The big picture
Joseph has brought Jacob’s household into Egypt during the famine. Joseph is Jacob’s son and Pharaoh’s chief food official. Pharaoh, Egypt’s king, has allowed the family to live in Goshen, a good area for their livestock. Jacob and his sons have come from Canaan, their former home. The chapter first shows the family receiving land and food. It then turns to the wider famine, where Egyptians use money, animals, land, and service to obtain grain. At the end, Jacob asks Joseph to bury him outside Egypt.
In this chapter
- Pharaoh Gives the Family Land Genesis 47:1-12
Joseph tells Pharaoh that his father, brothers, flocks, and herds have arrived from Canaan.
- Famine Transfers Land to Pharaoh Genesis 47:13-26
The famine grows so severe that food runs out across Egypt and Canaan.
- Jacob Secures His Burial Promise Genesis 47:27-31
The household prospers in Goshen.
Central truth
Jacob’s family settles safely in Egypt while famine moves land and service under Pharaoh, and Jacob prepares for burial in Canaan.
Scripture beside the summary
Genesis · King James Version · 31Genesis 47:1-12
Pharaoh Gives the Family Land
Joseph tells Pharaoh that his father, brothers, flocks, and herds have arrived from Canaan. He presents five brothers to the king. Pharaoh asks what work they do. They say they are shepherds, like their fathers, and ask to live in Goshen because famine has ruined pasture in Canaan. Pharaoh agrees. He also offers work over his own cattle to any brothers who are especially capable. Joseph then brings Jacob before Pharaoh. Jacob blesses the king and says he is 130 years old. He describes his years as hard and shorter than those of his fathers. Joseph settles the family in the land of Rameses, an Egyptian district named here as their new home. He gives them food for their households.
In everyday life
A horse trainer brings his family to a large stable after drought shuts down their old work. The owner gives them room for their animals and offers a management job to the best handler. Their elderly father is formally introduced before the family settles. Pharaoh’s choice is different because he rules a kingdom and can grant land by royal command.
Notice
Genesis 47:7 Jacob blesses Pharaoh when Joseph presents him. The old migrant gives a blessing to the king who has the power to shelter and feed his family.
Genesis 47:1-12
King James Version1Then 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.
Genesis 47:13-26
Famine Transfers Land to Pharaoh
The famine grows so severe that food runs out across Egypt and Canaan. Joseph first sells grain for money and brings the money into Pharaoh’s house. When the money is gone, people trade livestock for food. The next year they offer their land and their own service to Pharaoh so they can stay alive and receive seed. Joseph buys the land for Pharaoh and moves the people into cities. He does not buy the priests’ land because Pharaoh already supplies them with food. Joseph then gives the people seed. From each harvest, one fifth will go to Pharaoh. The other four fifths stay with the farmers for seed and household food. The people accept the terms because they have survived.
In everyday life
A farm family burns through its savings during a long crop failure. Next it sells the animals, then signs over the land to one lender in return for seed and food. The family keeps working the fields but now owes a fixed share of each harvest. The deal prevents hunger but changes ownership for good. Pharaoh’s system goes further because the people also become his servants.
Notice
Genesis 47:24 The lasting payment is one fifth of each harvest to Pharaoh. The other four fifths must cover seed for the next crop and food for each household.
Genesis 47:13-26
King James Version13And 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.
Genesis 47:27-31
Jacob Secures His Burial Promise
The household prospers in Goshen. They gain possessions and grow in number. Jacob lives in Egypt for seventeen years and reaches 147 years of age. As death comes near, he calls Joseph. He asks Joseph to make a solemn promise not to bury him in Egypt. Jacob wants his body carried out and buried where his fathers were buried. He asks Joseph to place a hand under his thigh, an oath custom already used earlier in Genesis. Joseph agrees. Jacob asks him to swear, and Joseph does. Jacob then bows at the head of his bed.
In everyday life
A dying father calls his daughter to the bedside. He asks her to handle one final family duty. He wants his body taken back to the cemetery where earlier generations are buried. She gives him a firm promise. Jacob’s request is different because it ties his burial to the land promised to his family.
Notice
Genesis 47:29 Jacob asks not to be buried in Egypt even though his family is prospering there. His final wish keeps Canaan, not Egypt, as the family’s lasting homeland.
Genesis 47:27-31
King James Version27And 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.
Details worth noticing
The opening image
Genesis 47:1 begins with “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…”
Where the chapter turns
Genesis 47:15 forms a natural hinge: “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…”
The final note
Genesis 47:31 leaves the reader with “And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head.”
A word trail through the chapter
The words land, Pharaoh, Joseph, Egypt, brethren, cattle help reveal the chapter’s repeated concerns.
KJV words made clear
- sojourn
- Live somewhere for a time without treating it as a permanent homeland.
- men of activity
- Capable, skilled men; Pharaoh wants good livestock managers over his own animals.
- pilgrimage
- A life lived as a traveler or temporary resident; Jacob uses it for his whole lifespan.
- ought
- Anything; in this verse the people say they have nothing left besides bodies and land.
- sware
- Swore; Joseph gives Jacob a binding promise about where he will be buried.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
