6 Aug 2025 – jeffersonvann

Genesis 47

Genesis 47:1 So Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, “My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all that they have, have come from the land of Canaan. Notice, they are now in the land of Goshen.”

Genesis 47:2 And from among his brothers he took five men and presented them to Pharaoh.

Genesis 47:3 Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” And they said to Pharaoh, “Your slaves are shepherds, as our fathers were.”

Genesis 47:4 They said to Pharaoh, “We have come to stay as guests in the land, because there is no pasture elsewhere for your slaves’ flocks, because the famine is heavy in the land of Canaan. And now, please let your slaves locate in the land of Goshen.”

Genesis 47:5 Then Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, and this is what he said “Your father and your brothers have come to you.

Genesis 47:6 The land of Egypt is before you. Settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land. Let them settle in the land of Goshen, and if you know any competent men among them, put them in charge of my livestock.”

Genesis 47:7 Then Joseph brought Jacob his father and presented him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

Genesis 47:8 And Pharaoh asked Jacob, “How many are the days of the years of your life?”

Genesis 47:9 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years I have wandered are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their travel.”

Genesis 47:10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh then went away from the presence of Pharaoh.

Genesis 47:11 Then Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them property in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

Genesis 47:12 And Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father’s family with food, according to the number of their dependents.

Genesis 47:13 There was no food in all the land, because the famine was very brutal, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan wasted away because of the famine.

Genesis 47:14 And Joseph collected all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, in exchange for the grain that they bought. And Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.

Genesis 47:15 And when the money was all finished[1] 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 before your eyes? Because our money is gone.”

Genesis 47:16 And Joseph answered, “Give your living things, and I will give you food in exchange for your living things, if your money is gone.”

Genesis 47:17 So they brought their living things to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the herds, and the donkeys. He supplied them with food in exchange for all their living things that year.

Genesis 47:18 And when that year was finished, they came to him the following year and said to him, “We will not conceal[2] from my lord that our money is all finished. The herds of living things are my lord’s. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our land.

Genesis 47:19 Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we with our land will be slaves to Pharaoh. And give us seed that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be barren.”

Genesis 47:20 So Joseph purchased all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, because all the Egyptians sold their fields, because the famine was strong on them. The land became Pharaoh’s.

Genesis 47:21 As for the people, he made slaves of them from one end of Egypt to the other.

Genesis 47:22 Only the land of the priests he did not purchase, because the priests had a fixed allowance from Pharaoh and lived on the allowance that Pharaoh gave them; so, they did not sell their land.

Genesis 47:23 Then Joseph said to the people, “Notice, I have this day purchased you and your land for Pharaoh. Now here is seed for you, and you will replant the land.

Genesis 47:24 And at the harvests you will give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four-fifths will be your own, as seed for the field and as food for yourselves and your families, and as food for your little ones.”

Genesis 47:25 And they said, “You have saved our lives;

“May we find favor in the eyes of our lord; we will be slaves to Pharaoh.”

Genesis 47:26 That was when Joseph made it a decree concerning the land of Egypt, and it stands to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; the land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh’s.

Genesis 47:27 So Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land called Goshen. And they gained property in it and were fruitful and multiplied greatly.

Genesis 47:28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So, the days of Jacob, the years he lived, were 147 years.

Genesis 47:29 And when the time drew near for Israel to die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, put your hand under my thigh and promise to show covenant faithfulness and firmness with me. Do not bury me in Egypt,

Genesis 47:30 but let me lie with my fathers. Carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial plot.” He answered, “I will do as you have said.”

Genesis 47:31 And he said, “Swear to me”; and he swore to him. Then Israel bowed himself upon the head of his bed.

[1] תָּמַם = be finished. Genesis 47:15, 18.

[2] כָּחַד = to conceal, make to disappear.

Genesis 47 quotes:

“If we are right in thinking that the Pharaohs of this time were from the occupying Hyksos tribe, theirs would have been a precarious power-base. We have already suggested that a Hyksos Pharaoh would have been more likely than an indigenous Egyptian monarch to promote Joseph, a former slave, to the position of Prime Minister. But this kind of ‘foreign’ dynasty would have been very susceptible to overthrow by a coup d état (as ultimately happened).”

Searle, David C. Joseph : “His Arms Were Made Strong.” Banner of Truth Trust, 2012. p. 154.

“Though a foreigner and a recipient of Pharaoh’s assistance, Jacob stood before the great ruler with dignity. In the consciousness that he was the representative of the Almighty, “Jacob blessed Pharaoh” (Genesis 47:10). Knowing that he held a sublime position in God’s program, he spoke the holy blessing upon Pharaoh.”

McQuay, Earl P. Joseph : Seeing God in the Worst of Times. Acc´ent Books, 1989. p. 101.

“Since the words of Scripture are never incidental, it is of some interest to note that Genesis 47:13-26 contains a rather detailed record of Joseph’s plan for the government of Egypt during one of the worst “depressions” in world history. It is a testimony to the amount of surplus that was available during the prosperous years, as well as the adjustment that was necessary to accommodate the time of famine. That model is a textbook case for governmental management—even as Joseph managed the sale of goods that ultimately transferred the wealth of several countries to the nation of Egypt.”

Morris, Henry M. The Book of Beginnings : A Practical Guide to Understand and Teach Genesis. Institute for Creation Research, 2012. p. 227.