Genesis 47 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 Joseph went to report to Pharaoh and told him, “My father and brothers, along with their flocks and herds and all their possessions, have arrived from the land of Canaan and now they're here in Goshen.”
1 Then Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, and said, “My father and my brothers, with their flocks, their herds, and all that they own, have come out of the land of Canaan; and behold, they are in the land of Goshen.”
2 Joseph took five of his brothers to go with him and introduced them to Pharaoh.
2 From among his brothers he took five men, and presented them to Pharaoh.
3 Pharaoh asked the brothers, “What work do you do?” “Your servants are shepherds, just like our fathers before us,” they replied.
3 Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” They said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, both we, and our fathers.”
4 “We have come to live in Egypt because there's no grass left in Canaan for our flocks to eat,” they explained. “The famine is really bad in Canaan. So we would like to please ask permission to live in Goshen.”
4 They also said to Pharaoh, “We have come to live as foreigners in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks. For the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.”
5 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Now that your father and brothers have arrived to join you,
5 Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, “Your father and your brothers have come to you.
6 you can choose wherever you like in Egypt, the best place, for them to live. Let them live in Goshen. If you know any of them who are good at what they do, put them in charge of my livestock as well.”
6 The land of Egypt is before you. Make your father and your brothers dwell in the best of the land. Let them dwell in the land of Goshen. If you know any able men among them, then put them in charge of my livestock.”
7 Then Joseph went with his father Jacob and introduced him to Pharaoh. After Jacob blessed Pharaoh,
7 Joseph brought in Jacob, his father, and set him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
8 Pharaoh asked him, “So how long have you lived?”
8 Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How old are you?”
9 “I have been wandering for 130 years,” Jacob replied. “My life has been short and difficult—I have not lived as long as my forefathers who also wandered from place to place.”
9 Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my pilgrimage are one hundred thirty years. The days of the years of my life have been few and evil. They have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.”
10 Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh again before leaving him.
10 Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from the presence of Pharaoh.
11 So Joseph arranged for his father and brothers to live in Egypt and gave them land in the best part near Rameses, as Pharaoh had ordered.
11 Joseph placed his father and his brothers, 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.
12 He also provided food for all of them—his father, his brothers, and his father's whole household—depending on family size.
12 Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all of his father’s household with bread, according to the sizes of their families.
13 No food was left in the whole country because the famine had become so bad. Throughout Egypt and Canaan people were starving.
13 There was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine.
14 By selling grain Joseph collected all the money in Egypt and Canaan, and placed it in Pharaoh's treasury.
14 Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.
15 Once the money from Egypt and Canaan had run out, the Egyptians all came to Joseph and demanded, “Give us food! Do you want us to die right in front of you? All our money is gone!”
15 When the money was all spent in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, and said, “Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? For our money fails.”
16 “Bring me your livestock,” Joseph told them. “I'll give you grain in exchange for your livestock if you've run out of money.”
16 Joseph said, “Give me your livestock; and I will give you food for your livestock, if your money is gone.”
17 So they brought Joseph their livestock, and he provided them with grain in exchange for their horses, sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys. He gave them grain in return for their livestock during that year.
17 They brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, and for the flocks, and for the herds, and for the donkeys: and he fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock for that year.
18 But when that year was over, they came to him the next year and said, “My lord, we can't hide from you the fact that our money is gone and that you now own our livestock. All we have left to give you are our bodies and our land.
18 When that year was ended, they came to him the second year, and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord how our money is all spent, and the herds of livestock are my lord’s. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands.
19 Do you want us to die right in front of you? So buy us and our land in return for food. Then our land will belong to Pharaoh, and we'll be his slaves. Just give us grain so we can live and won't die, and so the land won't be abandoned.”
19 Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh. Give us seed, that we may live, and not die, and that the land won’t be desolate.”
20 So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. Each and every Egyptian sold their fields, because the famine was hurting them so badly. The land ended up being owned by Pharaoh,
20 So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for every man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was severe on them, and the land became Pharaoh’s.
21 and all the people became his slaves, from one end of Egypt to the other.
21 As for the people, he moved them to the cities from one end of the border of Egypt even to the other end of it.
22 The only land he didn't buy belonged to the priests because they had a food allowance provided to them by Pharaoh, so they didn't have to sell their land.
22 Only he didn’t buy the land of the priests, for the priests had a portion from Pharaoh, and ate their portion which Pharaoh gave them. That is why they didn’t sell their land.
23 Then Joseph told the people, “Listen to me! Now that I have bought you and your land for Pharaoh, I'm giving you some seed for you to sow the fields.
23 Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh. Behold, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land.
24 However, when it's harvested, you have to give one-fifth of it to Pharaoh. The other four-fifths you can keep as seed for the fields and as food for you, your households, and your children.”
24 It will happen at the harvests, that you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four parts will be your own, for seed of the field, for your food, for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.”
25 “You've saved our lives,” they declared. “May you continue to treat us well, my lord, and we'll be Pharaoh's slaves.”
25 They said, “You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.”
26 So Joseph made it a law for Egypt which is still is in effect today that one-fifth of all produce from the land belongs to Pharaoh. Only the priests' land was exempt since it did not belong to Pharaoh.
26 Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth. Only the land of the priests alone didn’t become Pharaoh’s.
27 The Israelites settled in Goshen in Egypt where they became prosperous landowners and rapidly increased in number.
27 Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen; and they got themselves possessions therein, and were fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly.
28 Jacob lived in Egypt for seventeen years, so he lived in total 147 years.
28 Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were one hundred forty-seven years.
29 When the time came for Israel to die, he called for his son Joseph and said to him, “If you think well of me, place your hand under my thigh and promise to treat me with trustworthy love and faithfulness. Don't bury me here in Egypt.
29 The time came near that Israel must die, and he called his son Joseph, and said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, please put your hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me. Please don’t bury me in Egypt,
30 When I die, bury me with my forefathers. You must take my body from Egypt to the family tomb and bury me with them.” “I will do as you say,” Joseph promised.
30 but when I sleep with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying place.” Joseph said, “I will do as you have said.”
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Jacob
He wrestled with God through the night and rose as Israel, father of twelve tribes.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 25–35; 46–49
Joseph
Betrayed and enslaved, he rose to rule Egypt and saved his family from famine.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 37; 39–50
Cross references (28)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Genesis 45:10; Genesis 46:31; Genesis 46:28; Genesis 45:16; Exodus 9:26
- 2 Acts 7:13; 2 Corinthians 4:14; Jude 24; Colossians 1:28
- 3 Genesis 46:33–34; 2 Thessalonians 3:10; Amos 7:14–15; Jonah 1:8; Genesis 4:2
- 4 Genesis 46:34; Deuteronomy 26:5; Genesis 15:13; Genesis 43:1; Acts 7:11
- 6 Exodus 18:21; Genesis 47:11; Proverbs 22:29; 2 Chronicles 26:10; Exodus 18:25
- 7 Genesis 47:10; 2 Samuel 14:22; Exodus 12:32; Luke 22:19; Matthew 26:26
- 9 Job 14:1; Psalm 39:12; Genesis 35:28; Psalm 39:5; Exodus 7:7
- 10 Genesis 47:7; Deuteronomy 33:1; Hebrews 7:7; 2 Samuel 8:10; Genesis 14:19
- 11 Genesis 47:6; Exodus 12:37; Exodus 1:11; John 17:24; John 14:2
- 12 Genesis 45:11; Mark 7:10–13; Exodus 20:12; Genesis 47:1; Ruth 4:15
- 13 Acts 7:11; Jeremiah 9:12; Lamentations 4:9; Genesis 41:30–31; 1 Kings 18:5
- 14 Genesis 41:56; Luke 16:10–12; 1 Peter 4:10; Luke 16:1–2; 1 Corinthians 4:2
- 15 Judges 8:8; Judges 8:5; Matthew 6:11; Psalm 37:3; Genesis 47:18–19
- 16 Philippians 4:8; 1 Corinthians 10:32; Proverbs 12:17; Colossians 4:5; Daniel 6:5–7
- 17 Isaiah 31:1; Job 2:4; Matthew 6:24; 1 Kings 10:28; Exodus 9:3
- 18 Jeremiah 38:9; 2 Kings 6:26
- 19 Nehemiah 5:2–3; Job 2:4; Lamentations 1:11; Lamentations 5:9; Lamentations 5:6
- 21 Genesis 41:48
- 22 Ezra 7:24; Joshua 21:1–45; Nehemiah 13:10; 1 Corinthians 9:13; Genesis 41:50
- 23 Isaiah 55:10; Isaiah 28:24–25; Genesis 45:6; Psalm 112:5; Proverbs 12:11
- 24 Genesis 41:34; Psalm 112:5; Psalm 41:1; Genesis 47:25; 1 Samuel 8:15–17
- 25 Genesis 33:15; Proverbs 11:26–27; Genesis 41:45; Genesis 50:20; Genesis 45:6–8
- 26 Genesis 47:22; Ezekiel 7:24
- 27 Genesis 46:3; Exodus 1:7; Acts 7:17; Psalm 107:38; Psalm 105:24
- 28 Psalm 90:10; Psalm 119:84; Psalm 90:12; Genesis 47:8–9; Genesis 37:2
- 29 Genesis 24:2; Deuteronomy 31:14; Genesis 24:49; 1 Kings 2:1; Genesis 50:24–25
- 30 Genesis 49:29–32; Genesis 25:9; Genesis 23:19; Genesis 50:25; 2 Samuel 19:37
- 31 1 Kings 1:47; Genesis 24:3; Hebrews 11:21; Genesis 47:29; Genesis 24:26
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
Why does my Bible say something different?
- Hebrews 11:21 and Genesis 47:31: Jacob’s staff or Jacob’s bed?
In the Hebrew text of Genesis 47:31 Israel bows “upon the bed’s head.” In the Septuagint he bows “on the top of his staff,” and Hebrews 11:21 quotes the Greek. The Hebrew consonants can be read either way; only the later vowel marks decide. The Orthodox Church reads “staff,” and St John of Damascus used the verse in defending the veneration of holy things.
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
"Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been," said Jacob, and elsewhere "all the days of my life." Thus under the form of history the law is laid down for what is to follow.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 8 (1895)