Now the famine was severe in the land.
Parallel translations
- WEB The famine was severe in the land.
- KJV And the famine was sore in the land.
- BSB Now the famine was still severe in the land.
- NKJV Now the famine was severe in the land.
- NLT But the famine continued to ravage the land of Canaan.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The famine grows severe, forcing the family to act. The pressing need overrides Jacob's reluctance.
Overview
This brief note explains why Jacob must finally reconsider sending Benjamin: the grain is gone and starvation looms. God uses ordinary hardship to move the family toward Egypt and reunion. The severity of the famine underscores the wider providence that drew Joseph to Egypt to preserve life.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Gen 12:10There was a famine in the land. Abram went down into Egypt to live as a foreigner there, for the famine was severe in the land.
- Gen 41:54–57The seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.
- Eccl 9:1–2For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this: that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hatred, man doesn’t know it; all is before them.
- Acts 7:11–13Now a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction. Our fathers found no food.
- Gen 42:5The sons of Israel came to buy among those who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
- Lam 5:10Our skin is black like an oven, Because of the burning heat of famine.
- Gen 18:13Yahweh said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Will I really bear a child, yet I am old?’
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 43:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.