Genesis 42:3

3 Therefore ten brethren of Joseph went down to buy wheat in Egypt, (And so ten of Joseph's brothers went down to buy corn, or 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 Forsooth Jacob heard that foods were sold in Egypt, and he said to his sons, Why be ye negligent?

2 I [have] heard that wheat is sold in Egypt; go ye down, and buy ye necessaries to us, that we may live, and be not wasted by neediness. (I have heard that corn, or grain, is being sold in Egypt; go ye down there, and buy ye the necessities for us, so that we can live, and not be destroyed by this famine.)

3 Therefore ten brethren of Joseph went down to buy wheat in Egypt, (And so ten of Joseph's brothers went down to buy corn, or grain, in Egypt,)

4 and Benjamin was withholden of Jacob at home, that said to his brethren, Lest peradventure in the way he suffer any evil. (but Benjamin was kept at home by Jacob, who said to his sons, Lest he suffer any evil on the way.)

5 Soothly they entered into the land of Egypt, with other men that went thither to buy corn; forsooth hunger was in the land of Canaan. (And they entered into the land of Egypt, with others who went there to buy corn, or grain; for the famine was now in the land of Canaan.)