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Genesis 47

1

Then 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.

2

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

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

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They 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.

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

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The 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.

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

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And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou?

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And 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.

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

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And 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.

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

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And 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.

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And 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.

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And 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.

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

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And 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.

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When 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:

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Wherefore 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.

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And 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.

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

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Only 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.

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Then 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.

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And 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.

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

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And 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.

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

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

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And 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:

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But 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.

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

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Genesis 47

Genesis 47 shows Joseph providing for both his family and the people of Egypt during the famine's most severe years. He settles his family in the best of the land — Goshen — and presents his father to Pharaoh. Jacob, old and weathered, blesses Pharaoh — the lesser is blessed by the greater, as Hebrews 7:7 notes. Asked his age, Jacob describes his one hundred and thirty years as few and evil, a tired pilgrim's assessment of a hard life. The chapter then traces how the famine gives Pharaoh control over all the land and livestock of Egypt, as people trade everything for grain — a portrait of the economic devastation famine brings. Joseph is faithful in his role, not abusing his power but structuring a system that keeps people alive. Israel settles, acquires property, and is fruitful in Goshen. Jacob makes Joseph swear to bury him not in Egypt but in the land of his fathers — an act of faith in the promise, like Abraham's purchase of a tomb in Canaan. Even in comfort and provision, the patriarchs keep their eyes on what God promised.

Genesis 47:1

Joseph went and told Pharaoh: my father and brothers, with their flocks and herds and everything they own, have come from the land of Canaan and are now in Goshen. The report to Pharaoh is straightforward: family arrived, location confirmed. The application: the honest and timely report to authority of significant developments is the faithful stewardship of the position Joseph holds.

Genesis 47:2

He chose five of his brothers and presented them to Pharaoh. The selection of five brothers for the formal presentation is the covenant family's representative introduction to the highest power in Egypt. The application: the wise presentation of a community to an authority is the presentation of the most suitable representatives, not the full community.

Genesis 47:3

Pharaoh asked the brothers: what is your occupation? And they answered Pharaoh: your servants are shepherds, just as our ancestors were. The question anticipated and the answer rehearsed — exactly as Joseph instructed. The application: the preparation for the significant question produces the honest and confident answer.

Genesis 47:4

They also said to Pharaoh: we have come to live here for a while, because the famine is severe in Canaan and your servants' flocks have no pasture. So now, please let your servants settle in the region of Goshen. The request for Goshen — framed by the severity of the famine and the need for pasture — is the honest explanation of need combined with the specific request. The application: the request that names the need and asks for the specific provision is the request most likely to receive a considered response.

Genesis 47:5

Pharaoh said to Joseph: your father and your brothers have come to you. The land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and your brothers in the best part of the land. Let them live in Goshen. And if you know of any among them with special ability, put them in charge of my own livestock. Pharaoh's generous response — best part of the land, Goshen, put the capable ones in charge of my livestock — is the blessing through Joseph extending to the whole covenant family. The application: the covenant person's elevation produces benefits for the covenant community. Joseph's position as lord of Egypt has become provision for seventy people.

Genesis 47:6

Then Joseph brought his father Jacob in and presented him before Pharaoh. After Jacob blessed Pharaoh, Pharaoh asked him: how old are you? The presentation of Jacob to Pharaoh and the blessing — Jacob blessed Pharaoh — is the remarkable inversion of social hierarchy: the patriarch of a group of foreign shepherds blesses the most powerful man in the world. Hebrews 7:7 observes that the lesser is blessed by the greater. The application: the blessing that Jacob gives to Pharaoh is the blessing that flows from the covenant. The covenant patriarch blesses the most powerful man in the world.

Genesis 47:7

And Jacob said to Pharaoh: the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers. The description of life as pilgrimage — few and difficult — is the honest testimony of a man who has known more grief than joy. The comparison to his fathers — Abraham 175, Isaac 180 — is the humble acknowledgment that his life, for all its difficulty, has been shorter and less settled. The application: the honest account of a difficult life, offered without self-pity or exaggeration, is the testimony of someone who has not avoided the truth about what living faithfully costs.

Genesis 47:8

Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from Pharaoh's presence. The closing blessing of Pharaoh by Jacob — the patriarch blessing the king as he departs — is the covenant person's consistent practice: blessing those in authority over them. The application: the consistent practice of blessing — given at arrival and at departure — is the covenant person's way of honoring the image of God in those they encounter, regardless of the power differential.

Genesis 47:9

And Jacob said to Pharaoh: the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers. The testimony of pilgrimage — repeated here — is the theological self-understanding of the covenant person: life is a pilgrimage, not a permanent settlement. Hebrews 11:13 describes the patriarchs as foreigners and strangers on earth. The application: the honest naming of one's own life as pilgrimage — few and difficult — is the naming that places one within the longer story of the covenant rather than expecting the covenant to produce ease.

Genesis 47:10

After Jacob blessed Pharaoh, he went out from Pharaoh's presence. The departure is marked by the blessing — the same blessing given at arrival. The covenant encounter is framed by blessing. The application: the framing of significant encounters with blessing — at arrival and departure — is the covenant person's consistent testimony that all encounters are held within God's provision.

Genesis 47:11

So Joseph settled his father and his brothers in Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh directed. The settlement in Rameses — the district named for the later pharaoh whose labor projects will oppress Israel — is the covenant family's location in Egypt. The application: the covenant family settles in the place that will eventually be named for their oppressor. The geography of covenant history often anticipates the suffering that is coming.

Genesis 47:12

Joseph also provided his father and his brothers and all his father's household with food, according to the number of their children. The provision according to the number of children — the most vulnerable members of the household — is the covenant care for those least able to provide for themselves. The application: the provision that is calibrated to the most vulnerable members of the community is the provision of justice and covenant faithfulness.

Genesis 47:13

There was no food, however, in the whole region because the famine was severe; both Egypt and Canaan wasted away because of the famine. The famine that afflicts the whole region is the context within which Joseph's administration of Egypt's food supply becomes the most significant governance act in the ancient world. The application: the covenant person in a position of authority serves not only the covenant community but the entire region that the famine has put in need.

Genesis 47:14

Joseph collected all the money that was to be found in Egypt and Canaan in payment for the grain they were buying, and he brought it to Pharaoh's palace. The accumulation of Egypt's and Canaan's monetary wealth into Pharaoh's treasury is the first phase of the economic transformation that the famine produces. The application: the severity of the famine is measured by the financial exhaustion it produces before the next phase begins.

Genesis 47:15

When the money of the people of Egypt and Canaan was gone, all Egypt came to Joseph and said: give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? Our money is used up. The return to Joseph when the money is gone is the crisis that requires the next phase of the provision plan. The application: the governance of crisis resources requires multiple phases — the phase after money is gone requires a different kind of solution.

Genesis 47:16

Then bring your livestock, said Joseph. I will sell you food in exchange for your livestock, since your money is gone. The livestock-for-food phase is Joseph's pragmatic extension of the provision — the people have something else of value; Joseph accepts it. The application: the creative exchange that finds what value remains when the primary currency is exhausted is the stewardship of limited resources under crisis conditions.

Genesis 47:17

So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for their horses, their sheep and goats, their cattle and donkeys. And he brought them through that year with food in exchange for all their livestock. The full exchange — horses, sheep, goats, cattle, donkeys — is the exhaustion of the second resource. That year is brought through. The application: the provision that brings through one year at a time is the provision of the crisis manager who does not promise more than the resources can sustain.

Genesis 47:18

When that year was over, they came to him the following year and said: we cannot hide from our lord the fact that since our money is gone and our livestock belongs to you, there is nothing left for our lord except our bodies and our land. The exhaustion of money and livestock leads to the third resource: bodies and land. The application: the crisis that takes money, then livestock, then threatens land and bodies is the crisis of maximum vulnerability — the people have nothing left but themselves.

Genesis 47:19

Why should we perish before your eyes — we and our land as well? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we with our land will be in bondage to Pharaoh. Give us seed so that we may live and not die, and that the land may not become desolate. The request — buy us and our land — is the request for the most drastic form of the exchange: the people trading their freedom and land for the survival of one more year. The application: the urgency of the survival request — we and our land will be in bondage, just give us seed — is the urgency of people who have nothing left but their lives.

Genesis 47:20

So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. The Egyptians, one and all, sold their fields, because the famine was too severe for them. The land became Pharaoh's. The consolidation of all Egyptian land into Pharaoh's ownership is the economic consequence of the seven-year famine. The application: the famine that Joseph predicted and prepared for has produced the most complete economic transformation in the history of Egypt.

Genesis 47:21

And Joseph reduced the people to servitude, from one end of Egypt to the other. The reduction to servitude is the covenant person's administration of a crisis that has now made the entire Egyptian population dependent. The application: the governance of extreme crisis can produce outcomes — dependency, servitude — that become the structures of the next generation's suffering.

Genesis 47:22

However, he did not buy the land of the priests, because they received a regular allotment from Pharaoh and had food enough from the allotment Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their land. The exception for the priests is the Egyptian political reality — the priestly class is supported by Pharaoh and does not need to sell. The application: the administration of crisis resources must account for the existing social structures and their exceptions.

Genesis 47:23

Joseph said to the people: now that I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh, here is seed for you so you can plant the ground. The seed provision — here is seed — is the beginning of the recovery phase: the people have traded land and freedom for survival; Joseph gives them the means to begin producing again. The application: the covenant provision that sustains through crisis is followed by the provision that enables recovery.

Genesis 47:24

But when the crop comes in, give a fifth of it to Pharaoh. The four-fifths are yours to keep as seed for the fields and as food for yourselves and your households and your children. The five-to-one ratio — four parts for the people, one part for Pharaoh — is Joseph's establishment of the ongoing arrangement. The application: the taxation that follows the crisis is structured to enable recovery — four-fifths is enough to live on and plant the next season.

Genesis 47:25

You have saved our lives, they said. May we find favor in the eyes of our lord; we will be in bondage to Pharaoh. The gratitude of the people — you have saved our lives — is the testimony to Joseph's governance of the crisis. The application: the person who manages crisis well receives the gratitude of those who survive because of the management. The people acknowledge what has been done for them.

Genesis 47:26

So Joseph established it as a law concerning land in Egypt — still in force today — that a fifth of the produce belongs to Pharaoh. It was only the land of the priests that did not become Pharaoh's. The law established — still in force at the time of writing — is the covenant person's contribution to the governance structure of the society in which they serve. The application: the administration of a crisis can produce lasting institutional structures. Joseph's governance of the famine becomes the tax law of Egypt.

Genesis 47:27

Now the Israelites settled in Egypt in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and were fruitful and increased greatly in number. The fruitfulness of Israel in Goshen — acquiring property, increasing greatly — is the covenant blessing operating in Egypt. The application: the covenant blessing of fruitfulness and increase operates wherever the covenant family is placed — in Canaan, in Harran, in Egypt. The promise of Genesis 12:2 is being kept.

Genesis 47:28

Jacob lived in Egypt seventeen years, and the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven. The seventeen years Jacob lives in Egypt mirrors the seventeen years Joseph lived in Jacob's household before being sold — Jacob spending his final years in the presence of the son he mourned as dead for twenty-two years. The application: the final seventeen years of Jacob's life are the years of restoration — the years with Joseph that the twenty-two years of separation had denied.

Genesis 47:29

When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called for his son Joseph and said to him: if I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise that you will show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt. The oath request — hand under the thigh — is the same oath Abraham required of his servant in Genesis 24:2. Jacob is requesting from Joseph what Abraham requested from his servant: the covenant act of faithful provision after death. The application: the covenant oath that spans the distance between Canaan and Egypt — do not bury me there — is the covenant faithfulness that reaches beyond death.

Genesis 47:30

But when I rest with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me where they are buried. I will carry out your wish, Joseph said. Carry me out of Egypt and bury me where they are buried — the request is the covenant belonging expressed in burial location. Jacob belongs in Canaan; he will not remain in Egypt. The application: the place where you are buried is the declaration of where you belong. Jacob belongs with Abraham and Isaac in Machpelah.

Genesis 47:31

Swear to me, he said. Then Joseph swore to him, and Israel worshipped as he leaned on the top of his staff. The oath sworn and the worship that follows — Israel worshipping as he leaned on his staff — is the covenant patriarch's final act before the death-bed blessing. Hebrews 11:21 notes that by faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and worshipped as he leaned on the top of his staff. The application: the worship that accompanies the significant covenant act — even the requesting of a burial oath — is the worship of the person whose whole life has been oriented toward God.