Genesis 12:10
in Genesis 12Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was sore in the land.
KJV
And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.
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This verse in Genesis 12
Commentary
10 notes on this verseThere was a famine in the land - Of Canaan. This is the first famine on record, and it prevailed in the most fertile land then under the sun; and why? God made it desolate for the wickedness of those who dwelt in it. Went down into Egypt - He felt himself a stranger and a pilgrim, and by his unsettled state was kept in mind of the city that hath foundations that are permanent and stable, whose builder is the living God. See Heb 11:8, Heb 11:9.
This site's exposition
there was a famine in the land
The famine lands right after the promise, and Abram goes down to Egypt without a word from the LORD. The rest of the chapter runs the Exodus in miniature, with famine driving the family down and Pharaoh taking a wife who belongs to another man. Plagues fall on Pharaoh's house, and Abram leaves loaded. Israel walks the same road as a nation.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
The meaning of the saying is clear; the wise men of God are above the earth, not being of it; therefore, there was famine in it; for those who have their minds set on earthly things, famine often happens if they are deserving, and later …
The Medieval Church1 voice
Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there. After receiving the promises of blessing, after entering the land of promise, after building an altar to the Lord there, after invoking His name, Abraham is tested by …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
And there was a famine in the land - Not only to punish the iniquity of the Canaanites, but to exercise the faith of Abram. Now he was tried whether he could trust the God that brought him to Canaan, to maintain him there, and rejoice in him as the God of his salvation, when the fig-tree did not blossom.
And there was a famine in the land - Not only to punish the iniquity of the Canaanites, but to exercise the faith of Abram. Now he was tried whether he could trust the God that brought him to Canaan, to maintain him there, and rejoice in him as the God of his salvation, when the fig-tree did not blossom.
Abram heartily espoused God's cause, and here God promiseth to interest himself in his. In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed - This was the promise that crowned all the rest, for it points at the Messiah, in whom all the promises are yea and amen. So Abram departed - He was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And there was a famine in the land,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
there was a famine . . . and Abram went down into Egypt--He did not go back to the place of his nativity, as regretting his pilgrimage and despising the promised land (Heb 11:15), but withdrew for a while into a neighboring country.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
- XXXVIII. Abram in Egypt 15. פרעה par‛oh, Par‘oh, “ouro.” Coptic for “king,” with the masculine article pi. or p. P-ouro, “the king.” If we separate the article p. from the Hebrew form, we have רעה re‛oh for king, which may be compared with רעה ro‛eh, “pastor, leader,” and the Latin rex, king. This is the common title of the Egyptian sovereigns, to which we have the personal name occasionally added, as Pharaoh-Necho, Pharaoh-Hophrah. Gen 12:10 This first visit of Abram to Mizraim, or Egypt, is occasioned by the famine in the land of promise. This land is watered by periodical rains. A season of drought arrests the progress of vegetation, and brings on a famine. But in Egypt, the fertility of the loamy soil depends not on local showers, but on the annual rise of the Nile, which is fed by the rains of a far-distant mountain range. Hence, when the land of Kenaan was wasted by drought and consequent famine, Egypt was generally so productive as to be the granary of the neighboring countries. As Kenaan was the brother of Mizraim, the contact between the two countries in which they dwelt was natural and frequent. Dry seasons and dearth of provisions seem to have been of frequent occurrence in the land of Kenaan Gen 26:1; Gen 41:56-57. Even Egypt itself was not exempt from such calamitous visitations. Famine is one of God’s rods for the punishment of the wicked and the correction of the penitent 2Sa 24:13. It visits Abram even in the land of promise. Doubtless the wickedness of the inhabitants was great even in his day. Abram himself was not out of the need of that tribulation that worketh patience, experience, and hope. He may have been left to himself under this trial, that he might find out by experience his own weakness, and at the same time the faithfulness and omnipotence of Yahweh the promiser. […]
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Now Abraham went down to Egypt on account of the famine to dwell there in order to keep himself alive in the days of the drought, but the Egyptians oppressed him for no reason [and attempted] to take his wife.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
BEHOLD NOW, I KNOW, ETC. SAY, I PRAY, THOU ART MY SISTER. I do not know why Abraham was more fearful for her now than before.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיְהִ֥י | vayhi | and it was | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| רָעָ֖ב | raav | a famine | H7458 → | 101 times |
| בָּאָ֑רֶץ | baaretz | in the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| וַיֵּ֨רֶד | vaiyered | and he went down | H3381 → | 381 times |
| אַבְרָ֤ם | ʾavram | Abram | H87 → | 61 times |
| מִצְרַ֙יְמָה֙ | mitzraymah | Egypt towards | H4714 → | 641 times |
| לָג֣וּר | lagur | to sojourn | H1481 → | 97 times |
| שָׁ֔ם | sham | there | H8033 → | 834 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| כָבֵ֥ד | khaved | [was] heavy | H3515 → | 41 times |
| הָרָעָ֖ב | haraav | the famine | H7458 → | 101 times |
| בָּאָֽרֶץ׃ | baaretz | in the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
וַיְהִ֥יand it was
vayhiH1961 →3559 times
רָעָ֖בa famine
raavH7458 →101 times
בָּאָ֑רֶץin the land
baaretzH776 →2504 times
וַיֵּ֨רֶדand he went down
vaiyeredH3381 →381 times
אַבְרָ֤םAbram
ʾavramH87 →61 times
מִצְרַ֙יְמָה֙Egypt towards
mitzraymahH4714 →641 times
לָג֣וּרto sojourn
lagurH1481 →97 times
שָׁ֔םthere
shamH8033 →834 times
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
כָבֵ֥ד[was] heavy
khavedH3515 →41 times
הָרָעָ֖בthe famine
haraavH7458 →101 times
בָּאָֽרֶץ׃in the land
baaretzH776 →2504 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ruth 1:1In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. And a certain man from Bethlehem in Judah, with his wife and two sons, went to reside in the land…
it leads to
- Genesis 26:1
Now there was another famine in the land, subsequent to the one that had occurred in Abraham’s time. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar.
- Ezekiel 14:13
“Son of man, if a land sins against Me by acting unfaithfully, and I stretch out My hand against it to cut off its supply of food, to send famine upon it, and to…
- Joel 1:16–20
Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes—joy and gladness from the house of our God?
- Leviticus 26:19
I will break down your stubborn pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze,
- Genesis 26:1
Through
Acts 7:11Then famine and great suffering swept across Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers could not find food.
it leads to
- Genesis 41:54–57
the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. And although there was famine in every country, there was food throughout the land of Egypt.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Genesis 42:5
So the sons of Israel were among those who came to buy grain, since the famine had also spread to the land of Canaan.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Genesis 41:54–57
Through
Psalms 107:34and fruitful land into fields of salt, because of the wickedness of its dwellers.
it leads to
- Genesis 14:3
The latter five came as allies to the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea).
- Genesis 13:10
And Lot looked out and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan, all the way to Zoar, was well watered like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was…
- Genesis 14:3
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies10
About Genesis
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron); Chuck Missler, Learn the Bible in 24 Hours; Didymus the Blind, On Genesis; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.