The 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. When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread, and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do.” The famine was over all the surface of the earth. Joseph opened all the store houses, and sold to the Egyptians. The famine was severe in the land of Egypt.
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Genesis 41:54-56 sits inside this longer paragraph.
The seven years of plenty, that were in the land of Egypt, came to an end. The 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. When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread, and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do.” The famine was over all the surface of the earth. Joseph opened all the store houses, and sold to the Egyptians. The famine was severe in the land of Egypt. All countries came into Egypt, to Joseph, to buy grain, because the famine was severe in all the earth.
Parallel Translations
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The 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.
When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread, and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do.”
The famine was over all the surface of the earth. Joseph opened all the store houses, and sold to the Egyptians. The famine was severe in the land of Egypt.
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And the seven years of dearth began to come, according as Joseph had said: and the dearth was in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.
And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread: and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph; what he saith to you, do.
And the famine was over all the face of the earth: and Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians; and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt.
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And the seven years of famine began to come, according as Joseph had said; and there was famine in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.
And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians: 'Go unto Joseph; what he saith to you, do.'
And the famine was over all the face of the earth; and Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians; and the famine was sore in the land of Egypt.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (27)
- Acts 7:11 (v54) Now a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction. Our fathers found no food.
- Genesis 45:11 (v54) There I will provide for you; for there are yet five years of famine; lest you come to poverty, you, and your household, and all that you…
- Psalms 105:16 (v54) He called for a famine on the land. He destroyed the food supplies.
- Genesis 41:30 (v54) Seven years of famine will arise after them, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land,
- Genesis 42:6 (v56) Joseph was the governor over the land. It was he who sold to all the people of the land. Joseph’s brothers came, and bowed themselves down…
Show all 27 cross-references
- Jeremiah 14:1-6 (v55) This is Yahweh’s word that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought. “Judah mourns, and its gates languish. They sit in black on the ground.…
- Matthew 3:17 (v55) Behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
- Matthew 17:5 (v55) While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. Behold, a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my beloved…
- Genesis 41:3-4 (v54) Behold, seven other cattle came up after them out of the river, ugly and thin, and stood by the other cattle on the brink of the river. The…
- Genesis 41:6-7 (v54) Behold, seven heads of grain, thin and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them. The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven…
- Genesis 41:27 (v54) The seven thin and ugly cattle that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven empty heads of grain blasted with the east wind;…
- Genesis 41:40-41 (v55) You shall be over my house. All my people will be ruled according to your word. Only in the throne I will be greater than you.” Pharaoh…
- Genesis 42:2 (v54) He said, “Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there, and buy for us from there, so that we may live, and not die.”
- Genesis 42:5-6 (v54) The sons of Israel came to buy among those who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. Joseph was the governor over the land. It…
- Genesis 43:1 (v54) The famine was severe in the land.
- Genesis 47:13 (v54) There was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan fainted by reason of…
- Genesis 47:14-24 (v56) Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought: and…
- 2 Kings 6:25-29 (v55) There was a great famine in Samaria. Behold, they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and the fourth…
- Psalms 105:20-22 (v55) The king sent and freed him, even the ruler of peoples, and let him go free. He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all of his…
- Isaiah 23:17 (v56) It will happen after the end of seventy years that Yahweh will visit Tyre. She will return to her wages, and will play the prostitute with…
- Lamentations 4:3-10 (v55) Even the jackals offer their breast. They nurse their young ones. But the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the…
- Zechariah 5:3 (v56) Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes out over the surface of the whole land; for everyone who steals shall be cut off according…
- Luke 21:35 (v56) For it will come like a snare on all those who dwell on the surface of all the earth.
- John 1:14-16 (v55) The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.…
- Acts 17:26 (v56) He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and the…
- Philippians 4:19 (v55) My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
- Colossians 1:19 (v55) For all the fullness was pleased to dwell in him,
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (12 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On v55 55. Go unto Joseph. It is by no means…
55. Go unto Joseph. It is by no means unusual for kings, while their subjects are oppressed by extreme sufferings, to give themselves up to pleasures. But Moses here means something else; for Pharaoh does not exonerate himself from the trouble of distributing corn, because he wishes to enjoy a repose free from all inconvenience; but because he hassuch confidence in holy Joseph, that he willingly leaves all things to him, and does not allow him to be disturbed in the discharge of the office which he had undertaken.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v54 Or, food.
Or, food.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv54–56 Gen 41:54 And the seven years of dearth began…
Gen 41:54 And the seven years of dearth began to come, according as Joseph had said: and the dearth was in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.
Ver. 54. According as Joseph had said.] Joseph foresaw and foretold the famine, but caused it not: so God’s prescience, &c.
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In all the land of Egypt.] Such a revenue is thrift and parsimony, Optimum vectigal parsimonia. - Cic.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv54–55 In all lands; in all the neighbouring countries, appears…
In all lands; in all the neighbouring countries, appears by comparing this with Gen 42:1.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v54 The seven years of dearth began to come -…
The seven years of dearth began to come - Not only in Egypt, but in other lands, in all lands, that is, all the neighbouring countries.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv54–56 Verse 54. The seven years of dearth began to…
Verse 54. The seven years of dearth began to come] Owing in Egypt to the Nile not rising more than twelve or thirteen cubits; (See Clarke on Ge 41:31;) but there must have been other causes which affected other countries, not immediately dependent on the Nile, though remotely connected with Egypt and Canaan.
The dearth was in all lands] All the countries dependent on the Nile. And it appears that a general drought had taken place, at least through all Egypt and Canaan; for it is said, Ge 41:57, that the famine was sore in all lands - Egypt and Canaan, and their respective dependencies.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v54 Gen 41:54. The seven years of death began to…
Gen 41:54. The seven years of death began to come — Not only in Egypt, but in other lands, that is, all the neighbouring countries.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v55 World. Round about Egypt; such as Chanaan, Syria, &c.…
World. Round about Egypt; such as Chanaan, Syria, &c. (Menochius) --- There was. The Syriac and some Latin copies, read not, &c.: there was a famine. We must adhere to the Vulgate and Hebrew.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv54, 56 53–57. The Years of Famine
53–57. The Years of Famine
54. all lands] Cf. Gen_41:57. The famine is represented as afflicting not only Egypt, but all the neighbouring lands which constituted the known world of the Israelites. Cf. Gen_43:1. For a similar hyperbole, cf. “all the world” (Luk_2:1; Joh_21:25); “a great famine over all the world” (Act_11:28).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On v54 (54) The dearth.—As the Nile at this early period…
(54) The dearth.—As the Nile at this early period was not assisted and regulated in its overflow by dams and canals, famines were much more common in Egypt than when subsequently the kings had done so much to provide against this danger. As, too, this dearth was “in all lands,” in Arabia, Palestine, Ethiopia, &c., there was evidently a long period of excessive drought. Still Egypt is always liable to famine, and Bar Hebræus (Chronicon, p. 260) gives terrible details of the sufferings of Egypt in the year of the Hej’ra 462, when so great was the loss of life, that whereas in the city of Tanis (Zoan) 300,000 men paid poll-tax in the previous year, there remained in it less than a hundred souls at the end of the dearth.
One argument adduced by Canon Cook, Excursus on the Bearings of Egyptian History on the Pentateuch, p. 451, for placing the descent of the Israelites into Egypt in the reign of Amenemha III., is that it was this monarch who “first established a complete system of dykes, canals, locks, and reservoirs, by which the inundations of the Nile were henceforth regulated.” The artificial lake of Moeris was also made by his orders, and other works of extraordinary vastness. Now not only would such works be suggested by a dearth of unusually long continuance, but the measures taken by Joseph during the seven years of famine would place the whole resources of the country at the Pharaoh’s disposal.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv54–56 HOMILIES BY F. HASTINGS Ver. 54.
HOMILIES BY F. HASTINGS Ver. 54.
Destitution and abundance.
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the dearth was in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread." The time of harvest is, of all periods of the year, the most important. It is the point to which all previous operations of the cultivator have tended. He knows how much depends on the weather and God"s mercy. Having done all he can, he has to wait, and the harvest-time determines results. Those who are not engaged in agriculture are concerned in a harvest. Suppose there were none; non-producers must starve, Dwelling in great towns and cities, many who are engaged in traffic or manufacture may easily overlook harvest-time, and forget their dependence on God for daily bread. They see not the sown fields, they watch not the springing blade, they seize not the sharp sickle, they join not in piling up the pointed stacks, and are therefore likely to forget dependence on God. It is well that God forgets us not. He has ever kept his promise long as the earth remaineth," &c. No year has passed without harvest-time being stinted in some land. Think over the contrast given in the text. ;
I GENERAL DISTRESS. "The dearth was in all lands," i.e. all the lands then known to be peopled by the descendants of Noah. Their harvests had failed. Rain excessive, or drought prolonged, had ruined their crops. For several years there seems to have been disappointment. Not only did the husbandmen suffer, but those who could not toil. Dearth engenders disease, despair, death. See 2Ki 6, to what straits famine will reduce people. Even mothers consent together to eat their own offspring. In the lamentations of Jeremiah there is a description of the fearful consequences of famine, leading men to say, "Then was our skin black like an oven, because of the terrible famine." How painful must it be to have scanty platters and empty barns; for parents to have children clinging to the skirts of their garments, crying, "Give, oh, give bread," and to have none wherewith to satisfy them I We see the effect of famine on one family in the East. Jacob"s sons "looked on one another, and were sad." Their looks were despairing. They had money, flocks, and herds, but no bread. They could not eat their money, and to have lived on their starving flocks alone would engender disease of frightful character. Many had not even flocks to fall back upon, and the dearth was in all lands. How men at such a time must have looked longingly at the heavens, and prayed that God would send them bread I Sometimes such seasons of trial are sent that men may be reminded of the dependence on God. To have a moral and spiritual dearth is worse than to have outward destitution. The spiritual is more important than the physical. A more terrible death than all is that where there is a lack of a knowledge of God and his love, and of hearing the word of the Lord.
II EXCEPTIONAL ABUNDANCE. But for this plentifulness in Egypt the whole race might have perished. There were several reasons for the abundance in Egypt.
1. God arranged it by that wondrous overflowing of the Nile. A difference in the rising a few feet makes all the difference as to the crops. Even at this date, so do the crops of Egypt affect the markets of the world, that the rising of the Nile is watched, and the height attained telegraphed to all parts. God, at the period referred to, had given seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of dearth; but such had been the previous abundance, owing to the overflow of the river, that in the terrible time of dearth there was abundance of bread in Egypt.
2. The foresight and energy of one man had led to the husbanding of resources and storing of excessive crops.
3. Divine revelation caused Joseph to act. He could not have known of the impending danger unless it had been revealed. He had faith in God when in prison, and main-rained it when he became the governor of Egypt. Indeed that faith shone as brightly when he was the approved of Pharaoh as when he was the slave of Potiphar and the object of passion"s hate. His faith was rewarded when he was able to save multitudes from starving. What a contrast is presented in the text! Dearth of many lands, abundance in one. Such contrasts are often seen. On one side of the ocean there may have been an abundant harvest, on the other side but scanty crops. The world is full of contrasts. Here is a wedding; there is a funeral. In one family is love, thoughtfulness, harmony, and in that perhaps separated only by the thin partition of hasty builders bickering, jealousy, and hastiness of temper. Here sobriety, providence, and religion reign; there nothing but indigence, drunkenness, and utter neglect of the claims of God. In one country is peace, activity in all its branches of industry, commercial confidence, progress-in education and art, thoughtfulness for the untaught and criminal classes, and higher appreciation of the sacredness of life; in another depression, mistrust, plotting of adventurers, rule of the conscienceless, national faithlessness, and the spreading pall of desolation. Forceful is the contrast presented by nations under the influence of a simple Christianity and those enslaved by superstition, as Spain or Austria; or paralyzed by fatalism, as Turkey and Asia Minor; or darkened by idolatry, as India, China, Africa, and some of the islands of the seas. And such contrasts are seen in individuals. There walks one whose soul has no light, no hope, no peace; here one who knows he is pardoned, and is sure of acceptance by Christ. At death what a contrast! See one dying shrinking, doubting, fearing, grasping at any straw of comfort; another rejoicing that he is soon to enter and tread the streets of the New Jerusalem. Let all be prepared for such a change. Seek Christ, who is the "Bread of life," the Savior of our souls. Lack of appetite and numbness may come from excessive exhaustion. Hunger and thirst after righteousness, and be not like a lady who once said, "Sir, I have been so long without religion that I have, I fear, now no desire for it." If we come to Christ he will receive us readily. Joseph was glad to receive and help his brethren. So will Christ supply all our need out of the treasures of his rich grace. Remember, that if the need of other nations tested the charity of Egypt, so the need of souls is to test our earnestness. If we have found the riches in Christ, we are to seek to bless others. If little time remains to some of us in which to do much for Christ, let us act as those who, having much to write and little space, crowd the letters and words the closer. Let us be earnest as the husbandman, who, seeing winter coming apace, hastens in the few fine days remaining to garner his crops. Alas, many of our doings will have to stand useless, like earless, rotten sheaves, blackening dreary fields. H.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v55 When all the land of Egypt was famished
When all the land of Egypt was famished
Here "land" stands for the people. AT: "When all the Egyptians were starving" (See: Metonymy)
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The famine was over all the face of the whole land
The word "face" refers to the surface of the land. AT: "The famine had spread throughout the land" (See: Idiom)
Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians
Here "Joseph" stands for Joseph's servants. AT: "Joseph had his servants open all the storehouses and sell grain to the Egyptians" (See: Synecdoche)
All the earth was coming to Egypt
Here "earth" stands for the people from all regions. AT: "People were coming to Egypt from all the surrounding regions" (See: Metonymy)
in all the earth
"throughout the land." It is likely that all the different trading partners and nations that were part of the Egyptian trading routes effected by the drought came to Egypt for grain.
translationWords
Egypt
people group
Pharaoh
Egypt
Joseph (OT)
famine
face
storehouse
grain
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.