Genesis 42:5

5 So Israel’s sons were among those who went to buy grain, for there was famine in the land of Canaan also.

Genesis 42:5 in Other Translations

KJV
5 And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came: for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
ESV
5 Thus the sons of Israel came to buy among the others who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
NLT
5 So Jacob’s sons arrived in Egypt along with others to buy food, for the famine was in Canaan as well.
MSG
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.
CSB
5 The sons of Israel were among those who came to buy grain, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.

Genesis 42:5 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 42:5

And the sons of Israel came to buy [corn] among those that
came
Either among the Egyptians that came to buy, or among those who came from different countries, or rather particularly among the Canaanites, as the Targum of Jonathan; with these they might join upon the road, and go together in a body where the market for corn was: for the famine was in the land of Canaan:
which obliged the inhabitants of it as well as Jacob's family to seek for corn elsewhere, and confirms the sense of the preceding clause: this, though a very fruitful land, yet when God withheld a blessing from it, it became barren, as it had been before, ( Genesis 12:10 ) ( 26:1 ) , and was to try the faith of those good men to whom God had given it, and to wean their hearts from being set upon it, and to put them upon seeking a better country, as they did.

Genesis 42:5 In-Context

3 Then ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.
4 But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with the others, because he was afraid that harm might come to him.
5 So Israel’s sons were among those who went to buy grain, for there was famine in the land of Canaan also.
6 Now Joseph was the governor of the land, the person who sold grain to all its people. So when Joseph’s brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.
7 As soon as Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them. “Where do you come from?” he asked. “From the land of Canaan,” they replied, “to buy food.”

Cross References 3

  • 1. S Genesis 41:57
  • 2. ver 13,29; Genesis 31:18; Genesis 45:17
  • 3. S Genesis 12:10; S Deuteronomy 32:24; Acts 7:11
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