Genesis 47
47
1Then Joseph #Gen. 46:31went and told Pharaoh, and said, “My father and my brothers, their flocks and their herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan; and indeed they are in #Gen. 45:10; 46:28; 50:8the land of Goshen.” 2And he took five men from among his brothers and #Acts 7:13presented them to Pharaoh. 3Then Pharaoh said to his brothers, #Gen. 46:33; Jon. 1:8“What is your occupation?”
And they said to Pharaoh, #Gen. 46:32, 34; Ex. 2:17, 19“Your servants are shepherds, both we and also our fathers.” 4And they said to Pharaoh, #Gen. 15:13; Deut. 26:5; Ps. 105:23“We have come to dwell in the land, because your servants have no pasture for their flocks, #Gen. 43:1; Acts 7:11for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, please let your servants #Gen. 46:34dwell in the land of Goshen.”
5Then Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. 6#Gen. 20:15; 45:10, 18; 47:11The land of Egypt is before you. Have your father and brothers dwell in the best of the land; let them dwell #Gen. 47:4in the land of Goshen. And if you know any competent men among them, then make them chief herdsmen over my livestock.”
7Then Joseph brought in his father Jacob and set him before Pharaoh; and Jacob #Gen. 47:10; 48:15, 20; 2 Sam. 14:22; 1 Kin. 8:66; Heb. 7:7blessed Pharaoh. 8Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How old are you?”
9And Jacob said to Pharaoh, #Ps. 39:12; (Heb. 11:9, 13)“The days of the years of my pilgrimage are #Gen. 47:28one hundred and thirty years; #(Job 14:1)few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and #Gen. 5:5; 11:10, 11; 25:7, 8; 35:28they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.” 10So Jacob #Gen. 47:7blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.
11And Joseph situated his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of #Ex. 1:11; 12:37Rameses, #Gen. 47:6, 27as Pharaoh had commanded. 12Then Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all #Gen. 45:11; 50:21his father’s household with bread, according to the number in their families.
Joseph Deals with the Famine
13Now there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, #Gen. 41:30; Acts 7:11so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine. 14#Gen. 41:56; 42:6And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought; and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.
15So when the money failed in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us bread, for #Gen. 47:19why should we die in your presence? For the money has failed.”
16Then Joseph said, “Give your livestock, and I will give you bread for your livestock, if the money is gone.” 17So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the cattle of the herds, and for the donkeys. Thus he fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock that year.
18When that year had ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is gone; my lord also has our herds of livestock. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our lands. 19Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants of Pharaoh; give us seed, that we may #Gen. 43:8live and not die, that the land may not be desolate.”
20Then Joseph #Jer. 32:43bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for every man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. So the land became Pharaoh’s. 21And as for the people, he moved them into the cities, from one end of the borders of Egypt to the other end. 22#Lev. 25:34; Ezra 7:24Only the land of the #Gen. 41:45priests he did not buy; for the priests had rations allotted to them by Pharaoh, and they ate their rations which Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their lands.
23Then Joseph said to the people, “Indeed I have bought you and your land this day for Pharaoh. Look, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. 24And it shall come to pass in the harvest that you shall give one-fifth to Pharaoh. Four-fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and for your food, for those of your households and as food for your little ones.”
25So they said, “You have saved #Gen. 33:15our lives; let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.” 26And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have one-fifth, #Gen. 47:22except for the land of the priests only, which did not become Pharaoh’s.
Joseph’s Vow to Jacob
27So Israel #Gen. 47:11dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions there and #Gen. 17:6; 26:4; 35:11; 46:3; Ex. 1:7; Deut. 26:5; Acts 7:17grew and multiplied exceedingly. 28And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the length of Jacob’s life was one hundred and forty-seven years. 29When the time #Deut. 31:14; 1 Kin. 2:1drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “Now if I have found favor in your sight, please #Gen. 24:2–4put your hand under my thigh, and #Gen. 24:49; Josh. 2:14deal kindly and truly with me. #Gen. 50:25Please do not bury me in Egypt, 30but #2 Sam. 19:37let me lie with my fathers; you shall carry me out of Egypt and #Gen. 49:29; 50:5–13; Heb. 11:21bury me in their burial place.”
And he said, “I will do as you have said.”
31Then he said, “Swear to me.” And he swore to him. So #Gen. 48:2; 1 Kin. 1:47; Heb. 11:21Israel bowed himself on the head of the bed.
The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Genesis 47
47
Settlement in Goshen. 1Joseph went and told Pharaoh, “My father and my brothers have come from the land of Canaan, with their flocks and herds and everything else they own; and they are now in the region of Goshen.” 2He then presented to Pharaoh five of his brothers whom he had selected from their full number. 3When Pharaoh asked them, “What is your occupation?” they answered, “We, your servants, like our ancestors, are shepherds. 4We have come,” they continued, “in order to sojourn in this land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks, because the famine has been severe in the land of Canaan. So now please let your servants settle in the region of Goshen.”#Ex 23:9; Dt 23:8. 5Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Now that your father and your brothers have come to you, 6the land of Egypt is at your disposal; settle your father and brothers in the pick of the land. Let them settle in the region of Goshen. And if you know of capable men among them, put them in charge of my livestock.” 7Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and presented him to Pharaoh. And Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8Then Pharaoh asked Jacob, “How many years have you lived?” 9Jacob replied: “The years I have lived as a wayfarer amount to a hundred and thirty. Few and hard have been these years of my life, and they do not compare with the years that my ancestors lived as wayfarers.”#Wayfarer…wayfarers: human beings are merely sojourners on earth; cf. Ps 39:13. 10Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and withdrew from his presence.
11Joseph settled his father and brothers and gave them a holding in Egypt on the pick of the land, in the region of Rameses,#The region of Rameses: same as the region of Goshen; see note on 45:10. as Pharaoh had ordered. 12And Joseph provided food for his father and brothers and his father’s whole household, down to the youngest.
Joseph’s Land Policy. 13Since there was no food in all the land because of the extreme severity of the famine, and the lands of Egypt and Canaan were languishing from hunger, 14Joseph gathered in, as payment for the grain that they were buying, all the money that was to be found in Egypt and Canaan, and he put it in Pharaoh’s house. 15When all the money in Egypt and Canaan was spent, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, pleading, “Give us food! Why should we perish in front of you? For our money is gone.” 16“Give me your livestock if your money is gone,” replied Joseph. “I will give you food in return for your livestock.” 17So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for their horses, their flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, and their donkeys. Thus he supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock in that year. 18That year ended, and they came to him in the next one and said: “We cannot hide from my lord that, with our money spent and our livestock made over to my lord, there is nothing left to put at my lord’s disposal except our bodies and our land. 19Why should we and our land perish before your very eyes? Take us and our land in exchange for food, and we will become Pharaoh’s slaves and our land his property; only give us seed, that we may survive and not perish, and that our land may not turn into a waste.”
20So Joseph acquired all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh. Each of the Egyptians sold his field, since the famine weighed heavily upon them. Thus the land passed over to Pharaoh, 21and the people were reduced to slavery, from one end of Egypt’s territory to the other. 22Only the priests’ lands Joseph did not acquire. Since the priests had a fixed allowance from Pharaoh and lived off the allowance Pharaoh had granted them, they did not have to sell their land.
23Joseph told the people: “Now that I have acquired you and your land for Pharaoh, here is your seed for sowing the land. 24But when the harvest is in, you must give a fifth of it to Pharaoh, while you keep four-fifths as seed for your fields and as food for yourselves and your households and as food for your children.” 25“You have saved our lives!” they answered. “We have found favor with my lord; now we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.” 26Thus Joseph made it a statute for the land of Egypt, which is still in force, that a fifth of its produce should go to Pharaoh. Only the land of the priests did not pass over to Pharaoh.
Israel Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh. 27Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the region of Goshen. There they acquired holdings, were fertile, and multiplied greatly.#Ex 1:7. 28#47:28–50:26] Supplements to the Joseph story. Most of the material in this section centers on Jacob—his blessing of Joseph’s sons, his farewell testament, and his death and burial in Canaan. Only the last verses (50:15–26) redirect attention to Jacob’s sons, the twelve brothers; they are assured that the reconciliation will not collapse after the death of the patriarch. Jacob lived in the land of Egypt for seventeen years; the span of his life came to a hundred and forty-seven years. 29When the time approached for Israel to die, he called his son Joseph and said to him: “If it pleases you, put your hand under my thigh as a sign of your enduring fidelity to me; do not bury me in Egypt. 30When I lie down with my ancestors, take me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.”#Gn 50:5. “I will do as you say,” he replied. 31But his father demanded, “Swear it to me!” So Joseph swore to him. Then Israel bowed at the head of the bed.#Israel bowed at the head of the bed: meaning perhaps that he gave a nod of assent and appreciation as he lay on his bed. The oath and gesture are the same as Abraham’s in 24:2. Israel’s bowing here suggests the fulfillment of Joseph’s dreams in 37:9–10, when parents and brothers bowed down to Joseph (cf. 42:6; 43:26). By using different vowels for the Hebrew word for “bed,” the Greek version translated it as “staff,” and understood the phrase to mean that he bowed in worship, leaning on the top of his staff; it is thus quoted in Heb 11:21.
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