Genesis 47:4

They also said to him, “We have come here to live for a while in this land, because the famine is very severe in Canaan, and our animals have no ◄pasture/grass to eat► there. So now, please let us live in the Goshen region.”

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

They said moreover unto Pharaoh, For to sojourn in the land are 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.

In Context

3The king asked the brothers, “What work do you do?” They replied, “We are shepherds, just as our ancestors were.”

5The king said to Joseph, “I am happy that your father and your older brothers and younger brother have come to you.

Read all of Genesis 47

Cross References

Genesis 15:13Then God said to Abram, “I want you to know that your descendants will become foreigners living in a land that does not belong to them. They will become slaves of the owners of that land. The owners of the land will mistreat them for 400 years.

Genesis 45:10You can live in the Goshen region. You and your children and your grandchildren, your sheep and goats and cattle, and everything that you own, will be near me.

Deuteronomy 26:5Then in Yahweh’s presence you must say this: ‘My ancestor Jacob was a man from Aram/Syria who was continually wandering from one place to another. He took his family to Egypt. They were a small group when they went there, but they lived there and their descendants became a very large/populous [DOU] and powerful nation.

Isaiah 52:4Yahweh our Lord also says this: “Long ago, my people went to Egypt to live there. Later they were being ◄oppressed/treated cruelly► by the soldiers of Assyria.

Acts 7:11“ While Joseph was doing that work, there was a time ◄when there was very little food/of famine► throughout Egypt and also throughout Canaan. People did not have enough food to eat. People were suffering. At that time Jacob and his sons in Canaan also could not find enough food.

Matthew Henry on Genesis 47:2-13

Pharaoh's Generosity; Jacob Presented to Pharaoh. ( b. c. 1706.) 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, are 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… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Genesis 47:4