Genesis 47

Then Joseph went and told Pharaoh, "My father and my brothers, with their flocks and their herds and everything they own, have come from the land of Canaan, and right now they are in the land of Goshen."

1Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brethren, and their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have, are come out of the land of Canaan; and, behold, they are in the land of Goshen.

NoteGoshen was a district in the eastern Nile delta, good grazing country on the edge of Egypt rather than in its populated heartland. Canaan is the land later called Israel/Palestine, several weeks' travel to the north-east.

2He took some of his brothers, five men in all, and presented them to Pharaoh.

2And he took some of his brethren, even five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh.

3Pharaoh said to his brothers, "What is your work?" They said to Pharaoh, "Your servants are shepherds, both we and our fathers before us."

3And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, What is your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy servants are shepherds, both we, and also our fathers.

Note"What is your occupation?" was a practical question for a ruler deciding where to settle newcomers. Herding was a low-status trade in Egyptian eyes (the previous chapter says shepherds were offensive to Egyptians) and settlement in Goshen kept the family at the edge of the country, on land suited to flocks.

4They said further to Pharaoh, "We have come to live in this land for a while, because your servants have no pasture for their flocks, since the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. So now, please let your servants live in the land of Goshen."

4They said moreover unto Pharaoh, For to sojourn in the land are we come; for thy servants have no pasture for their flocks; for the famine is sore in the land of Canaan: now therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen.

Note"Sojourn" is a legal term, not a vague one: a sojourner was a resident foreigner, allowed to live and work in a country but holding no ancestral land there and depending on the goodwill of its ruler. The brothers are asking for that status, not for citizenship.

5Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Your father and your brothers have come to you.

5And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee:

6The land of Egypt is open to you. Settle your father and your brothers in the best part of the land; let them live in the land of Goshen. And if you know of any capable men among them, put them in charge of my own livestock."

6The land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell: and if thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle.

7Then Joseph brought in his father Jacob and set him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

7And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

NoteTo "bless" a person in this setting was a formal act of greeting and leave-taking as much as a religious one: the older or honored party pronounced words of favor, long life and prosperity over the other. Jacob does it on arrival (verse 7) and again on departure (verse 10).

8Pharaoh said to Jacob, "How old are you?"

8And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou?

9Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The years of my journeying have been a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and hard, and they have not reached the years my fathers lived during their journeying."

9And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.

Note"Pilgrimage" here does not mean a religious journey to a shrine. The Hebrew word is from the same root as "sojourner" in verse 4: Jacob is describing his whole life as time spent living as a resident foreigner in lands not his own.

10Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from Pharaoh's presence.

10And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.

11Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them property in the land of Egypt, in the best part of the land, in the district of Rameses, just as Pharaoh had commanded.

11And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

NoteRameses was a district in the eastern delta, the same general area as Goshen. The name comes from pharaohs of a much later period than the events described, so this is the narrator naming the place by the name his own readers would recognize.

12Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and his father's whole household with food, according to the number of their little ones.

12And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father’s household, with bread, according to their families.

13There was no food in all the land, because the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan were worn out by the famine.

13And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine.

14Joseph collected all the money that was to be found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, in payment for the grain the people were buying, and he brought the money into Pharaoh's house.

14And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.

Note"Corn" in 1611 English meant grain of any kind, here wheat and barley. It does not mean maize, which was unknown outside the Americas at this date.

15When the money ran out in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, "Give us food. Why should we die in front of you? Our money is gone."

15And when money failed in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, Give us bread: for why should we die in thy presence? for the money faileth.

16Joseph said, "Bring your livestock, and I will give you food in exchange for your livestock, since the money is gone."

16And Joseph said, Give your cattle; and I will give you for your cattle, if money fail.

Note"Cattle" in the King James Version means livestock in general (horses, sheep, goats, oxen and donkeys), not only cows. Verse 17 lists what was actually handed over.

17So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for their horses, their flocks, their herds of cattle, and their donkeys. That year he fed them with food in exchange for all their livestock.

17And they brought their cattle unto Joseph: and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses, and for the flocks, and for the cattle of the herds, and for the asses: and he fed them with bread for all their cattle for that year.

18When that year ended, they came to him the second year and said to him, "We will not hide it from my lord: our money is spent, and my lord also has our herds of livestock. Nothing is left for my lord except our bodies and our land.

18When that year was ended, they came unto him the second year, and said unto him, We will not hide it from my lord, how that our money is spent; my lord also hath our herds of cattle; there is not ought left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands:

NoteThe Egyptians address Joseph in the third person, "my lord" rather than "you", which was the normal polite way of speaking to a superior, not a sign that they are talking about someone else.

19Why should we die in front of you, we and our land as well? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh. Give us seed, so that we may live and not die, and so that the land will not become empty."

19Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh: and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, that the land be not desolate.

NoteThe Hebrew word translated "servants" covers a wide range, from a hired dependant to a slave. What is being described is a permanent change of status: the people become Pharaoh's property along with their fields, working land they no longer own.

20So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for every Egyptian sold his field, because the famine was too strong for them. So the land became Pharaoh's.

20And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them: so the land became Pharaoh’s.

21As for the people, he moved them into the cities, from one end of Egypt's borders to the other end.

21And as for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt even to the other end thereof.

NoteThis verse is genuinely uncertain. The traditional Hebrew text reads that Joseph moved the people into the cities; two ancient versions (the Samaritan Hebrew and the Greek) read that he made them into slaves. The two readings differ by a single consonant in Hebrew, and translations divide between them.

22Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had a share assigned to them by Pharaoh, and they ate the share that Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their land.

22Only the land of the priests bought he not; for the priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them: wherefore they sold not their lands.

NoteEgyptian temples held land and received fixed allowances of food and goods from the crown. Because the priests were already fed at Pharaoh's expense, they had no need to sell, and the land was in effect the state's endowment of the temples, not private property Joseph could buy.

23Then Joseph said to the people, "Look, today I have bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land.

23Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land.

24And when the harvest comes, you shall give a fifth of it to Pharaoh, and four parts will be your own, for seed for the field, for your food, for those in your households, and for food for your little ones."

24And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.

NoteA fifth is twenty per cent of the harvest, paid annually as rent to the crown. "Four parts" means the remaining four-fifths, which had to cover both next year's seed and the household's food.

25They said, "You have saved our lives. Let us find favor in the eyes of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants."

25And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.

26So Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt, and it stands to this day, that Pharaoh should have a fifth part, except only the land of the priests, which did not become Pharaoh's.

26And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part; except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh’s.

Note"Unto this day" is the narrator speaking to his own readers, telling them that the arrangement he has just described was still the law of Egypt in their time.

27Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in the region of Goshen. They gained property there, and they grew and increased in number greatly.

27And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions therein, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly.

Note"Israel" here means the family group, Jacob's descendants collectively, rather than Jacob the man. The same name is used both ways in this chapter; in verse 29 it means Jacob himself.

28Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years, so Jacob's whole life came to a hundred and forty-seven years.

28And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years.

29The time drew near when Israel had to die, and he called his son Joseph and said to him, "If I have now found favor with you, please put your hand under my thigh and deal with me kindly and faithfully. Please do not bury me in Egypt.

29And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt:

NotePlacing a hand under the thigh was a formal oath gesture. "Thigh" is a polite substitute for the genitals, the source of a man's descendants, so the oath was sworn on the family line itself and bound the one who swore in the most solemn way available.

30But I will lie down with my fathers, and you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place." And Joseph said, "I will do as you have said."

30But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their buryingplace. And he said, I will do as thou hast said.

Note"Lie with my fathers" is an idiom meaning to die and be buried with one's ancestors. The burial place is the cave at Machpelah near Hebron, bought by Abraham, where Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah and Leah were already buried.

31Jacob said, "Swear to me." So Joseph swore to him. And Israel bowed himself at the head of the bed.

31And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head.

NoteThe last clause is ambiguous in the original. Written Hebrew of this period recorded consonants only, and the same three letters can be read as "bed" or as "staff." The traditional Hebrew text reads that Jacob bowed at the head of the bed; the ancient Greek version reads that he bowed over the top of his staff, which is the form quoted in Hebrews 11:21. The bow itself is a gesture of thanks or reverence.