In the seven plenteous years the earth produced abundantly. He gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities. He stored food in each city from the fields around that city. Joseph laid up grain as the sand of the sea, very much, until he stopped counting, for it was without number.
Show the surrounding paragraph
Genesis 41:47-49 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. In the seven plenteous years the earth produced abundantly. He gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities. He stored food in each city from the fields around that city. Joseph laid up grain as the sand of the sea, very much, until he stopped counting, for it was without number. To Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him. Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh, “For”, he said, “God has made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.” The name of the second, he called Ephraim: “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
Parallel Translations
-
In the seven plenteous years the earth produced abundantly.
He gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities. He stored food in each city from the fields around that city.
Joseph laid up grain as the sand of the sea, very much, until he stopped counting, for it was without number.
-
And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls.
And he gathered up all the food of the seven years, which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities: the food of the field, which was round about every city, laid he up in the same.
And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left numbering; for it was without number.
Show all 3 translations
-
And in the seven years of plenty the earth brought forth in heaps.
And he gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities; the food of the field, which was round about every city, laid he up in the same.
And Joseph laid up corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until they left off numbering; for it was without number.
Cross-references (11)
- Genesis 26:12 (v47) Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year one hundred times what he planted. Yahweh blessed him.
- Psalms 78:27 (v49) He also rained meat on them as the dust, winged birds as the sand of the seas.
- Genesis 22:17 (v49) that I will bless you greatly, and I will multiply your offspring greatly like the stars of the heavens, and like the sand which is on the…
- Genesis 41:34-36 (v48) Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint overseers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt’s produce in the seven…
- Judges 6:5 (v49) For they came up with their livestock and their tents. They came in as locusts for multitude. Both they and their camels were without…
Show all 11 cross-references
- Judges 7:12 (v49) The Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like locusts for multitude; and their camels…
- 1 Samuel 13:5 (v49) The Philistines assembled themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the…
- Psalms 72:16 (v47) Abundance of grain shall be throughout the land. Its fruit sways like Lebanon. Let it flourish, thriving like the grass of the field.
- Genesis 47:21 (v48) As for the people, he moved them to the cities from one end of the border of Egypt even to the other end of it.
- Job 1:3 (v49) His possessions also were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very…
- Jeremiah 33:22 (v49) As the army of the sky can’t be counted, and the sand of the sea can’t be measured; so I will multiply the offspring of David my servant…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (12 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v47 Hebrew, made for gatherings.
Hebrew, made for gatherings.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv47–49 Gen 41:47 And in the seven plenteous years the…
Gen 41:47 And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls.
Ver. 47. By handfuls.] Manipulatim. Every grain of corn yields a handful of increase. {a} Thus God "filled their hearts with food and gladness"; {Act 14:17} and so "left not himself without witness" amongst those infidels.
Read full note →
{a} Ex uno grano integer manipulus colligebatur.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv47–48 Or, unto handfuls, to wit, growing upon one stalk;…
Or, unto handfuls, to wit, growing upon one stalk; or, unto heaps; or, as the ancients render it, for the barns or storehouses; i.e. in such plenty, that all their storehouses were filled with heaps of corn.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv47–49 And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh,....…
And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh,.... Which signifies forgetfulness, as the reason of it shows:
for God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house; all his toil and labour in Potiphar's house, and especially in the prison; and all the injuries his brethren had done him; all this he was made to forget by the grandeur and honour, wealth and riches, power and authority he was possessed of; and indeed he had so much business upon his hands, that he had scarce time to think of his father, and his family.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v47 Verse 47. The earth brought forth by handfuls.] This…
Verse 47. The earth brought forth by handfuls.] This probably refers principally to rice, as it grows in tufts, a great number of stalks proceeding from the same seed. In those years the Nile probably rose sixteen cubits; See Clarke on Ge 41:31.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v47 Sheaves. The straw would serve to feed the cattle,…
Sheaves. The straw would serve to feed the cattle, and would hinder the corn from spoiling for 50 years, if kept from the air. (Varro.; Pliny, Natural History xviii. 30.) (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv47–48 the earth brought forth by handfuls--a singular expression, alluding…
the earth brought forth by handfuls--a singular expression, alluding not only to the luxuriance of the crop, but the practice of the reapers grasping the ears, which alone were cut.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv48–49 47–49 (J, E). The seven Good Years
47–49 (J, E). The seven Good Years
48. of the seven years] Probably we should add here, with LXX and Sam., “of plenty,” which seems to have dropped out of the Hebrew text.
Read full note →
laid up the food] On the state granaries of Egypt and the duties of the official who supervised them, the student is referred to Erman’s Life in Ancient Egypt (E.T.), p. 108. The chief “cities” of the districts, or νομοί, into which Egypt was divided, seem here to be referred to.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On v48 (48) All the food.—Probably besides the fifth paid as…
(48) All the food.—Probably besides the fifth paid as tax to the king, and out of which all the current expenses of the realm would have to be provided, Joseph bought corn largely during these years when it was at its cheapest.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv47, 49 Vers. 47, 48. And in the seven plenteous years…
Vers. 47, 48. And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls (i.e. abundantly). And he (Joseph, through his subordinates) gathered up all the food (i.e. all the portions levied) of the seven years, which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities: men bringing corn into granaries appear upon the monuments at Beni-hassan (Wilkinson, "Ancient Egyptians," vol. 1. p. 371, ed. 1878)the food of the field, which was round about every city (literally, the food of the field of the city, which was in its environs), laid he up in the same (literally, in the midst of it).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v48 He gathered up ... He put
He gathered up ... He put
Here "He" stands for Joseph's servants. AT: "Joseph ordered his servants to gather ... They put" (See: Synecdoche)
Read full note →
Joseph stored up grain like the sand of the sea
This compares the grain to the sand of sea to emphasize its great quantity. AT: "The grain that Joseph stored was as plentiful as the sand on the seashore" (See: Metaphor)
Joseph stored up ... he stopped
Here "Joseph" and "he" stand for Joseph's servants. AT: "Joseph had his servants store up ... they stopped" (See: Synecdoche)
translationWords
Egypt
grain
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v47 41:47-57 Pharaoh’s dreams were fulfilled in keeping with Joseph’s…
41:47-57 Pharaoh’s dreams were fulfilled in keeping with Joseph’s interpretation.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.