New International Reader s Version - NIrV - 1996
Genesis 47
1
Joseph went to Pharaoh. He told him, "My father and brothers have come from the land of Canaan. They've brought along their flocks and herds and everything they own. They are now in Goshen."
Reference
3
Pharaoh asked the brothers, "What do you do for a living?" "We're shepherds," they replied to Pharaoh. "And that's what our fathers were."
4
They also said to him, "We've come to live in Egypt for a while. There isn't enough food anywhere in Canaan. There isn't any grass for our flocks. So please let us settle in Goshen."
Reference
5
Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Your father and your brothers have come to you.
6
The land of Egypt is open to you. Settle your father and brothers in the best part of the land. Let them live in Goshen. Do any of them have special skills? If they do, put them in charge of my own livestock."
Reference
Parallel theme
Exodus 18:21
Proverbs 22:29
Exodus 18:25
Genesis 47:4
2 Chronicles 26:10
References Egypt
Genesis 47:11
7
Then Joseph brought his father Jacob in. He brought him in to meet Pharaoh. Jacob gave Pharaoh his blessing.
Reference
Blessing
Genesis 47:10
8
Then Pharaoh asked him, "How old are you?"
9
Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The years of my journey through life are 130. My years have been few and hard. They aren't as many as the years of my fathers before me."
Reference
Parallel theme
Psalm 39:12
Psalm 39:5
Job 14:1
Genesis 35:28
Psalm 119:19
Psalm 119:54
James 4:14
1 Peter 2:11
11
So Joseph settled his father and his brothers in Egypt. He gave them property in the best part of the land, just as Pharaoh had directed him to do. That part was known as the territory of Rameses.
Reference
📍 Rameses
12
Joseph also provided food for his father and brothers. He provided for them and the rest of his father's family. He gave them enough for all of their children.
Reference
Parallel theme
Genesis 45:11
13
But there wasn't any food in the whole area. In fact, there wasn't enough food anywhere. Both Egypt and Canaan lost their strength because there wasn't enough food to go around.
Reference
References Egypt
Acts 7:11
14
Joseph collected all of the money that was in Egypt and Canaan. People paid it to him for the grain they were buying. And Joseph brought it to Pharaoh's palace.
Reference
References Egypt
Genesis 41:56
15
When the money of the people of Egypt and Canaan was gone, all of the Egyptians came to Joseph. They said, "Give us food. Why should we die right in front of your eyes? Our money is all gone."
16
"Then bring your livestock," said Joseph. "You say your money is gone. So I'll trade you food for your livestock."
17
They brought their livestock to Joseph. He traded them food for their animals. They gave him their horses, sheep, goats, cattle and donkeys. He brought the people through that year by trading them food for all of their livestock.
18
When that year was over, they came to him the next year. They said, "We can't hide the truth from you. Our money is gone. Our livestock belongs to you. We don't have anything left to give you except our bodies and our land.
19
"Why should we die right in front of your eyes? Why should our land be destroyed as well? Trade us food for ourselves and our land. Then we and our land will belong to Pharaoh. Give us some seeds so we can live and not die. We don't want the land to become a desert."
Reference
20
So Joseph bought all of the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. All of the people of Egypt sold their fields. They did that because there wasn't enough food anywhere. In that way, the land became Pharaoh's.
21
Joseph made the people slaves from one end of Egypt to the other.
Reference
References Egypt
Genesis 41:48
22
But he didn't buy the land that belonged to the priests. They received a regular share of food from Pharaoh. They had enough food from what Pharaoh gave them. That's why they didn't have to sell their land.
Reference
Parallel theme
Ezra 7:24
23
Joseph said to the people, "I've bought you and your land today for Pharaoh. So here are some seeds for you to plant in the ground.
24
But when the crop comes in, give a fifth of it to Pharaoh. Keep the other four-fifths for yourselves. They will be seeds for the fields. And they will be food for yourselves, your children, and the other people who live with you."
Reference
25
"You have saved our lives," they said. "If you are pleased with us, we will be slaves to Pharaoh."
Reference
Grace
Genesis 33:15
26
So Joseph made a law about land in Egypt. It's still the law today. A fifth of the produce belongs to Pharaoh. Only the land belonging to the priests didn't become Pharaoh's.
Reference
Parallel theme
Genesis 47:22
27
The people of Israel settled in Egypt in the area of Goshen. They received property there. They had children and greatly increased their numbers.
Reference
Parallel theme
Psalm 107:38
Psalm 105:24
Zechariah 10:8
Genesis 26:4
References Egypt
Genesis 46:3
Acts 7:17
Deuteronomy 26:5
References Israel
Exodus 1:7
28
Jacob lived 17 years in Egypt. He lived a total of 147 years.
29
The time came near for Israel to die. So he sent for his son Joseph. He said to him, "If you are pleased with me, put your hand under my thigh. Promise me that you will be kind and faithful to me. Don't bury me in Egypt.
Reference
30
When I join the members of my family who have already died, carry me out of Egypt. Bury me where they are buried." "I'll do exactly as you say," Joseph said.
Reference
Summary of Genesis 47
Genesis chapter forty-seven continues the resettlement of the family in Egypt, and gives us an interesting and perhaps surprising insight into how Joseph is dealing with the impending famine on a nation-scale.
The chapter opens with Joseph bringing five of his brothers to meet Pharaoh, presenting them formally. They are asked what their occupation is, and they reply precisely as Joseph has coached them: your servants are shepherds, as our fathers were. They have come to live in the land for a while, since the famine is so severe in Canaan that there is not pasture for their flocks, and ask specifically to settle in Goshen. Pharaoh readily agrees, telling Joseph to settle his father and brothers in the best part of the land, Goshen. The Pharaoh even suggests that if any of them are particularly capable, they could be put in charge of his own royal stock.
Joseph then brings him his father Jacob in to see Pharaoh, and Jacob blesses Pharaoh. Pharaoh asks him how old he is, a fairly natural question given how frail Jacob must have looked. Jacob's answer is quite telling, for it is clear he is reflecting upon a long life of hardship, deception, loss, and wandering, yet he is quite clear that the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty, few and difficult, and they have not equalled the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers. There is a real feeling of weariness in his reply to being given this wonderful opportunity.
Jacob blesses the Pharaoh once more and leaves him.
Joseph then settles his father and brothers in Egypt, giving them property in the best part of the land (the region of Rameses) as the Pharaoh had directed him. He gives food to his father and brothers and their entire households according to the number of their children, to make sure the whole extended family is cared for for the duration of the crisis.
The chapter now turns to how Joseph is handling the impending famine for the wider population in Egypt, and it is a surprising and almost unsettling insight into centrally controlled economics. As the famine draws increasingly severe to the land, Joseph gathers in his storehouses all the money to be found in Egypt and Canaan, by right of the grain they buy from him, and brings it into the Pharaoh's palace. When the money runs out, the Egyptians come to him and beg food: give us food, why should we die before your eyes, our money is all gone. So Joseph trades them their livestock for food, horses, sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys. The following year they come to him again, finding nothing to offer but themselves. We cannot hide from our lord that our money is used up and our livestock belongs to you, there is nothing left for our lord except our bodies and our land. Why should we perish before your eyes, both us and our land? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we, and with our land will be in bondage to Pharaoh, just give us seed so we may live and not die, so the land will not become desolate.
So Joseph buys all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh, and the Egyptians sell their fields because the famine is too severe for them to withstand any other way, and the land becomes Pharaoh's. Joseph reduces the whole population to a form of servitude (in the widest sense) from one end of Egypt to the other, excepting the priests' land which is kept as they receive a regular food allowance directly and never sell. Joseph buys seed for the people to plant, and when they harvest they give a fifth to Pharaoh and keep the rest for seed for the fields, and food for their households and children. The people are grateful: you have saved our lives, so say, may we find favour in our lord's eyes, we will be in bondage to Pharaoh. The text notes that this is a law established in Egypt to give a fifth to Pharaoh, which lasted into the time the text was written, with the priests' land being the one exception.
In the land of Goshen, Israel's family sets down and thrives, acquiring property, becoming fruitful and increasing greatly in number.
Jacob lives seventeen more years in Egypt, reaching a total of a hundred and forty-seven years old. As the time draws near for him to die, he calls for Joseph and asks him for one final personal favor. By the custom, he asks Joseph to put his hand under his thigh and swear that he will not bury him in Egypt, but carry him out of this land and bury him where his fathers were buried. It is a request that shows he is far from done yet, and that even seventeen years in this land of comfort and safety have not convinced him that this is his home, and Joseph swears to do exactly as he has asked.
The chapter opens with Joseph bringing five of his brothers to meet Pharaoh, presenting them formally. They are asked what their occupation is, and they reply precisely as Joseph has coached them: your servants are shepherds, as our fathers were. They have come to live in the land for a while, since the famine is so severe in Canaan that there is not pasture for their flocks, and ask specifically to settle in Goshen. Pharaoh readily agrees, telling Joseph to settle his father and brothers in the best part of the land, Goshen. The Pharaoh even suggests that if any of them are particularly capable, they could be put in charge of his own royal stock.
Joseph then brings him his father Jacob in to see Pharaoh, and Jacob blesses Pharaoh. Pharaoh asks him how old he is, a fairly natural question given how frail Jacob must have looked. Jacob's answer is quite telling, for it is clear he is reflecting upon a long life of hardship, deception, loss, and wandering, yet he is quite clear that the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty, few and difficult, and they have not equalled the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers. There is a real feeling of weariness in his reply to being given this wonderful opportunity.
Jacob blesses the Pharaoh once more and leaves him.
Joseph then settles his father and brothers in Egypt, giving them property in the best part of the land (the region of Rameses) as the Pharaoh had directed him. He gives food to his father and brothers and their entire households according to the number of their children, to make sure the whole extended family is cared for for the duration of the crisis.
The chapter now turns to how Joseph is handling the impending famine for the wider population in Egypt, and it is a surprising and almost unsettling insight into centrally controlled economics. As the famine draws increasingly severe to the land, Joseph gathers in his storehouses all the money to be found in Egypt and Canaan, by right of the grain they buy from him, and brings it into the Pharaoh's palace. When the money runs out, the Egyptians come to him and beg food: give us food, why should we die before your eyes, our money is all gone. So Joseph trades them their livestock for food, horses, sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys. The following year they come to him again, finding nothing to offer but themselves. We cannot hide from our lord that our money is used up and our livestock belongs to you, there is nothing left for our lord except our bodies and our land. Why should we perish before your eyes, both us and our land? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we, and with our land will be in bondage to Pharaoh, just give us seed so we may live and not die, so the land will not become desolate.
So Joseph buys all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh, and the Egyptians sell their fields because the famine is too severe for them to withstand any other way, and the land becomes Pharaoh's. Joseph reduces the whole population to a form of servitude (in the widest sense) from one end of Egypt to the other, excepting the priests' land which is kept as they receive a regular food allowance directly and never sell. Joseph buys seed for the people to plant, and when they harvest they give a fifth to Pharaoh and keep the rest for seed for the fields, and food for their households and children. The people are grateful: you have saved our lives, so say, may we find favour in our lord's eyes, we will be in bondage to Pharaoh. The text notes that this is a law established in Egypt to give a fifth to Pharaoh, which lasted into the time the text was written, with the priests' land being the one exception.
In the land of Goshen, Israel's family sets down and thrives, acquiring property, becoming fruitful and increasing greatly in number.
Jacob lives seventeen more years in Egypt, reaching a total of a hundred and forty-seven years old. As the time draws near for him to die, he calls for Joseph and asks him for one final personal favor. By the custom, he asks Joseph to put his hand under his thigh and swear that he will not bury him in Egypt, but carry him out of this land and bury him where his fathers were buried. It is a request that shows he is far from done yet, and that even seventeen years in this land of comfort and safety have not convinced him that this is his home, and Joseph swears to do exactly as he has asked.