World English Bible · The patriarchs
Genesis 47
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Then went in and told , and said, " and my brothers, with their flocks, their herds, and all that they own, have come out of the land of ; and behold, they are in the land of ." From among his brothers he took five men, and presented them to . said to his brothers, "What is your occupation?" They said to , "Your servants are , both we, and our fathers." They also said to , "We have come to live as in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants' flocks. For the is severe in the land of . Now therefore, please let your servants in the land of ." 5 spoke to , saying, "Your and your brothers have come to you. The land of is before you. Make your and your brothers in the best of the land. Let them in the land of . If you know any able men among them, then put them in charge of my livestock." brought in , his , and set him before ; and . 8 said to , "How old are you?" said to , "The years of my pilgrimage are one hundred thirty years. The days of the years of my life have been few and evil. They have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage." , and went out from the of . placed his and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of , in the best of the land, in the land of , as had commanded. provided his , his brothers, and all of his household with bread, according to the sizes of their families. There was in all the land; for the was very severe, so that the land of and the land of fainted by reason of the . gathered up all the money that was found in the land of , and in the land of , for the grain which they bought: and brought the money into house. When the money was all spent in the land of , and in the land of , all the came to , and said, "Give us bread, for why should we in your ? For our money fails." said, "Give me your livestock; and I will give you food for your livestock, if your money is gone." They brought their livestock to , and gave them bread in exchange for the horses, and for the flocks, and for the herds, and for the donkeys: and he fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock for that year. When that year was ended, they came to him the second year, and said to him, "We will not hide from my how our money is all spent, and the herds of livestock are my . There is nothing left in the sight of my , but our bodies, and our lands. Why should we before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants to . Give us , that we may live, and not , and that the land won't be desolate." 20So bought all the land of for , for every man of the sold his field, because the was severe on them, and the land became . As for the people, he moved them to the cities from one end of the border of even to the other end of it. Only he didn't buy the land of the priests, for the priests had a from , and ate their which gave them. That is why they didn't sell their land. Then said to the people, "Behold, I have bought you and your land today for . Behold, here is for you, and you shall sow the land. It will happen at the harvests, that you shall give a fifth to , and four parts will be your own, for of the field, for your food, for them of your households, and for food for your little ones." They said, "You have our lives! Let us find in the sight of my , and we will be servants." made it a concerning the land of to this day, that should have the fifth. Only the land of the priests alone didn't become . Israel lived in the land of , in the land of ; and they got themselves possessions therein, and were fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly. lived in the land of seventeen years. So the days of , the years of his life, were one hundred forty-seven years. The time came near that Israel must , and he called his son , and said to him, "If now I have in your sight, please put your hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me. Please don't bury me in , but when I sleep with my fathers, you shall carry me out of , and bury me in their burying place." said, "I will do as you have said." Israel said, " to me," and he to him. Then Israel bowed himself on the bed's head.
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The world at this moment · The patriarchs, 2000 BC to 1600 BC ›
Abraham's family as herdsmen among settled Canaanite city-states, in a world where Egypt and Mesopotamia are the great powers and Canaan is the corridor between them.
- Mesopotamia
- Abraham's own century is Hammurabi's. The great empire of Ur has already fallen, and Babylon rises under a king who published a law code on a stone pillar for everyone to see. Reading Genesis alongside Hammurabi's laws is illuminating in both directions: some provisions are strikingly similar, and the places where Israel's later law diverges are the places worth stopping at.
- Egypt
- The Middle Kingdom, wealthy, bureaucratic, and organised around the Nile flood. Egyptian tomb paintings from this period show Semitic traders arriving with donkeys and striped cloaks, which is more or less the picture Genesis gives of a family going down to Egypt in a famine. Toward the end of the era the Hyksos, rulers of Semitic origin, take the delta.
- Anatolia and the Aegean
- Assyrian merchants run a long-distance trading colony at Kanesh in Anatolia, leaving thousands of clay letters about copper, tin, and debt. On Crete the Minoan palaces are at their height, with plumbing, frescoes, and a script nobody has yet read.
- Further afield
- The Indus Valley cities are in decline after centuries of grid-planned streets and drains. In China the Erlitou culture is building the first palace complexes. Stonehenge is standing and already old.
All of Genesis