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, have 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.

3 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.”

4 They said moreover unto Pharaoh, “To sojourn in the land have 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.”

5 And Pharaoh spoke unto Joseph, saying, “Thy father and thy brethren have come unto thee.

6 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 industrious men among them, then make them rulers over my cattle.”

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

8 And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, “How old art thou?”

9 And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a 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.”

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

11 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.

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

13 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.

14 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.

15 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.”

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

17 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.

18 When that year was ended, they came unto him the second year, and said unto him, “We will not hide it from my lord that our money is spent; my lord also hath our herds of cattle. There is not anything left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our lands.

19 Why 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.”

20 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.

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

22 Only the land of the priests bought he not; for the priests had a portion assigned them by Pharaoh, and ate their portion which Pharaoh gave them. Therefore they sold not their lands.

23 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.

24 And it shall come to pass in the harvest, that ye shall give a fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own for seed of the field and for your food, and for those of your households and for food for your little ones.”

25 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.”

26 And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have a fifth part, except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh’s.

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

28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; so the whole age of Jacob was a hundred forty and seven years.

29 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.

30 But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burying place.” And he said, “I will do as thou hast said.”

31 And he said, “Swear unto me.” And he swore unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head.

Then Ioseph came and tolde Pharaoh, and saide, My father and my brethren, and their flockes, and their heards, and all that they haue, are come out of the land of Canaan: and behold, they are in the land of Goshen.

2And hee tooke some of his brethren, euen fiue men, & presented them vnto Pharaoh.

3And Pharaoh said vnto his brethren, What is your occupation? And they said vnto Pharaoh, Thy seruants are shepheards, both wee and also our fathers.

4They said moreouer vnto Pharaoh, For to soiourne in the land are we come: for thy seruants haue no pasture for their flockes, for the famine is sore in the land of Canaan: now therefore we pray thee, let thy seruants dwel in the land of Goshen.

5And Pharaoh spake vnto Ioseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come vnto thee.

6The land of Egypt is before thee: in the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell, in the lande of Goshen let them dwell: and if thou knowest any man of actiuitie amongst them, then make them rulers ouer my cattell.

7And Ioseph brought in Iacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Iacob blessed Pharaoh.

8And Pharaoh said vnto Iacob, How old art thou?

9And Iacob said vnto Pharaoh, The dayes of the yeeres of my pilgrimage are an hundred & thirtie yeres: few and euill haue the dayes of the yeeres of my life bene, and haue not attained vnto the dayes of the yeeres of the life of my fathers, in the dayes of their pilgrimage.

10And Iacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.

11 And Ioseph placed his father, and his brethren, and gaue them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

12And Ioseph nourished his father and his brethren, and all his fathers houshold with bread, according to their families.

13 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.

14And Ioseph gathered vp all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corne which they bought: and Ioseph brought the money into Pharaohs house.

15And when money failed in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came vnto Ioseph, and said, Giue vs bread: for why should we die in thy presence? for the money faileth.

16And Ioseph said, Giue your cattell: and I will giue you for your catell, if money faile.

17And they brought their cattel vnto Ioseph: and Ioseph gaue them bread in exchange for horses, and for the flockes, and for the cattell of the heards, and for the asses, and he fed them with bread, for all their cattel, for that yeere.

18When that yeere was ended, they came vnto him the second yeere, and said vnto him, We will not hide it from my lord, how that our money is spent, my lord also had our heards of cattell: there is not ought left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands.

19Wherfore shall we die before thine eyes, both we, and our land? buy vs and our land for bread, and we and our land will be seruants vnto Pharaoh: and giue vs seede that we may liue and not die, that the land be not desolate.

20And Ioseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh: for the Egyptians sold euery man his field, because the famine preuailed ouer them: so the land became Pharaohs.

21And as for the people, he remoued them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt, euen to the other ende thereof.

22Onely the land of the Priests bought he not: for the priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh, and did eate their portion which Pharaoh gaue them: wherefore they solde not their lands.

23Then Ioseph said vnto the people, Behold, I haue bought you this day, and your land for Pharaoh: Loe, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land.

24And it shall come to passe in the increase, that you shall giue the fift part vnto Pharaoh, and foure parts shall be your owne, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your litle ones.

25And they said, Thou hast saued our liues: let vs find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaohs seruants.

26And Ioseph made it a law ouer the land of Egypt vnto this day, that Pharaoh should haue the fift part: except the land of the priests onely, which became not Pharaohs.

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

28And Iacob liued in the land of Egypt seuenteene yeres: so the whole age of Iacob was an hundred fourtie and seuen yeeres.

29And the time drew nigh that Israel must die, and he called his sonne Ioseph, and said vnto him, If now I haue found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand vnder my thigh, and deale kindly and truely with mee, bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt.

30But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carie mee out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying place: and he said, I will doe as thou hast said.

31And he said, Sweare vnto mee: and he sware vnto him. And Israel bowed himselfe vpon the beds head.

I == Gen 45:10 ; 46:28 , 31

 

 

II == Acts 7:13

 

III == Gen 45:33-34

 

IV == Gen 15:13 ; 43:1 ; 46:34 ; Deut 26:5 ; Acts 7:11

 

 

 

 

VI Gen 20:15 ; 47:4

 

 

 

IX == Gen 25:7 ; 35:28 ; Job 14:1 ; Ps 39:12 ; Heb 11:9 , 13

 

 

X == Gen 47:7

 

XI == GEn 47:6 ; Ex 1:11 ; 12:37

 

 

 

XII == Gen 50:21

 

 

XIII == Gen 41:30 ; Acts 7:11

 

 

XIV == Gen 41:56

 

 

XV == Gen 47:19

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XX == Gen 41:45 ; 2nd Sam 8:18 ; Ezrz 7:24

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XXV == gEn 33:15

 

 

XXVI == Gen 47:22

 

XXVII == Gen 46:3 ; 47:11

 

 

 

 

XXIX == Gen 24:2 , 49 ; 50:25 ; Deut 31:14 ; 1st Kings 2:1

 

 

 

XXX == Gen 49:29 ; 50:5 , 13 ; 2nd Sam 19:37

 

 

XXXI == Gen 48:2 ; 1st Kings 1:47 ; Heb 11:21

1 Joseph went and told Pharaoh, "My father and my brothers have come from the land of Canaan, with their flocks and herds and everything else they own; and they are now in the region of Goshen."

2 He then presented to Pharaoh five of his brothers whom he had selected from their full number.

3 When Pharaoh asked them what their occupation was, they answered, "We, your servants, like our ancestors, are shepherds.

4 We have come," they continued, "in order to stay in this country, for there is no pasture for your servants' flocks in the land of Canaan, so severe has the famine been there. Please, therefore, let your servants settle in the region of Goshen."

5 Pharaoh said to Joseph, "They may settle in the region of Goshen; and if you know any of them to be qualified, you may put them in charge of my own livestock." Thus, when Jacob and his sons came to Joseph in Egypt, and Pharaoh, king of Egypt, heard about it, Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Now that your father and brothers have come to you,

6 the land of Egypt is at your disposal; settle your father and brothers in the pick of the land."

7 Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and presented him to Pharaoh. After Jacob had paid his respects to Pharaoh,

8 Pharaoh asked him, "How many years have you lived?"

9 Jacob replied: "The years I have lived as a wayfarer amount to a hundred and thirty. Few and hard have been these years of my life, and they do not compare with the years that my ancestors lived as wayfarers."

10 Then Jacob bade Pharaoh farewell and withdrew from his presence.

11 As Pharaoh had ordered, Joseph settled his father and brothers and gave them holdings in Egypt on the pick of the land, in the region of Rameses.

12 And Joseph sustained his father and brothers and his father's whole household, down to the youngest, with food.

13 Since there was no food in any country because of the extreme severity of the famine, and the lands of Egypt and Canaan were languishing from hunger,

14 Joseph gathered in, as payment for the rations that were being dispensed, all the money that was to be found in Egypt and Canaan, and he put it in Pharaoh's palace.

15 When all the money in Egypt and Canaan was spent, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, pleading, "Give us food or we shall perish under your eyes; for our money is gone."

16 "Since your money is gone," replied Joseph, "give me your livestock, and I will sell you bread in return for your livestock."

17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he sold them food in return for their horses, their flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, and their donkeys. Thus he got them through that year with bread in exchange for all their livestock.

18 When that year ended, they came to him in the following one and said: "We cannot hide from my lord that, with our money spent and our livestock made over to my lord, there is nothing left to put at my lord's disposal except our bodies and our farm land.

19 Why should we and our land perish before your very eyes? Take us and our land in exchange for food, and we will become Pharaoh's slaves and our land his property; only give us seed, that we may survive and not perish, and that our land may not turn into a waste."

20 Thus Joseph acquired all the farm land of Egypt for Pharaoh, since with the famine too much for them to bear, every Egyptian sold his field; so the land passed over to Pharaoh,

21 and the people were reduced to slavery, from one end of Egypt's territory to the other.

22 Only the priests' lands Joseph did not take over. Since the priests had a fixed allowance from Pharaoh and lived off the allowance Pharaoh had granted them, they did not have to sell their land.

23 Joseph told the people: "Now that I have acquired you and your land for Pharaoh, here is your seed for sowing the land.

24 But when the harvest is in, you must give a fifth of it to Pharaoh, while you keep four-fifths as seed for your fields and as food for yourselves and your families (and as food for your children)."

25 "You have saved our lives!" they answered. "We are grateful to my lord that we can be Pharaoh's slaves."

26 Thus Joseph made it a law for the land in Egypt, which is still in force, that a fifth of its produce should go to Pharaoh. Only the land of the priests did not pass over to Pharaoh.

27 Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the region of Goshen. There they acquired property, were fertile, and increased greatly.

28 Jacob lived in the land of Egypt for seventeen years; the span of his life came to a hundred and forty-seven years.

29 When the time approached for Israel to die, he called his son Joseph and said to him: "If you really wish to please me, put your hand under my thigh as a sign of your constant loyalty to me; do not let me be buried in Egypt.

30 When I lie down with my ancestors, have me taken out of Egypt and buried in their burial place."

31 "I will do as you say," he replied. But his father demanded, "Swear it to me!" So Joseph swore to him. Then Israel bowed at the head of the bed.

v 1. All the sons no doubt sorrowed, but the closeness of his youth and the long separation made Joseph’s grief more intense.

v 2,3. Israelites buried as soon as possible after death, but Joseph commanded Jacob’s body to be embalmed in the Egyptian way for the long journey. After 40 days of embalming, the Egyptians grieved for another 30 days. Honoring Jacob a total of 70 days was only 2 days less than the mourning time allotted for a Pharaoh.

v 4-6. To avoid misunderstanding, Joseph requested leave to fulfill Jacob’s request to be returned to Canaan for burial. Ceremonial uncleanness may have been the reason he didn’t go directly to Pharaoh. By now it was a different Pharaoh, but Joseph was well favored, his promise was noted, and the request readily granted.

v 7-9. Because of Joseph’s prominence, we see from the Egyptians going along, that this was what we would call a “state funeral”. Apparently Israelite mothers even left the small children in charge of siblings and servants in order to go. Jacob expected to go to his grave in sorrow over the loss of Joseph, but he goes in high honor.

v 10,11. Atad means brambles, and probably described the location, not the name of a man. Beyond Jordan means west of Jordan, from where Moses wrote. Abelmizraim means meadow of mourning of Egypt, and some claim it was later called Bethhogla, Josh. 15:6. That is unlikely as that is southeast of Jericho near the Jordan. They would have no reason to be there before going to Mamre, so undoubtedly, writers are wrong in their location. The Egyptian custom may have been for another week of mourning near the grave site, but this was not just ceremonial, it was deep grief.

V 12-14. Burial being properly completed, all returned to Egypt.

v 15-18. Joseph’s brothers feared that with Jacob gone, Joseph would finally get revenge for what they had done. They sent a messenger ahead with the lie of Jacob’s request, then appeared themselves. Joseph probably saw through their deception and wept over them. They were so truly repentant they offered themselves as slaves.

v 19. Joseph assures them it is not he but God who avenges, Rom. 12:19.

V 20,21. His words of comfort to them can apply in many situations in our own lives, “ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good. The critical famine is long past, but he is in a position to still care for them.

 

 

22 to 26 The Death of Joseph

v 22-26. Joseph lived to 110 and saw at least some of his great grandchildren. Some of his brothers had probably already died, but he told his relatives that God would definitely bring them out of Egypt back to the land that was promised to them. He made them take an oath that when that time came, they would take his bones along with them to be buried in the land of promise. He tried to instill his faith into them. It took persecution over 300 years later to make them willing to leave the desirable location in Egypt.