What Does Genesis 42:5 Mean in the King James?
And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came: for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
In Hebrew, the word for buying grain grows from the same root as breaking, so the provision sought in famine carries fracture in its word-family.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks into a place where your ground cannot supply what you need: the lack is real, and movement toward provision remains possible. The sons come among many others seeking grain, so hunger is carried in a shared stream of need. The Hebrew verb for buying grain carries the root sense of breaking, letting provision and fracture meet inside the same word-family.
THE ROOT
לִשְׁבֹּר
lishbor
GROWS FROM
שבר
sh-b-r
to break or shatter; in this form, to buy grain
The verb translated “buy” carries the root sense of breaking, while the related noun שֶׁבֶר (shever) can mean grain or provision, as well as breaking or breach. The English gives the transaction plainly; the Hebrew adds a resonance in which nourishment and fracture share a word-family.
ALSO GROWS
shavar: to break or shatter
שָׁבַר
This is the root’s basic action, present beneath the verb used for buying grain.
shever: grain or provision
שֶׁבֶר
This related noun names the food the sons seek, joining provision to the same root.
shever: a break, breach, or fracture
שֶׁבֶר
This sense lets the verse’s word for seeking food echo the broken condition that drives the search.
הָרָעָב
hārāʿāv
GROWS FROM
רעב
r-ʿ-b
to be hungry; hunger or famine
The same root names both the hungry person and the famine spread across the land. The verse ties the land’s lack to the hunger carried by those who leave it seeking food.
ALSO GROWS
raʿav: to be hungry
רָעַב
The verb names the hunger felt by a person within the wider famine.
raʿev: hungry
רָעֵב
This form describes the one who carries the need that moves the search for grain.
raʿav: hunger or famine
רָעָב
This noun names the condition covering Canaan in the verse.
THE PATTERN
Hunger brings people toward life-sustaining provision beyond the place of lack.
And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.THE THREAD
And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands.Genesis 41:57 uses the same grain-buying verb, לִשְׁבֹּר (lishbor), rooted in שבר (sh-b-r, break). The movement widens from Canaan’s sons to all countries, showing people crossing the boundaries of scarcity in search of provision.
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