

43:1 Now the famine was severe in the land. ⁸ 

Genesis 45:11

45:11 I will provide you with food ⁹  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

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 ¹⁰  because of the famine.

[42:2]  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.

[42:2]  ² tn Following the imperatives, the prefixed verbal form with prefixed vav expresses purpose of result.

[42:2]  ³ tn The imperfect tense continues the nuance of the verb before it.

[42:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “in the midst of the coming ones.”

[42:6]  ⁵ 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.

[42:6]  ⁶ 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).

[42:6]  ⁷ tn The word “faces” is an adverbial accusative, so the preposition has been supplied in the translation.

[43:1]  ⁸ tn The disjunctive clause gives supplemental information that is important to the storyline.

[45:11]  ⁹ 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.”

[47:13]  ¹⁰ 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.