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Chapter 41

Genesis 41:56

RBT Translation:

And the Hungry-one has become upon the whole of the faces of the Earth, and He-Adds is opening אֶת-the whole of which is in them,1242 and break-in-pieces1243 to Dual-Strait. And the Hungry-one is strengthening in the Earth of Dual-Strait.

LITV Translation:
And the famine was on the face of all the land. And Joseph opened all which was in them, and sold to the Egyptians. And the famine was strong in the land of Egypt.
ESV Translation:
So when the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt.
Brenton Septuagint Translation:
And the famine was on the face of all the earth; and Joseph opened all the granaries, and sold to all the Egyptians.

Footnotes

1242

This can only refer to the faces as there are no other plurals to connect with the preposition “them” in the verse.

1243

To break in pieces or to buy corn?

Strong’s #7666, shabar. Said to mean “to buy corn”. This makes no sense verbally. #7665 shabar is exactly the same word and provides us the true objective definition: to break in pieces, to shatter. sheber, #7667, is a noun that means a broken, fractured, crushed thing. This is the same as the noun #7668 sheber which we are told means “corn” or “grain” explained by the scholars, “as if broken into kernels”. But again that makes no sense since kernels are not broken, though they can be tachan, ground (see #2912) or perhaps chabat, beaten out/threshed (see #2251). Notwithstanding there is already a word dagan (#1715) for corn/grain.