Genesis 47:19

why therefore shall we die, while thou seest this? both we and our land shall be thine; buy thou us into the king’s servage, and give thou us seeds to sow, lest while the tiller perisheth, the land be turned into wilderness. (and so why should we die, in front of thine eyes? let both us and our land be thine; yea, buy thou us into slavery to the king, and give us seeds to sow, lest while the worker perisheth, the land be turned into wilderness.)

Wycliffe Modern Spelling

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 in the second year, and said to him, We cover not from our lord, that the while money faileth, also (our) beasts failed altogether, neither it is hid from thee, that without bodies and land, we have nothing; (And they came back to him the following year, and they said to him, We hide it not from our lord, that now our money is all gone, and that all our beasts be thine; nor is it hid from thee, that except for our bodies and our land, we have nothing left;)

20Therefore Joseph bought all the land of Egypt, while all men sold (him) their possessions, for the greatness of hunger (or for the greatness of the famine); and (so) he made it and all the peoples thereof subject to Pharaoh,

Read all of Genesis 47

Cross References

Genesis 41:36and be it made ready to the hunger to coming of the seven years that shall oppress Egypt, and the land be not wasted by poverty. (and have it made ready for the seven years of famine to come that shall oppress Egypt, and so the land shall not be destroyed by neediness.)

Job 2:4To whom Satan answered, and said, A man shall give skin for skin, and all things that he hath for his life;

Lamentations 5:6We gave (the) hand to Egypt, and to Assyrians, that we should be [ful] filled with bread. (We put forth our hands to Egypt, and to Assyria, for food to eat.)

Matthew 16:26For what profiteth it to a man [or Soothly what profiteth to a man], if he win all the world, and suffer impairing of his soul? or what (ex)changing 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