Genesis 42:3

3 So ten of Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt.

Genesis 42:3 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 42:3

And Joseph's ten brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt.
] They obeyed their father's orders, and immediately set out for Egypt; "ten" of them went down in a body together, all but Benjamin, so that it is easily reckoned who they were, and they are called not Jacob's sons, as they were; but Joseph's brethren, whom they had sold into Egypt, and to whom now they were going, though they knew it not, to buy corn of him in their necessity, and to whom they would be obliged to yield obeisance, as they did.

Genesis 42:3 In-Context

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

2 And he said, "Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down and buy grain for us there, that we may live, and not die."

3 So ten of Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt.

4 But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with his brothers, for he feared that harm might befall him.

5 Thus the sons of Israel came to buy among the others who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.