^47:1Joseph went and told Pharaoh, “My father, my brothers, their flocks and herds, and all that they own have arrived from the land of Canaan. They are now¹ in the land of Goshen.” ^47:2He took five of his brothers and introduced them to Pharaoh.²

^47:3Pharaoh said to Joseph’s³ brothers, “What is your occupation?” They said to Pharaoh, “Your servants take care of flocks, just as our ancestors did.”⁴^47:4Then they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to live as temporary residents⁵ in the land. There⁶ is no pasture for your servants’ flocks because the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. So now, please let your servants live in the land of Goshen.”

^47:5Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. ^47:6The land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and your brothers in the best region of the land. They may live in the land of Goshen. If you know of any highly capable men⁷ among them, put them in charge⁸ of my livestock.”

^47:7Then Joseph brought in his father Jacob and presented him⁹ before Pharaoh. Jacob blessed¹⁰ Pharaoh. ^47:8Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How long have you lived?”¹¹^47:9Jacob said to Pharaoh, “All¹² the years of my travels¹³ are 130. All¹⁴ the years of my life have been few and painful;¹⁵ the years of my travels are not as long as those of my ancestors.”¹⁶^47:10Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from his presence.¹⁷

^47:11So Joseph settled his father and his brothers. He gave them territory¹⁸ in the land of Egypt, in the best region of the land, the land of Rameses,¹⁹ just as Pharaoh had commanded. ^47:12Joseph also provided food for his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household, according to the number of their little children.

^47:13But there was no food in all the land because the famine was very severe; the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan wasted away²⁰ because of the famine. ^47:14Joseph collected all the money that could be found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan as payment²¹ for the grain they were buying. Then Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s palace.²²^47:15When the money from the lands of Egypt and Canaan was used up, all the Egyptians²³ came to Joseph and said, “Give us food! Why should we die²⁴ before your very eyes because our money has run out?”

^47:16Then Joseph said, “If your money is gone, bring your livestock, and I will give you food²⁵ in exchange for²⁶ your livestock.” ^47:17So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for their horses, the livestock of their flocks and herds, and their donkeys.²⁷ He got them through that year by giving them food in exchange for livestock.

^47:18When that year was over, they came to him the next year and said to him, “We cannot hide from our²⁸ lord that the money is used up and the livestock and the animals belong to our lord. Nothing remains before our lord except our bodies and our land. ^47:19Why should we die before your very eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we, with our land, will become²⁹ Pharaoh’s slaves.³⁰ Give us seed that we may live³¹ and not die. Then the land will not become desolate.”³²

^47:20So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh. Each³³ of the Egyptians sold his field, for the famine was severe.³⁴ So the land became Pharaoh’s. ^47:21Joseph³⁵ made all the people slaves³⁶ from one end of Egypt’s border to the other end of it. ^47:22But he did not purchase the land of the priests because the priests had an allotment from Pharaoh and they ate from their allotment that Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their land.

^47:23Joseph said to the people, “Since I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh, here is seed for you. Cultivate³⁷ the land. ^47:24When you gather in the crop,³⁸ give³⁹ one-fifth of it to Pharaoh, and the rest⁴⁰ will be yours for seed for the fields and for you to eat, including those in your households and your little children.” ^47:25They replied, “You have saved our lives! You are showing us favor,⁴¹ and we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.”⁴²

^47:26So Joseph made it a statute,⁴³ which is in effect⁴⁴ to this day throughout the land of Egypt: One-fifth belongs to Pharaoh. Only the land of the priests did not become Pharaoh’s.

^47:27Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen, and they owned land there. They were fruitful and increased rapidly in number.

^47:28Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; the years⁴⁵ of Jacob’s life were 147 in all. ^47:29The time⁴⁶ for Israel to die approached, so he called for his son Joseph and said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, put your hand under my thigh⁴⁷ and show me kindness and faithfulness.⁴⁸ Do not bury me in Egypt, ^47:30but when I rest⁴⁹ with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.” Joseph⁵⁰ said, “I will do as you say.”

^47:31Jacob⁵¹ said, “Swear to me that you will do so.”⁵² So Joseph⁵³ gave him his word.⁵⁴ Then Israel bowed down⁵⁵ at the head of his bed.⁵⁶

Manasseh and Ephraim

^48:1After these things Joseph was told,¹ “Your father is weakening.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him. ^48:2When Jacob was told,² “Your son Joseph has just³ come to you,” Israel regained strength and sat up on his bed. ^48:3Jacob said to Joseph, “The sovereign God⁴ appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. ^48:4He said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful⁵ and will multiply you.⁶ I will make you into a group of nations, and I will give this land to your descendants⁷ as an everlasting possession.’⁸

^48:5“Now, as for your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, they will be mine.⁹ Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine just as Reuben and Simeon are. ^48:6Any children that you father¹⁰ after them will be yours; they will be listed¹¹ under the names of their brothers in their inheritance.¹²^48:7But as for me, when I was returning from Paddan, Rachel died—to my sorrow¹³—in the land of Canaan. It happened along the way, some distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there on the way to Ephrath” (that is, Bethlehem).¹⁴

^48:8When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he asked, “Who are these?” ^48:9Joseph said to his father, “They are the¹⁵ sons God has given me in this place.” His father¹⁶ said, “Bring them to me so I may bless them.”¹⁷^48:10Now Israel’s eyes were failing¹⁸ because of his age; he was not able to see well. So Joseph¹⁹ brought his sons²⁰ near to him, and his father²¹ kissed them and embraced them. ^48:11Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected²² to see you²³ again, but now God has allowed me to see your children²⁴ too.”

^48:12So Joseph moved them from Israel’s knees²⁵ and bowed down with his face to the ground. ^48:13Joseph positioned them;²⁶ he put Ephraim on his right hand across from Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh on his left hand across from Israel’s right hand. Then Joseph brought them closer to his father.²⁷^48:14Israel stretched out his right hand and placed it on Ephraim’s head, although he was the younger.²⁸ Crossing his hands, he put his left hand on Manasseh’s head, for Manasseh was the firstborn.

^48:15Then he blessed Joseph and said,

“May the God before whom my fathers

Abraham and Isaac walked—

the God who has been my shepherd²⁹

all my life long to this day,

^48:16the Angel³⁰ who has protected me³¹

from all harm—

bless these boys.

May my name be named in them,³²

and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac.

May they grow into a multitude on the earth.”

^48:17When Joseph saw that his father placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head, it displeased him.³³ So he took his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. ^48:18Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.”

^48:19But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He too will become a nation and he too will become great. In spite of this, his younger brother will be even greater and his descendants will become a multitude³⁴ of nations.” ^48:20So he blessed them that day, saying,

“By you³⁵ will Israel bless,³⁶ saying,

‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’ ”

So he put Ephraim before Manasseh.³⁷

^48:21Then Israel said to Joseph, “I am about to die, but God will be with you³⁸ and will bring you back to the land of your fathers. ^48:22As one who is above your³⁹ brothers, I give to you the mountain slope,⁴⁰ which I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.”

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Footnotes

1 Heb “Look they [are] in the land of Goshen.” Joseph draws attention to the fact of their presence in Goshen.
2 Heb “and from the whole of his brothers he took five men and presented them before Pharaoh.”
3 Heb “his”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 Heb “both we and our fathers.”
5 Heb “to sojourn.”
6 Heb “for there.” The Hebrew uses a causal particle to connect what follows with what precedes. The translation divides the statement into two sentences for stylistic reasons.
7 Heb “men of skill.”
8 Heb “make them rulers.” Put them in charge of my livestock. Pharaoh is, in effect, offering Joseph’s brothers jobs as royal keepers of livestock, a position mentioned often in Egyptian inscriptions, because the Pharaohs owned huge herds of cattle.
9 Heb “caused him to stand.”
10 The precise meaning of the Hebrew verb translated “blessed” is difficult in this passage, because the content of Jacob’s blessing is not given. The expression could simply mean that he greeted Pharaoh, but that seems insufficient in this setting. Jacob probably praised Pharaoh, for the verb is used this way for praising God. It is also possible that he pronounced a formal prayer of blessing, asking God to reward Pharaoh for his kindness.
11 Heb “How many are the days of the years of your life?”
12 Heb “the days of.”
13 Heb “sojournings.” Jacob uses a term that depicts him as one who has lived an unsettled life, temporarily residing in many different places.
14 Heb “the days of.”
15 The Hebrew word רַע (ra’) can sometimes mean “evil,” but that would give the wrong connotation here, where it refers to pain, difficulty, and sorrow. Jacob is thinking back through all the troubles he had to endure to get to this point.
16 Heb “and they have not reached the days of the years of my fathers in the days of their sojournings.”
17 Heb “from before Pharaoh.”
18 Heb “a possession,” or “a holding.” Joseph gave them a plot of land with rights of ownership in the land of Goshen.
19 The land of Rameses is another designation for the region of Goshen. It is named Rameses because of a city in that region (Exod 1:11; 12:37). The use of this name may represent a modernization of the text for the understanding of the intended readers, substituting a later name for an earlier one. Alternatively, there may have been an earlier Rameses for which the region was named.
20 The verb לַהַה (lahah, = לָאָה, la’ah) means “to faint, to languish”; it figuratively describes the land as wasting away, drooping, being worn out.
21 Or “in exchange.” On the use of the preposition here see 90 בְּ.
22 Heb “house.”
23 Heb “all Egypt.” The expression is a metonymy and refers to all the people of Egypt.
24 The imperfect verbal form has a deliberative force here.
25 The word “food” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
26 On the use of the preposition here see 90 בְּ.
27 The definite article is translated here as a possessive pronoun.
28 Heb “my.” The expression “my lord” occurs twice more in this verse.
29 After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with vav here indicates consequence.
30 Pharaoh’s slaves. The idea of slavery is not attractive to the modern mind, but in the ancient world it was the primary way of dealing with the poor and destitute. If the people became slaves of Pharaoh, it was Pharaoh’s responsibility to feed them and care for them. It was the best way for them to survive the famine.
31 After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with vav here indicates purpose or result.
32 The disjunctive clause structure (vav [ו] + subject + negated verb) highlights the statement and brings their argument to a conclusion.
33 The Hebrew text connects this clause with the preceding one with a causal particle (כִּי, ki). The translation divides the clauses into two sentences for stylistic reasons.
34 The Hebrew text adds “upon them.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
35 Heb “and he”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
36 The reads “and the people he removed to the cities,” which does not make a lot of sense in this context. The Samaritan Pentateuch and the read “he enslaved them as slaves.”
37 The perfect verbal form with the vav consecutive is equivalent to a command here.
38 The words “the crop” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
39 The perfect form with the vav (ו) consecutive is equivalent to an imperfect of instruction here.
40 Heb “four parts.”
41 Heb “we find favor in the eyes of my lord.” Some interpret this as a request, “may we find favor in the eyes of my lord.”
42 Slaves. See the note on this word in v. .
43 On the term translated “statute” see P. Victor, “A Note on Hoq in the Old Testament,” 16 (1966): 358–61.
44 The words “which is in effect” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
45 Heb “the days of the years.”
46 Heb “days.”
47 On the expression put your hand under my thigh see Gen 24:2.
48 Or “deal with me in faithful love.”
49 Heb “lie down.” Here the expression “lie down” refers to death.
50 Heb “he”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
51 Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
52 Heb “swear on oath to me.” The words “that you will do so” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
53 Heb “he”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
54 Heb “swore on oath to him.”
55 The Hebrew verb normally means “bow down,” especially in worship or prayer. Here it might simply mean “bend low,” perhaps from weakness or approaching death. The narrative is ambiguous at this point and remains open to all these interpretations.
56 The reads מִטָּה (mittah, “bed, couch”). The reads the word as מַטֶּה (matteh, “staff, rod”) and interprets this to mean that Jacob bowed down in worship while leaning on the top of his staff. The reading was used in turn by the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews (Heb 11:21).
1 Heb “and one said.” With no expressed subject in the Hebrew text, the verb can be translated with the passive voice.
2 Heb “and one told and said.” The verbs have no expressed subject and can be translated with the passive voice.
3 Heb “Look, your son Joseph.”
4 Heb “El Shaddai.” See the extended note on the phrase “sovereign God” in .
5 Heb “Look, I am making you fruitful.” The participle following הִנֵּה (hinneh) has the nuance of a certain and often imminent future.
6 The perfect verbal form with vav consecutive carries on the certain future idea.
7 The Hebrew text adds “after you,” which has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
8 The Hebrew word אֲחֻזָּה (’akhuzzah), translated “possession,” describes a permanent holding in the land. It is the noun form of the same verb (אָחַז, ’akhaz) that was used for the land given to them in Goshen (Gen 47:27).
9 They will be mine. Jacob is here adopting his two grandsons Manasseh and Ephraim as his sons, and so they will have equal share with the other brothers. They will be in the place of Joseph and Levi (who will become a priestly tribe) in the settlement of the land. See I. Mendelsohn, “A Ugaritic Parallel to the Adoption of Ephraim and Manasseh,” (1959): 180–83.
10 Or “you fathered.”
11 Heb “called” or “named.”
12 Listed under the names of their brothers in their inheritance. This means that any subsequent children of Joseph will be incorporated into the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.
13 Heb “upon me, against me,” which might mean something like “to my sorrow.”
14 For location see ; ; ; .
15 Heb “my.”
16 Heb “and he”; the referent (Joseph’s father) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
17 The cohortative with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose after the imperative.
18 Heb “heavy.” The disjunctive clause provides supplemental information that is important to the story. The weakness of Israel’s sight is one of several connections between this chapter and Gen 27. Here there are two sons, and it appears that the younger is being blessed over the older by a blind old man. While it was by Jacob’s deception in chap. 27, here it is with Jacob’s full knowledge.
19 Heb “he”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
20 Heb “them”; the referent (Joseph’s sons) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
21 Heb “and he”; the referent (Joseph’s father) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
22 On the meaning of the Hebrew verb פָּלַל (palal) here, see E. A. Speiser, “The Stem pll in Hebrew,” 82 (1963): 301–6. Speiser argues that this verb means “to estimate” as in Exod 21:22.
23 Heb “your face.”
24 Heb “offspring.”
25 Heb “and Joseph brought them out from with his knees.” The two boys had probably been standing by Israel’s knees when being adopted and blessed. The referent of the pronoun “his” (Israel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
26 Heb “and Joseph took the two of them.”
27 Heb “and he brought near to him.” The referents of the pronouns “he” and “him” (Joseph and his father respectively) have been specified in the translation for clarity.
28 The disjunctive clause is circumstantial-concessive here.
29 Heb “shepherded me.” The verb has been translated as an English noun for stylistic reasons.
30 The Samaritan Pentateuch reads “king” here, but the traditional reading (“angel”) may be maintained. Jacob closely associates God with an angelic protective presence. This does not mean that Jacob viewed his God as a mere angel, but it does suggest that he was aware of an angelic presence sent by God to protect him. Here he so closely associates the two that they become virtually indistinguishable. In this culture messengers typically carried the authority of the one who sent them and could even be addressed as such. Perhaps Jacob thought that the divine blessing would be mediated through this angelic messenger.
31 The verb גָּאַל (ga’al) has the basic idea of “protect” as a near relative might do. It is used for buying someone out of bondage, marrying a deceased brother’s widow, paying off debts, avenging the family, and the like. The meanings of “deliver, protect, avenge” are most fitting when God is the subject (see A. R. Johnson, “The Primary Meaning of √גאל,” Congress Volume: Copenhagen, 1953 [], 67–77).
32 Or “be recalled through them.”
33 Heb “it was bad in his eyes.”
34 Heb “fullness.”
35 The pronoun is singular in the Hebrew text, apparently elevating Ephraim as the more prominent of the two. Note, however, that both are named in the blessing formula that follows.
36 Or “pronounce a blessing.”
37 On the elevation of Ephraim over Manasseh see E. C. Kingsbury, “He Set Ephraim Before Manasseh,” 38 (1967): 129–36; H. Mowvley, “The Concept and Content of ‘Blessing’ in the Old Testament,” 16 (1965): 74–80; and I. Mendelsohn, “On the Preferential Status of the Eldest Son,” 156 (1959): 38–40.
38 The pronouns translated “you,” “you,” and “your” in this verse are plural in the Hebrew text.
39 The pronouns translated “your” and “you” in this verse are singular in the Hebrew text.
40 The Hebrew word שְׁכֶם (shékhem) could be translated either as “mountain slope” or “shoulder, portion,” or even taken as the proper name “Shechem.” Jacob was giving Joseph either (1) one portion above his brothers, or (2) the mountain ridge he took from the Amorites, or (3) Shechem. The ambiguity actually allows for all three to be the referent. He could be referring to the land in Shechem he bought in Gen 33:18–19, but he mentions here that it was acquired by warfare, suggesting that the events of 34:25–29 are in view (even though at the time he denounced it, 34:30). Joseph was later buried in Shechem (Josh 24:32).