⁵⁴ and the seven years of famine^(A) began,^(B) just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all the other lands, but in the whole land of Egypt there was food.

¹¹ “Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our ancestors could not find food.^(A)

¹¹ I will provide for you there,^(A) because five years of famine^(B) are still to come. Otherwise you and your household and all who belong to you will become destitute.’^(C)

³⁰ but seven years of famine^(A) will follow them. Then all the abundance in Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will ravage the land.^(B)

Joseph and the Famine

¹³ There was no food, however, in the whole region because the famine was severe; both Egypt and Canaan wasted away because of the famine.^(A)

The Second Journey to Egypt

43 Now the famine was still severe in the land.^(A)

⁵ So Israel’s sons were among those who went to buy grain,^(A) for there was famine in the land of Canaan^(B) also.^(C)

⁶ Now Joseph was the governor of the land,^(D) the person who sold grain to all its people.^(E) So when Joseph’s brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.^(F)

² He continued, “I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us,^(A) so that we may live and not die.”^(B)

²⁷ The seven lean, ugly cows that came up afterward are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind: They are seven years of famine.^(A)