Genesis 47:25

Douay-Rheims Bible

And they answered: our life is in thy hand; only let my lord look favourably upon us, and we will gladly serve the king.

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
They said, "You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Par`oh's servants."

King James Version
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.

Lexham English Bible
And they said, "You have saved our lives. If we have found favor in the eyes of my lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh."

New Century Version
The people said, "You have saved our lives. If you like, we will become slaves of the king."

New English Translation
They replied, "You have saved our lives! You are showing us favor, and we will be Pharaoh's slaves."

Amplified Bible
And they said, "You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants."

New American Standard Bible
So they said, "You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's slaves."

Geneva Bible (1587)
Then they answered, Thou hast saued our liues: let vs finde grace in the sight of my Lorde, and we will be Pharaohs seruants.

Legacy Standard Bible
So they said, "You have kept us alive! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's slaves."

Contemporary English Version
"Sir, you have saved our lives!" they answered. "We are glad to be slaves of the king."

Complete Jewish Bible
(Maftir) They replied, "You have saved our lives! So if it pleases my lord, we will be Pharaoh's slaves."

Darby Translation
And they said, Thou hast saved us alive. Let us find favour in the eyes of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's bondmen.

Easy-to-Read Version
The people said, "You have saved our lives. We are happy to be slaves to Pharaoh."

English Standard Version
And they said, "You have saved our lives; may it please my lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh."

George Lamsa Translation
And they said, You have saved our lives; let us find mercy in the sight of our lord, and we will be Pharaohs servants.

Good News Translation
They answered, "You have saved our lives; you have been good to us, sir, and we will be the king's slaves."

Christian Standard Bible®
“You have saved our lives,” they said. “We have found favor with our lord and will be Pharaoh’s slaves.”

Literal Translation
And they said, You have saved our lives; let us find favor in the eyes of my lord, and we will become slaves to Pharaoh.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
They sayde: Let vs but lyue, & fynde grace before the oure lorde, we wyl gladly be Pharaos seruauntes:

American Standard Version
And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants.

Bible in Basic English
And they said to him, Truly you have kept us from death; may we have grace in your eyes, and we will be Pharaoh's servants.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And they aunswered: Thou hast saued our lyues, let vs fynde grace in the syght of my lorde, and we wylbe Pharaos seruauntes.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And they said: 'Thou hast saved our lives. Let us find favour in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's bondmen.'

King James Version (1611)
And they said, Thou hast saued our liues: let vs find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaohs seruants.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And they said, Thou hast saved us; we have found favour before our lord, and we will be servants to Pharao.

English Revised Version
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.

Berean Standard Bible
"You have saved our lives," they said. "We have found favor in our lord's eyes, and we will be Pharaoh's servants."

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Whiche answeriden, Oure helthe is in thin hond; oneli oure God biholde vs, and we schulen ioifuli serue the kyng.

Young's Literal Translation
And they say, `Thou hast revived us; we find grace in the eyes of my lord, and have been servants to Pharaoh;'

Update Bible Version
And they said, You have saved our lives: let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's slaves.

Webster's Bible Translation
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.

World English Bible
They said, "You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants."

New King James Version
So they said, "You have saved our lives; let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants."

New Living Translation
"You have saved our lives!" they exclaimed. "May it please you, my lord, to let us be Pharaoh's servants."

New Life Bible
So they said, "You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the eyes of my lord. We will be Pharaoh's servants."

New Revised Standard
They said, "You have saved our lives; may it please my lord, we will be slaves to Pharaoh."

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And they said - Thou hast saved our lives! let us find favour in the eyes of my lord, so will we become Pharaohs servants.

Revised Standard Version
And they said, "You have saved our lives; may it please my lord, we will be slaves to Pharaoh."

THE MESSAGE
They said, "You've saved our lives! Master, we're grateful and glad to be slaves to Pharaoh."

New American Standard Bible (1995)
So they said, "You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's slaves."

Contextual Overview

¹³ For in the whole world there was want of bread, and a famine had oppressed the land, more especially of Egypt and Chanaan; ¹⁴ Out of which he gathered up all the money for the corn which they bought, and brought it in to the king’s treasure. ¹⁵ And when the buyers wanted money, all Egypt came to Joseph, saying: Give us bread: why should we die in thy presence, having now no money? ¹⁶ And he answered them: Bring me your cattle, and for them I will give you food, if you have no money. ¹⁷ And when they had brought them, he gave them food in exchange for their horses, and sheep, and oxen, and asses: and he maintained them that year for the exchange of their cattle. ¹⁸ And they came the second year, and said to him: We will not hide from our lord, how that our money is spent, and our cattle also are gone: neither art thou ignorant that we have nothing now left but our bodies and our lands. ¹⁹ Why therefore shall we die before thy eyes? we will be thine, both we and our lands: buy us to be the king’s servants, and give us seed, lest for want of tillers the land be turned into a wilderness. ²⁰ So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt, every man selling his possessions, because of the greatness of the famine. And he brought it into Pharao’s hands: ²¹ And all its people from one end of the borders of Egypt, even to the other end thereof, ²² Except the land of the priests, which had been given them by the king: to whom also a certain allowance of food was given out of the public stores, and therefore they were not forced to sell their possessions.

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
And of every living creature of all flesh, thou shalt bring two of a sort into the ark, that they may live with thee: of the male sex, and the female.

Genesis 18:3
And he said: Lord, if I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away from thy servant.

Genesis 33:15
Esau answered: I beseech thee, that some of the people, at least, who are with me, may stay to accompany thee in the way. And he said: There is no necessity: I want nothing else but only to find favour, my lord, in thy sight.

Genesis 41:45
And he turned his name, and called him in the Egyptian tongue the saviour of the world. And he gave him to wife Aseneth, the daughter of Putiphare, priest of Heliopolis. Then Joseph went out to the land of Egypt.

Genesis 47:6
The land of Egypt is before thee: and make them dwell in the best place, and give them the land of Gessen. And if thou knowest that there are industrious men among them, make them rulers over my cattle.

Genesis 47:8
And being asked by him: How many are the days of the years of thy life?

Genesis 47:26
From that time unto this day, in the whole land of Egypt, the fifth part is paid to the kings, and it is become as a law, except the land of the priests, which was free from this covenant.

Genesis 47:27
So Israel dwelt in Egypt, that is, in the land of Gessen, and possessed it; and grew, and was multiplied exceedingly.

Genesis 50:20
You thought evil against me: but God turned it into good, that he might exalt me, as at present you see, and might save many people.

Ruth 2:13
And she said: I have found grace in thy eyes, my lord, who hast comforted me, and hast spoken to the heart of thy handmaid, who am not like to one of thy maids.

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‛m^esês, 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.