Now there was …: this expression translates Hebrew wayehi, which is literally “And it happened….” In some languages a marker is required at this point to show that a new story is beginning, while in others the heading is sufficient. In some cases no marker is required.

A famine in the land: famine is a scarcity of food causing extreme hunger or starvation. Canaan was part of an area that depended upon rainfall for crop production, but which had no irrigation. Egypt, with the seasonal flooding of the Nile, was not so dependent upon rain. For other stories of famine see the case of Isaac in 26.1, and the case of Joseph in 43.1; 47.4. Translators will naturally use their own expressions for a time of food shortage, such as “a big hungry time” or “a really hard dry season.”

So Abram went down to Egypt: in Revised Standard Version So makes this sentence a consequence of the famine. Good News Translation “… so bad that…” does the same. Went down: the Hebrew verb is used for the direction of going from the hill country of Canaan to Egypt, which was located on land closer to the level of the sea. A different verb is used for going back to Canaan, which is seen in 13.1, where Abram “went up from Egypt.” Many languages will not express the down and up direction in this context. Good News Translation says “went further south,” which follows on from its rendering in Gen 12.8. However, since in verse 9 Abram had already gone to southern Canaan, he would get to Egypt by going west, not south. Therefore, if translators wish to use Good News Translation, they should make this adjustment.

To sojourn there: sojourn translates a verb related to the noun “alien” or “foreigner” and refers to staying in a place as a foreigner. It indicates that the stay is temporary. It is found also in 15.13 and Isa 52.4. New English Bible says “to live there for a while.”

For the famine was severe in the land: severe translates a word whose basic meaning is “heavy,” and in relation to famine it may be stated as “grievous,” “oppressive,” or “difficult.” The narrator stresses the severity of the famine by mentioning it twice. Many translations bring the second comment on famine forward and say “a severe famine” in the first line, or as in Good News Translation, “and it was so bad….” Some translations state what is meant by the land, since verse 9 is a bit vague about where Abram actually was; for example, “The food ran out in that Negeb country…” and “All through that country Canaan there was a hard time and it was difficult to get food….”

Translators may find that some adjustments are necessary in translating this verse. For example, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy says “At that time there was a great scarcity of food in all that region, and Abram went to live for a while in Egypt, because there was nothing to eat in the place where he was living.” One example of a translation that brings together the two statements about the famine is “After that there was a hungry time, and there was no food at all in that place. So Abram with all his people went to the country of Egypt….”

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 .