Bible Strands
Genesis 41:57
And every nation came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the earth.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the global famine's progression as foreign nations travel to Joseph in Egypt to purchase grain.
The words — בָּאוּ (Ba'u) means "they came," and לִ/שְׁבֹּר (li/sh.Bor) translates literally to "to buy grain."
The thread — This movement fulfills the famine's onset in Genesis 41:54 and directly triggers Jacob's command to his sons in Genesis 42:1.
Why it lands — It requires the reader to acknowledge Joseph's administrative authority over survival and the inevitable convergence of his family with the mechanism of their preservation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands.
Cross-references
- Genesis 41:54 the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. And although there was famine in every country, there was food throughout the land of Egypt.
- Genesis 41:56 When the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened up all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians; for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt.
- Genesis 42:1 When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why are you staring at one another?”
- Genesis 42:5 So the sons of Israel were among those who came to buy grain, since the famine had also spread to the land of Canaan.
- Genesis 50:20 As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good, in order to accomplish a day like this—to preserve the lives of many people.
- Deuteronomy 9:28 Otherwise, those in the land from which You brought us out will say, ‘Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land He had promised them, and because He hated them, He has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.’
- Psalms 105:16 He called down famine on the land and cut off all their supplies of food.