Chapter 43 opens where chapter 42 left off, at Jacob’s camp in Canaan. The famine, which drove the brothers to Egypt, is continuing and becoming more severe. Accordingly chapter 43 continues the story line from the previous chapter.

Now the famine was severe in the land: Now, which translates the Hebrew connective, is the Revised Standard Version way of marking a transition to a new development in the story line. The events told happen some time after those in chapter 42. The wording about the famine in verse 1 is similar to that in 41.57. Here the land refers to Canaan. We may say, for example, “The famine in Canaan grew worse” or “Hunger kept on getting worse in Canaan.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .