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The Torah · Old Testament

Genesis 47

Jacob's family settles while famine transfers land and labor to Pharaoh

General context

Joseph presents five brothers to Pharaoh. They explain that they are shepherds seeking pasture because of the famine, and Pharaoh permits settlement in Goshen. Jacob blesses Pharaoh and describes his hundred and thirty years as few and troubled. Joseph provides land and food for the family. Elsewhere the famine consumes the Egyptians' resources. They first pay money for grain, then exchange livestock for food. When these are exhausted, they ask Joseph to buy them and their land for bread and give them seed. Joseph acquires the land for Pharaoh, except the priests' land, and declares that he has bought the people and their land. He provides seed and requires a fifth of the produce for Pharaoh, leaving four parts for seed and household food. The people say he has saved their lives and agree to serve Pharaoh. Israel's household gains possessions and grows. After seventeen years in Egypt, Jacob is a hundred and forty-seven. Near death, he asks Joseph to swear that he will bury him with his fathers outside Egypt. Joseph agrees and swears.

Cited passages: Genesis 47:1, Genesis 47:2, Genesis 47:3, Genesis 47:4, Genesis 47:5, Genesis 47:6, Genesis 47:7, Genesis 47:8, Genesis 47:9, Genesis 47:10, Genesis 47:11, Genesis 47:12, Genesis 47:13, Genesis 47:14, Genesis 47:15, Genesis 47:16, Genesis 47:17, Genesis 47:18, Genesis 47:19, Genesis 47:20, Genesis 47:21, Genesis 47:22, Genesis 47:23, Genesis 47:24, Genesis 47:25, Genesis 47:26, Genesis 47:27, Genesis 47:28, Genesis 47:29, Genesis 47:30, Genesis 47:31

Genesis 47 (KJV)

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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 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:

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.

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.

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

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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

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

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:

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.

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

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

Five brothers appear before Pharaoh, but their names are not given. The family receives a possession in the land called Rameses, following the permission to live in Goshen. The famine exchanges proceed from money to livestock and then to land and the people themselves. The priests retain their land because Pharaoh supplies them with food. In the King James wording cited here, Joseph also moves the people to cities. The lasting fifth-share requirement belongs to Pharaoh; the remaining four parts support sowing and the households. Jacob's stated ages are a hundred and thirty before Pharaoh and a hundred and forty-seven after seventeen years in Egypt. His burial request includes the hand-under-thigh gesture and an oath from Joseph, but the burial has not yet taken place.

Cited passages: Genesis 47:2, Genesis 47:4, Genesis 47:5, Genesis 47:6, Genesis 47:7, Genesis 47:8, Genesis 47:9, Genesis 47:10, Genesis 47:11, Genesis 47:12, Genesis 47:14, Genesis 47:15, Genesis 47:16, Genesis 47:17, Genesis 47:18, Genesis 47:19, Genesis 47:20, Genesis 47:21, Genesis 47:22, Genesis 47:23, Genesis 47:24, Genesis 47:25, Genesis 47:26, Genesis 47:27, Genesis 47:28, Genesis 47:29, Genesis 47:30, Genesis 47:31

Literary context

The family settlement and Jacob's burial request frame an account of famine and loss of independence. Joseph feeds his household while the Egyptians exchange money, livestock, land and their own service for survival. Their gratitude does not remove the transfer of property and labor to Pharaoh that the narrator records. The priestly exception marks a limit within the land transfer, and the continuing fifth-share rule makes the crisis's consequences lasting within the account. Israel's growing household contrasts with the wider loss of land. Jacob's final request points beyond residence in Egypt toward burial with his fathers.

Cited passages: Genesis 47:1, Genesis 47:4, Genesis 47:5, Genesis 47:6, Genesis 47:7, Genesis 47:9, Genesis 47:10, Genesis 47:11, Genesis 47:12, Genesis 47:13, Genesis 47:14, Genesis 47:15, Genesis 47:16, Genesis 47:17, Genesis 47:18, Genesis 47:19, Genesis 47:20, Genesis 47:21, Genesis 47:22, Genesis 47:23, Genesis 47:24, Genesis 47:25, Genesis 47:26, Genesis 47:27, Genesis 47:28, Genesis 47:29, Genesis 47:30, Genesis 47:31

Key moments

  1. Jacob describes his years (Genesis 47:9). Jacob tells Pharaoh his age and speaks of the troubles of his pilgrimage.
  2. The Egyptians offer land and service for food (Genesis 47:19). With their resources exhausted, the people ask Joseph to buy them and their land and provide seed.
  3. A fifth goes to Pharaoh (Genesis 47:24). Joseph assigns a fifth of the produce to Pharaoh and four parts to seed and household needs.
  4. Jacob asks for burial with his fathers (Genesis 47:30). Jacob asks Joseph to carry him out of Egypt for burial, and Joseph agrees.

For reflection

How does the chapter hold the preservation of life together with the losses the Egyptians incur?

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