Bible Strands
Genesis 47:13
There was no food, however, in all that region, because the famine was so severe; the lands of Egypt and Canaan had been exhausted by the famine.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrative describes the famine’s devastation across Egypt and Canaan while Joseph administers grain distribution and prepares to consolidate regional wealth.
The words — אֵין ('ein) translates as "there is not," and כָבֵד (kha.Ved) means "heavy" or "severe." Combined with מְאֹד (me.'Od, "very"), they stress the absolute depletion of food supplies.
The thread — This exhaustion of Egypt and Canaan fulfills the famine sequence predicted in Genesis 41:30 and is later cited in Acts 7:11 as part of Israel’s ancestral history.
Why it lands — The text states the famine completely drained food in both regions, which directly explains why Joseph subsequently collects all available money for Pharaoh (Genesis 47:14).
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 there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine.
Cross-references
- Acts 7:11 Then famine and great suffering swept across Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers could not find food.
- Genesis 41:30 but seven years of famine will follow them. Then all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will devastate the land.
- 1 Kings 18:5 Then Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go throughout the land to every spring and every valley. Perhaps we will find grass to keep the horses and mules alive so that we will not have to destroy any livestock.”
- Jeremiah 9:12 Who is the man wise enough to understand this? To whom has the mouth of the LORD spoken, that he may explain it? Why is the land destroyed and scorched like a desert, so no one can pass through it?
- Jeremiah 14:1 This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:
- Lamentations 2:19 Arise, cry out in the night from the first watch of the night. Pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to Him for the lives of your children who are fainting from hunger on the corner of every street.
- Lamentations 4:9 Those slain by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, who waste away, pierced with pain because the fields lack produce.
- Joel 1:10 The field is ruined; the land mourns. For the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, and the oil fails.