Genesis 42:2

And he said, behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt ,.... This explains what is meant by the phrase he saw, one sense being put for another:

get ye down thither ; as fast as you can without delay; Egypt lay lower than Canaan, and therefore they are bid to go down, as when they went from thence to Canaan they are said to go up, Genesis 45:25 ,

and buy for us from thence, that we may live, and not die ; which shows the famine was very pressing, since, unless they could buy corn from Egypt they could not live, but must die.