Genesis 47

Jacob’s family is welcomed and settled in Goshen, and the aged Jacob blesses Pharaoh. As the famine deepens, Joseph gathers Egypt’s money, livestock, land and finally the people themselves into Pharaoh’s hands, and the people thank him for keeping them alive. The chapter ends with Israel growing in Egypt while Jacob, near death, makes Joseph promise to bury him in Canaan, the land God promised.

Genesis 47:1

Joseph keeps his word and reports to Pharaoh that his family has arrived and is waiting in Goshen. He does the proper thing before the king, and he does it carefully, as he had planned with his brothers. The family’s welcome rests on Joseph’s standing and honesty.

See also: Genesis 46:31-34.

Genesis 47:2

Joseph picks five of his brothers to stand before Pharaoh. Presenting only a few was courteous and probably wise. It kept the meeting simple and let Joseph guide what was said, so the family could secure the land of Goshen.

BSA: presented (“set, introduced”): Joseph deliberately places his brothers in front of the king, as a trusted guide making formal introductions.

Genesis 47:3

Pharaoh asks about their work, and the brothers answer honestly: they are shepherds, as their fathers were. Joseph had prepared them for this answer. It would keep them in Goshen, apart from the Egyptians, who looked down on shepherds. They call themselves Pharaoh’s servants, the polite way to address a king.

Hebrew: רֹעֵה צֹאן (ro’eh tson, H7462) — “shepherd of the flock.” This is the simple, humble trade of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The same title is later given to David, and to God himself in the Psalms.

See also: Genesis 46:34.

Genesis 47:4

The brothers make clear they are visitors, not permanent residents. Canaan’s pastures have failed in the severe famine, so they ask for Goshen. They see Egypt as a temporary shelter, not their home. That fits the promise that Canaan would be their land.

BSA: live (“sojourn, temporarily reside”): They ask only to stay for a time, as guests, not to claim Egypt as their own.

Hebrew: לָגוּר (lagur, H1481) — “to stay as a foreigner, to sojourn.” The word describes a resident alien with no inherited land. Israel’s fathers were often described this way.

Genesis 47:5-6

Pharaoh gladly gives Joseph’s family the best of Egypt, with Goshen as their home. He also offers jobs to any capable brothers, putting them over his own herds. Joseph’s goodness to Egypt now returns as kindness to his family.

BSA: talented (“able, skilled”): Pharaoh wants men of real ability, and offers them responsible work, not mere shelter.

Genesis 47:7

Joseph brings his aged father before the most powerful man in the world. Jacob does not bow and ask a favor. He blesses Pharaoh. In God’s order the lesser is blessed by the greater, and Jacob carries God’s promise, so the king receives a blessing from him.

See also: Genesis 12:3; Hebrews 7:7.

Genesis 47:8-9

Asked his age, Jacob answers honestly: 130 years of wandering, few and hard compared with his fathers’ longer lives. He calls life a journey, not a settled home. He has known fear, loss and family sorrow, yet he speaks as a pilgrim who looks beyond this life.

BSA: travels (“sojourning, pilgrimage”): Jacob sees his whole life as a pilgrim’s journey, not a settled residence. hard (“evil, bad”): The word means troubled and painful. Jacob is naming real sorrow, not complaining about small things.

Hebrew: מְגוּרַי (megurai, H4033) — “my sojournings.” Jacob uses the word for a foreigner’s stay, calling his life a long pilgrimage. Hebrews later says the patriarchs confessed they were strangers on earth.

See also: Hebrews 11:13; Psalm 39:12.

Genesis 47:10

Jacob blesses Pharaoh again as he leaves. The meeting is framed by blessing at both ends. Through this old shepherd, the king of Egypt receives the favor God had promised to give the nations through Abraham’s family.

BSA: blessed (“praised, honored, or invoked God’s favor upon”): Jacob is asking God’s favor on Pharaoh, not just saying a polite farewell.

Genesis 47:11

Joseph carries out Pharaoh’s order exactly. His family receives land in the best part of Egypt, called the district of Rameses. This is a real possession, not just permission to camp. God is caring for his people even in a foreign land.

See also: Exodus 1:11.

Genesis 47:12

Joseph feeds his whole family, down to the youngest children. The famine is severe, but they are fed according to their needs. The brothers who once sold him now live on his provision.

BSA: families (“according to the number of children, their needs”): Joseph measured the food to each household’s size, so even the little ones were fed.

Hebrew: וַיְכַלְכֵּל (vayekhalkel, H3557) — “and he sustained, he supplied with food.” The word means to nourish and keep someone going, like a steward who looks after dependents.

Genesis 47:13

The famine grows so heavy that food is gone from the whole region. Egypt and Canaan are both worn out. This sets the stage for what follows: desperate people will give up everything to eat.

BSA: exhausted (“wasted, languishing”): The lands are pictured as faint and worn down, like a person who is wasting away.

See also: Genesis 41:56-57.

Genesis 47:14

People pay for grain with money, and Joseph collects it all and brings it to Pharaoh’s palace. The money goes into the king’s treasury, not Joseph’s pocket. Joseph acts as a faithful steward of the king’s grain.

BSA: money (“silver, wealth, payment”): In that day money meant weighed silver, the usual means of trade.

Genesis 47:15

When their silver runs out, the Egyptians come begging for food. Their plea is simple and urgent: they do not want to die in front of him. Hunger strips away pride, and all they have left is need.

BSA: die (“perish, or come to an end”): They fear not just discomfort but the end of life itself.

Genesis 47:16-17

Joseph accepts livestock instead of money. The people hand over horses, flocks, herds and donkeys, and he feeds them for a year. Giving up the animals is costly, since their farm work and wealth depend on them, but it keeps them alive.

BSA: livestock (“domestic animals, such as cattle, sheep, and goats”): These animals were the people’s working capital, their wealth and their means of making a living.

Genesis 47:18-19

In the second year the people come back with nothing left but their bodies and land. They offer themselves as Pharaoh’s slaves in return for food and seed. They also want seed to plant, so that they live and the land does not become wasteland.

BSA: slaves (“servants, bondmen”): They are willing to become bound laborers to the king, in exchange for survival.

Hebrew: זֶרַע (zera, H2233) — “seed.” The word means seed for planting. It is also the word for offspring, so the plea means seed for the next harvest and for the people’s future.

Genesis 47:20-21

Every Egyptian sells his field, and the whole land becomes Pharaoh’s. The people are reduced to servants of the crown. It is a hard picture of how deeply famine and need can bind people, yet Joseph is working for their survival within the system of the day.

Hebrew: וַיִּקֶן (vayiqen, H7069) — “and he bought, he acquired.” The verb means a real purchase. The people sell their land freely to survive, and Joseph does not simply seize it.

Genesis 47:22

The priests keep their land, because Pharaoh already gave them a regular food allowance. They were already provided for and needed no rescue. Even in this general hardship, an order of provision remained for those who served the gods of Egypt.

BSA: priests (“those who serve God, spiritual leaders”): This marks them as a religious class, supported by the king and not forced to sell.

Genesis 47:23-24

Joseph gives the people seed and sets a fair arrangement: one-fifth of the harvest to Pharaoh and four-fifths to keep. They can sow, eat and feed their children. The rule is clear and modest, compared with the total loss they might have faced.

BSA: fifth (“one-fifth, the fifth part”): The share is a defined and limited portion, so the people can plan around it.

Genesis 47:25

The people respond with gratitude: you have saved our lives. They count it a favor to be in Joseph’s good graces, and they willingly accept being Pharaoh’s servants. They see Joseph’s rule as a rescue, not oppression.

BSA: saved (“revived, given new life to”): The word is about being brought back to life, as if from the edge of death.

Hebrew: הֶחֱיִתָנוּ (hechyitanu, H2421) — “you have kept us alive.” It comes from the word for life and means ‘made us live.’ The people credit Joseph with giving them life itself.

Genesis 47:26

Joseph makes the one-fifth a lasting law in Egypt. The writer notes it still stood in his day. Only the priests’ land stayed free of it. The chapter shows how Joseph’s wisdom shaped the nation for generations.

Hebrew: חֹק (choq, H2706) — “statute, fixed law.” The word means something engraved or set down firmly. This was a standing rule, not a one-time emergency measure.

Genesis 47:27

In contrast to Egypt’s struggles, Israel’s family settles in Goshen and prospers. They gain property and multiply. This echoes God’s first blessing to humanity and his promise of many descendants to Abraham, as seen later in Exodus.

BSA: fruitful (“productive, bearing spiritual and physical fruit”): The blessing is of real growth and life, as God first spoke it over creation.

See also: Genesis 1:28; Exodus 1:7.

Genesis 47:28

Jacob lives seventeen years in Egypt and dies at 147. Those last years are peaceful, and he is reunited with Joseph. They match the seventeen years Joseph spent with his father as a boy, a gentle sense of restoration at the end of a hard life.

See also: Genesis 37:2.

Genesis 47:29

As death approaches, Jacob asks Joseph to swear to bury him in Canaan, not Egypt. Putting a hand under the thigh was a solemn way of taking an oath. Jacob asks for real kindness and faithfulness, a promise he can trust to the end.

BSA: kindness (“mercy, pity”): He asks for an act of loving loyalty, not merely a duty. faithfulness (“truth, stability”): He wants a promise that is dependable and will be kept.

Hebrew: חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת (chesed ve’emet, H2617) — “loyal love and truth.” This pair of words describes covenant love that stays true. It is the same kind of love Scripture uses to describe God’s own steadfastness.

See also: Genesis 24:2.

Genesis 47:30

Jacob wants to be buried with Abraham and Isaac in Canaan. He trusts God’s promise of that land even while living comfortably in Egypt. Joseph agrees. His burial place is a statement of faith that Egypt is not the final home of God’s people.

See also: Genesis 49:29-32; Genesis 50:12-13.

Genesis 47:31

Jacob asks for a formal oath, and Joseph swears it. Then Israel bows in worship, thanking God. Even in weakness, his last act is to worship. Hebrews names this moment as an act of faith by a dying man.

BSA: bowed (“prostrated himself, showed reverence”): The word shows deep humility, bowing low before God.

Hebrew: וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ (vayishtachu, H7812) — “and he bowed down.” This is the standard Hebrew word for bowing low in worship, here done by a frail old man in bed.

See also: Hebrews 11:21.