Genèse 42:5

5 Et les fils d'Israël vinrent pour acheter du blé, au milieu de ceux qui venaient aussi; car la famine était au pays de Canaan.

Genèse 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.

Genèse 42:5 In-Context

3 Alors dix frères de Joseph descendirent, pour acheter du blé en Égypte.
4 Mais Jacob n'envoya point Benjamin, frère de Joseph, avec ses frères; car il dit: Prenons garde qu'il ne lui arrive malheur!
5 Et les fils d'Israël vinrent pour acheter du blé, au milieu de ceux qui venaient aussi; car la famine était au pays de Canaan.
6 Or, c'était Joseph qui commandait dans le pays, c'était lui qui vendait le blé à tout le peuple du pays. Les frères de Joseph vinrent donc et se prosternèrent devant lui, la face contre terre.
7 Et Joseph vit ses frères, et les reconnut; mais il fit l'étranger avec eux, et leur parla rudement, et leur dit: D'où venez-vous? Et ils répondirent: Du pays de Canaan, pour acheter des vivres.
The Ostervald translation is in the public domain.