Lectionary Calendar
Saturday, June 7th, 2025
Eve of Pentacost
Attention!
StudyLight.org has pledged to help build churches in Uganda. Help us with that pledge and support pastors in the heart of Africa.
Click here to join the effort!

Read the Bible

Chinese NCV (Simplified)

创世记 47:25

他們說:“你救了我們;願我們在我主面前得蒙喜悅,我們就作法老的奴僕。”

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Extortion;   Joseph;   Land;   Monopoly;   Statecraft;   Usurpation;   Thompson Chain Reference - Liberty-Bondage;   Subjection;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Egypt;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Joseph the son of jacob;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Money;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Joseph;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Salvation;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Shepherds;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Aven;   Division of the Earth;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Joseph;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Joseph (2);   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Egypt;   Joseph;   Pharaoh;  

Parallel Translations

Chinese Union (Simplified)
他 们 说 : 你 救 了 我 们 的 性 命 。 但 愿 我 们 在 我 主 眼 前 蒙 恩 , 我 们 就 作 法 老 的 仆 人 。

Contextual Overview

13 The hunger became worse, and since there was no food anywhere in the land, Egypt and Canaan became very poor. 14 Joseph collected all the money that was to be found in Egypt and Canaan. People paid for the grain they were buying, and he brought that money to the king's palace. 15 After some time, when the people in Egypt and Canaan had no money left, they went to Joseph and said, "Please give us food. Our money is gone, and if we don't eat, we will die here in front of you." 16 Joseph answered, "Since you have no money, give me your farm animals, and I will give you food in return." 17 So people brought their farm animals to Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for their horses, sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys. And he kept them alive by trading food for their farm animals that year. 18 The next year the people came to Joseph and said, "You know we have no money left, and all our animals belong to you. We have nothing left except our bodies and our land. 19 Surely both we and our land will die here in front of you. Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we will be slaves to the king, together with our land. Give us seed to plant so that we will live and not die, and the land will not become a desert." 20 So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for the king. Every Egyptian sold Joseph his field, because the hunger was very great. So the land became the king's, 21 and Joseph made the people slaves from one end of Egypt to the other. 22 The only land he did not buy was the land the priests owned. They did not need to sell their land because the king paid them for their work. So they had money to buy food.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Thou hast: Genesis 6:19, Genesis 41:45, *marg. Genesis 45:6-8, Genesis 50:20, Proverbs 11:26, Proverbs 11:27

let us: Genesis 18:3, Genesis 33:15, Ruth 2:13

Reciprocal: Genesis 30:27 - favour Genesis 32:5 - may find Genesis 45:5 - God Genesis 47:24 - the fifth part

Cross-References

Genesis 6:19
Also, you must bring into the boat two of every living thing, male and female. Keep them alive with you.
Genesis 18:3
and said, "Sir, if you think well of me, please stay awhile with me, your servant.
Genesis 33:15
So Esau said, "Then let me leave some of my people with you." "No, thank you," said Jacob. "I only want to please you, my master."
Genesis 41:45
The king gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-Paneah. He also gave Joseph a wife named Asenath, who was the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. So Joseph traveled through all the land of Egypt.
Genesis 47:6
and you may choose any place in Egypt for them to live. Give your father and your brothers the best land; let them live in the land of Goshen. And if any of them are skilled shepherds, put them in charge of my sheep and cattle."
Genesis 47:8
Then the king said to Jacob, "How old are you?"
Genesis 47:26
So Joseph made a law in Egypt, which continues today: One-fifth of everything from the land belongs to the king. The only land the king did not get was the priests' land.
Genesis 47:27
The Israelites continued to live in the land of Goshen in Egypt. There they got possessions and had many children and grew in number.
Genesis 50:20
You meant to hurt me, but God turned your evil into good to save the lives of many people, which is being done.
Ruth 2:13
Then Ruth said, "I hope I can continue to please you, sir. You have said kind and encouraging words to me, your servant, though I am not one of your servants."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And they said, thou hast saved our lives,.... Preserved them from death through famine, by laying up stores of corn, which he had sold out to them for their money, cattle, and land, or otherwise they must have perished, they and theirs, and this favour they thankfully acknowledge:

let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants; signifying, that they esteemed it a great favour to be so on the foot of the bargain made with them, and they desired a continuance in it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

- Jacob in Goshen

11. רעמסס ra‛mesês, Ra‘meses “son of the sun.”

31. מטה mı̂ṭṭāh, “bed.” מטה maṭṭeh “staff.”

Arrangements are now made for the settlement of Israel in Goshen. The administration of Joseph during the remaining years of the famine is then recorded. For the whole of this period his father and brothers are subject to him, as their political superior, according to the reading of his early dreams. We then approach to the death-bed of Jacob, and hear him binding Joseph by an oath to bury him in the grave of his fathers.

Genesis 47:1-12

Joseph announces to Pharaoh the arrival of his kindred. “Of the whole of his brethren,” more exactly from the end of his brethren. Five men, a favorite number in Egypt. Shepherds, owners and feeders of sheep and other cattle. “Pasture.” Hence, it appears that the drought had made the grazing extremely scanty. Men of ability, competent to take the oversight of others. “Jacob his father,” he presents before Pharaoh, after he has disposed of all business matters. “Jacob blessed Pharaoh.” This is the patriarch’s grateful return for Pharaoh’s great kindness and generosity toward him and his house. He is conscious of even a higher dignity than that of Pharaoh, as he is a prince of God; and as such he bestows his precious benediction. Pharaoh was struck with his venerable appearance, and inquired what was his age. “Pilgrimage” - sojourning, wandering without any constant abode or fixed holding.

Such was the life of the patriarchs in the land of promise Hebrews 11:13. “Few and evil.” Jacob’s years at this time were far short of those of Abraham and Isaac, not to speak of more ancient men. Much bitterness also had been mingled in his cup from the time that he beguiled his brother of the birthright and the blessing, which would have come to him in a lawful way if he had only waited in patience. Obliged to flee for his life from his father’s house, serving seven years for a beloved wife, and balked in his expected recompense by a deceitful father-in-law, serving seven long years more for the object of his affections, having his wages changed ten times during the six years of his further toil for a maintenance, afflicted by the dishonor of his only daughter, the reckless revenge taken by Simon and Levi, the death of his beloved wife in childbed, the disgraceful incest of Reuben, the loss of Joseph himself for twenty-two years, and the present famine with all its anxieties - Jacob, it must be confessed, has become acquainted with no small share of the ills of life. “Blessed Pharaoh.” It is possible that this blessing is the same as that already mentioned, now reiterated in its proper place in the narrative. “According to the little ones.” This means either in proportion to the number in each household, or with all the tenderness with which a parent provides for his infant offspring.

Genesis 47:13-26

Joseph introduces remarkable changes into the relation of the sovereign and the people of Egypt. “There was no bread in all the land.” The private stores of the wealthy were probably exhausted. “And Joseph gathered up all the silver.” The old stores of grain and the money, which had flowed into the country during the years of plenty, seem to have lasted for five years. “And Joseph brought the silver into Pharaoh’s house.” He was merely the steward of Pharaoh in this matter, and made a full return of all the payments that came into his hands. “The silver was spent.” The famishing people have no more money; but they must have bread. Joseph is fertile in expedients. He proposes to take their cattle. This was really a relief to the people, as they had no means of providing them with fodder. The value of commodities is wholly altered by a change of circumstances. Pearls will not purchase a cup of water in a vast and dreary wilderness. Cattle become worthless when food becomes scarce, and the means of procuring it are exhausted. For their cattle Joseph supplies them with food during the sixth year.

Genesis 47:18-20

The seventh year is now come. The silver and cattle are now gone. Nothing remains but their lands, and with these themselves as the serfs of the soil. Accordingly they make this offer to Joseph, which he cannot refuse. Hence, it is evident that Pharaoh had as yet no legal claim to the soil. In primeval times the first entrants into an unoccupied country became, by a natural custom, the owners of the grounds they held and cultivated. The mere nomad, who roamed over a wide range of country, where his flocks merely cropped the spontaneous herbage, did not soon arrive at the notion of private property in land. But the husbandman, who settled on a promising spot, broke up the soil, and sowed the seed, felt he had acquired by his labor a title to the acres he had cultivated and permanently occupied, and this right was instinctively acknowledged by others. Hence, each cultivator grew into the absolute owner of his own farm. Hence, the lands of Egypt belonged to the peasantry of the country, and were at their disposal. These lands had now become valueless to those who had neither provisions for themselves nor seed for their ground. They willingly part with them, therefore, for a year’s provision and a supply of seed. In this way the lands of Egypt fell into the hands of the crown by a free purchase. “And the people he removed into the cities.” This is not an act of arbitrary caprice, but a wise and kind measure for the more convenient nourishment of the people until the new arrangements for the cultivation of the soil should be completed. The priestly class were sustained by a state allowance, and therefore, were not obliged to alienate their lands. Hence, they became by this social revolution a privileged order. The military class were also exempted most probably from the surrender of their patrimonial rights, as they were maintained on the crown lands.

Genesis 47:23-26

I have bought you. - He had bought their lands, and so they might be regarded, in some sort, as the servants of Pharaoh, or the serfs of the soil. “In the increase ye shall give the fifth to Pharaoh.” This explains at once the extent of their liability, and the security of their liberty and property. They do not become Pharaoh’s bondmen. They own their land under him by a new tenure. They are no longer subject to arbitrary exactions. They have a stated annual rent, bearing a fixed ratio to the amount of their crop. This is an equitable adjustment of their dues, and places them under the protection of a statute law. The people are accordingly well pleased with the enactment of Joseph, which becomes henceforth the law of Egypt.

Genesis 47:27-31

And they were possessed thereof. - They become owners or tenants of the soil in Goshen. The Israelites were recognized as subjects with the full rights of freemen. “They grew and multiplied exceedingly.” They are now placed in a definite territory, where they are free from the contamination which arises from promiscuous intermarriage with an idolatrous race; and hence, the Lord bestows the blessing of fruitfulness and multiplication, so that in a generation or two more they can intermarry among themselves. It is a remarkable circumstance that until now we read of only two daughters in the family of Jacob. The brothers could not marry their sisters, and it was not desirable that the females should form affinity with the pagan, as they had in general to follow the faith of their husbands. Here the twelfth section of the Pentateuch terminates.

Genesis 47:28-31

Jacob lives seventeen years in Egypt, and so survives the famine twelve years. “He called his son Joseph.” Joseph retained his power and place near Pharaoh after the fourteen years of special service were completed; hence, Jacob looks to him for the accomplishment of his wishes concerning the place of his burial. “Put thy hand under my thigh” Genesis 24:2. He binds Joseph by a solemn asseveration to carry his mortal remains to the land of promise. “And Israel bowed himself on the head of the bed.” On receiving the solemn promise of Joseph, he turns toward the head of the bed, and assumes the posture of adoration, rendering, no doubt, thanks to God for all the mercies of his past life, and for this closing token of filial duty and affection. The Septuagint has the rendering: ἐπί τὸ ἄκρον τῆσῥάβδον αὐτοῦ epi to ākron akron tēs rabdou autou “on the top of his staff,” which is given in the Epistle to the Hebrews Hebrews 11:21. This is obtained by a mere change in the vowel pointing of the last word.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile