Genesis 47:19

Why therefore shall we die before thy eyes? we will be thins, 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.

Douay-Rheims 1899

In The King James Version

Wherefore 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.

In Context

18And 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.

20So 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:

Read all of Genesis 47

Cross References

Genesis 41:36That shall now presently ensue: and let all the corn be laid up under Pharao's hands and be reserved in the cities.

Job 2:4And Satan answered, and said: Skin for skin, and all that a man hath he will give for his life:

Lamentations 5:6We have given our hand to Egypt, and to the Assyrians, that we might be satisfied with bread.

Matthew 16:26For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?

Matthew Henry on Genesis 47:14-27

Distressed Occasioned by the Famine. ( b. c. 1706.) 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,… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Genesis 47:19