Bible Strands
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records Jacob’s sons traveling to Egypt to purchase grain while drought expands into Canaan. This account follows Jacob’s decision to keep Benjamin behind out of fear for his safety.
The words — The phrase בְּ/ת֣וֹךְ הַ/בָּאִ֑ים (be./Tokh ha./ba.'Im) literally means "in the midst of those coming." It places the brothers within a larger, unnamed group of travelers seeking food.
The thread — The narrative recalls the famine that forced Abram into Egypt in Genesis 12:10 and mirrors the universal grain distribution detailed in Genesis 41:57. The same regional crisis is later cataloged in Acts 7:11.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to track how historical scarcity and ordinary travel become the mechanism for a larger purpose. It demands attention to how providential design operates through unremarkable human movement and economic necessity.
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 the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came: for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
Cross-references
- Genesis 12:10 Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.
- Genesis 41:57 And every nation came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the earth.
- Acts 7:11 Then famine and great suffering swept across Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers could not find food.
- Genesis 26:1 Now there was another famine in the land, subsequent to the one that had occurred in Abraham’s time. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar.
- Acts 11:28 One of them named Agabus stood up and predicted through the Spirit that a great famine would sweep across the whole world. (This happened under Claudius.)