Genesis 42:2

2 I've heard that there is food in Egypt. Go down there and buy some so that we can survive and not starve to death."

Genesis 42:2 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 42:2

And he said, behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt,
&c.] This explains what is meant by the phrase he saw, one sense being put for another: get ye down thither;
as fast as you can without delay; Egypt lay lower than Canaan, and therefore they are bid to go down, as when they went from thence to Canaan they are said to go up, ( Genesis 45:25 ) ; and buy for us from thence, that we may live, and not die;
which shows the famine was very pressing, since, unless they could buy corn from Egypt they could not live, but must die.

Genesis 42:2 In-Context

1 When Jacob learned that there was food in Egypt, he said to his sons, "Why do you sit around here and look at one another?

2 I've heard that there is food in Egypt. Go down there and buy some so that we can survive and not starve to death."

3 Ten of Joseph's brothers went down to Egypt to get food.

4 Jacob didn't send Joseph's brother Benjamin with them; he was afraid that something bad might happen to him.

5 So Israel's sons joined everyone else that was going to Egypt to buy food, for Canaan, too, was hit hard by the famine.