Genesis 47:13 · Bible study
Genesis 47:13 Commentary: When Fertile Lands Faint
Hebrew · 8 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Why does Moses emphasize that even Egypt and Canaan fainted?
Research Summary
- Meaning: The famine reaches its crisis; Egypt and Canaan collapse, highlighting that human abundance cannot sustain itself apart from God.
- Key words: לָחֶם (lechem, bread/food), אַיִן (ayin, nothing, no), כָבֵד (kaved, heavy/severe), וַתֵּלַהּ (va.Tel.ah, it languished/fainted/raged).
- Main debate: Does lahah describe physical fainting, mental rage, or both? Context favours complete collapse, but the word’s rarity keeps the nuance open.
- Theological theme: Divine sovereignty over creation, the most fruitfulness can become barren when God withholds blessing; He alone is the source of bread.
- Best use: A sermon or study on trusting God in seasons of scarcity, paired with Joseph’s preservation of his family as a picture of covenant faithfulness.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
There was no food, however, in all that region, because the famine was so severe; the lands of Egypt and Canaan had been exhausted by the famine.
WEB World English Bible 2000
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 the famine.
KJV King James Version 1769
And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
And there is no bread in all the land, for the famine is very grievous, and the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan are feeble because of the famine;
Darby Darby Bible 1890
And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very grievous; and the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan were exhausted through the famine.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
For in the whole world there was want of bread, and a famine had oppressed the land, more especially of Egypt and Chanaan;
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Y no había pan en toda la tierra, y el hambre era muy grave; por lo que desfalleció de hambre la tierra de Egipto y la tierra de Canaán.
E não havia pão toda a terra, e a fome era muito grave; pelo que desfaleceu de fome a terra do Egito e a terra de Canaã.
Il n’ y avait plus de pain dans tout le pays, car la famine était très grande; le pays d’ Égypte et le pays de Canaan languissaient, à cause de la famine.
Es war aber kein Brot in allen Landen; denn die Teuerung war sehr schwer, daß das Land Ägypten und Kanaan verschmachteten vor der Teuerung.
En er was geen brood in het ganse land; want de honger was zeer zwaar: zodat het land van Egypte en het land Kanaan raasden vanwege dien honger.
Or in tutto il paese non c’era pane, perché la carestia era gravissima; il paese d’Egitto e il paese di Canaan languivano a motivo della carestia.
A chleba nie było po wszystkiej ziemi; bo ciężki bardzo był głód, i utrapiona była ziemia Egipska, i ziemia Chananejska od głodu.
И не было хлеба по всей земле, потому что голод весьма усилился, и изнурены были от голода земля Египетская и земля Ханаанская.
饑荒 甚 大，全 地 都絕了 糧，甚至埃及 地 和迦南 地 的人因 那饑荒 的緣故都餓昏了。
Now there was no food to be had in all the land, so that all Egypt and Canaan were wasted from need of food.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Genesis 47:13
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators agree that this verse marks the peak of the famine’s severity. The Hebrew verb וַתֵּלַהּ (va.Tel.ah) from לָהָה (H3856) describes a complete collapse, the inhabitants of Egypt and Canaan, not just the soil, are spent. Calvin notes that interpreters split on whether it means “driven to madness” or “fainting,” but he prefers the sense of lying prostrate as if at the point of death. The Cambridge Bible calls it “a striking metaphor” for utter exhaustion, observing the word does not occur elsewhere in the Old Testament in this form. Gill records the same lexicographical debate (faint or rage) but concludes that the people’s spirits sank and their flesh failed. All agree that the famine was “exceeding sore” (kaved me’od, heavy, burdensome) and reduced regions famous for fertility to utter dependence. The point is not merely food shortage but a theological message: the most productive land cannot sustain itself apart from God’s blessing.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Low
What is clear: Whether the word means faint or rage, the verse plainly states that even the famously fertile lands of Egypt and Canaan were completely broken by the famine, underscoring the total insufficiency of human resources apart from God.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning of וַתֵּלַהּ (lahah) | The word describes a severe human response to extreme famine, collapse, exhaustion, being at a loss. | Some see it as physical fainting (Calvin, Keil & Delitzsch); others note it can also mean to rage or act like a madman (Gill, citing Kimchi and Vatablus). The context does not settle the nuance, but both imply total breakdown. |
| Scope of 'all the land' | The famine affected Egypt and Canaan simultaneously. | Some (Cambridge Bible) take the Hebrew 'eretz as 'the whole earth,' including more than just Egypt and Canaan (compare LXX 'in the whole world'); others restrict it to the region mentioned. The narrative focus remains on Egypt and Canaan. |
| Moral evaluation of Joseph's policy | Joseph centralized grain distribution during the famine. | Some commentators (Matthew Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown) present Joseph's actions as wise and just, preventing hoarding and saving lives. Others (more critical readings, not represented in supplied excerpts) have questioned whether the policy created forced servitude. The supplied sources do not furnish the latter view, so this debate is not active here. |
Historical & Cultural Context
This verse sits near the end of Joseph’s famine administration (Genesis 41, 47). Seven years of abundance had passed; now the second year of the famine was under way (Genesis 45:6). Joseph had stored grain in Pharaoh’s cities during the good years, and when the bad years came, he opened the storehouses (Genesis 41:56). As the crisis deepened, private stocks ran out. What began as sale of grain for money (v.14) would escalate to barter for livestock (v.16), then land (v.20), and finally the people themselves as servants (v.23). Verse 13 sets the stage: no bread remained in either Egypt or Canaan.
The inclusion of Canaan is striking. Joseph’s family had received land in Goshen (v.11), but the broader Canaanite population, Jacob’s own neighbours, were suffering just as much. The famine was not a local Egyptian disaster but a regional one that forced even the “land of Canaan” to faint. Egypt was a grain superpower in the ancient Near East, but its abundance could not resist this drought. The Hebrew word kaved (heavy, severe) for the famine appears earlier in Genesis 41:31, promising that the plenty would be forgotten. By verse 13 that prophecy is fulfilled: the land is exhausted.
Historically, this narrative shapes the national memory of Israel. The Israelites would later inherit a land “flowing with milk and honey,” but here they learn that abundance is a gift, not a guarantee. Moses writes to a generation about to enter Canaan; this verse warns them not to trust in fertile soil but in the One who sends rain.
Textual Notes
The supplied sources note no significant manuscript variants for Genesis 47:13. The LXX reads πάσῃ τῇ γῇ (“in all the earth”) for “all the land,” which may reflect a slightly broader interpretation, but this does not affect the verse’s meaning. The Hebrew text is stable across the major traditions.
Reception History
This verse has primarily been received as a sobering reminder of human dependence on God. Calvin used it to caution against trusting fertile soil, arguing that abundance “distills from heaven.” Matthew Henry saw in it a display of God’s justice and Joseph’s wisdom. The Geneva Bible notes simply that the famine was “exceeding sore.” In Christian tradition, the scene of Egypt collapsing while Joseph’s family is preserved has been understood as a type of the Church, provided for in Christ while the world starves. The rare verb lahah has drawn lexicographical attention, but the interpretive weight has always fallen on the contrast between human helplessness and divine provision.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- The severity of the famine: Even grain-rich Egypt faints. The word lahah pictures total collapse, physical and emotional. No human resource can withstand a God-sized trial.
- The universality of need: Both Egypt and Canaan fainted. The covenant family (Jacob in Canaan) and the world-power (Egypt) share the same hunger. No status or heritage exempts anyone from dependence on God.
- The hidden provision: God’s preserved remnant, Joseph’s family, receive bread “according to the sizes of their families” (v.12). In the same famine, God cares for His own while the world around them collapses. This is a preview of divine provision in Christ.
Five-point outline
- The famine was “very sore” (kaved me’od), heavy beyond bearing.
- Private stores collapsed; only Pharaoh’s centralized supply remained.
- The rare verb lahah captures both fainting and frantic rage, human limits when pushed to extremity.
- Canaan is named alongside Egypt. The Promised Land itself failed; the land cannot save its inhabitants.
- Joseph’s family is shielded (v.12). In judgment, God remembers His covenant.
Illustration hooks
- A farmer with perfect soil, irrigation, and crop insurance watches three years of drought wipe out everything. His wealth cannot hold back the sky.
- A family builds a retirement fund over decades, then a medical crisis exhausts it in weeks. The illusion of self-sufficiency breaks.
- A church with a large building and budget faces a sudden community crisis, they realise their resources are laughably small without God’s ongoing provision.
Questions your congregation is asking
- If God sent this famine, was Joseph being wise or just managing a disaster God caused?
- Why does the Bible spend so many verses on economic details? Isn’t there a more “spiritual” lesson?
- How can I trust God for daily bread when my own savings, skills, and plans feel like they aren’t enough?
Leading a Discussion
This small-group guide helps you move from the ancient famine to your own patterns of trust. The verse’s stark image, even fertile lands fainting, invites honest reflection on where we place our ultimate security.
Discussion questions
- Read Genesis 47:13. What stands out to you about the way Moses describes the famine? Why do you think “Canaan” is mentioned alongside “Egypt”?
- The Hebrew word for “fainted” (lahah) can also mean “raged” or “went mad.” How does this double meaning help you feel the desperation of the people?
- In verses 11, 12, Joseph’s family is fed while everyone else suffers. What does this contrast tell us about God’s character? (See also Psalm 37:19.)
- Verse 13 says “there was no bread in all the land.” How does absolute scarcity expose what we truly rely on? Share a time when you faced scarcity and discovered your own dependencies.
- Calvin used this verse to warn against trusting fertile land. What modern “fertile lands” do you lean on instead of God, career, savings, health, relationships?
- How does this passage prepare us to receive the Lord’s Prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread”? What is hard about praying that honestly?
- What is one practical change your group could make this week to remember that all provision, even the next meal, is a gift from God?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Genesis 41:30 | 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 41:31 | and the plenty will not be known in the land by reason of that famine which follows; for it will be very grievous. |
| I Kings 18:5 | Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land, to all the springs of water, and to all the brooks. Perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, that we not lose all the animals.” |
| Jeremiah 9:12 | Who is wise enough to understand this? Who is he to whom the mouth of Yahweh has spoken, that he may declare it? Why has the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that no one passes through? |
| Jeremiah 14:1 | This is Yahweh’s word that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought: |
| Jeremiah 14:6 | The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights. They pant for air like jackals. Their eyes fail, because there is no vegetation. |
| Lamentations 2:19 | Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches! Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift up your hands toward him for the life of your young children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street. |
| Lamentations 2:20 | “Look, Yahweh, and see to whom you have done thus! Should the women eat their offspring, the children that they held and bounced on their knees? Should the priest and the prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord? |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
8 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin warns that fertile lands must not trust in their own abundance, since even the richest soil turns barren when God withholds blessing. The famine drove the Canaanites to the point of collapse, proving that food comes not from the earth but from God's secret provision. He adds that believers should pray for a meek spirit during famine rather than raging like wild animals.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
Cambridge Bible Schools notes that the Hebrew word rendered "fainted" is a striking metaphor found only once in the Old Testament, capturing the complete collapse of people in both Egypt and Canaan. The commentary also observes that for the first three verses both regions are linked together in the famine, after which only Egypt is mentioned.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva Bible highlights the absolute severity of the famine by noting there was no bread left in either Egypt or Canaan. This total scarcity forced both regions into the same desperate state, showing that the crisis knew no national boundaries and affected everyone equally.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill draws attention to the raw desperation of the famine: the people did not merely weaken but actually raged like madmen, driven to fury by hunger. He then asks what kept them from violently breaking into Pharaoh's storehouses, and credits God's restraint working through Joseph's prudent precautions and his kind, reassuring manner toward the crowd.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB notes this marks the second year of famine, when private stores were gone and everyone depended on the government. At first people bought grain with money, but soon their money was exhausted, showing the deepening economic crisis.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil-Delitzsch emphasize that Joseph's famine policy was a wise economic reform, not exploitation. The people accepted the fifth as a favor, and this arrangement typologically foreshadows Israel's relationship with God: just as Egyptians gave a fifth to Pharaoh, Israel would later give a double tithe to Jehovah as their covenant King.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange stresses that Jacob's halt at Beersheba to seek divine sanction reveals the crucial distinction between human confidence and God's assurance. The migration into Egypt was a bold undertaking that required the promise of a return to Canaan. The number 70 marks the family as the holy seed of God's people.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry highlights how Joseph’s administration systematically converted private wealth into royal power through a staged exchange process. He notes that as famine intensified, Egyptians traded money for food, then livestock for bread, and finally their land and bodies for survival. This sequence transformed Egypt into Pharaoh’s estate while preserving the priests’ exempt status due to their existing royal stipends.