The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible

Genesis47:27–31

The Israelites Prosper in Goshen

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Genesis 47:27–31 — The Israelites Prosper in Goshen. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

27“Now the Israelites settled in the land of Egypt, in the region o…”+

27Now the Israelites settled in the land of Egypt, in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and became fruitful and increased greatly in number.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

yiś·rā·’êl way·yê·šeḇ bə·’e·reṣ miṣ·ra·yim bə·’e·reṣ gō·šen way·yê·’ā·ḥă·zū ḇāh way·yip̄·rū mə·’ōḏ way·yir·bū

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“And-dwelt Israel in-the-land-of Egypt, in-the-land-of Goshen; and-they-got-themselves-a-holding in-it, and-were-fruitful and-multiplied exceedingly.”

Where the English smooths the original

  • וַיֵּ֧שֶׁב HTML: the verb is singular — וַיֵּשֶׁב (wayyēšeḇ), literally “and he dwelt” — with “Israel” as a collective. The Pulpit Commentary flags exactly this: “And Israel (i.e. the people) dwelt.” The BSB’s plural “the Israelites settled” smooths over the singular Hebrew that names the man-and-nation as one body. The root yāšaḇ means to sit, settle, remain — a permanence the famine-refugees were not supposed to have.
  • וַיֵּאָחֲז֣וּ HTML: וַיֵּאָחֲזוּ (wayyē’āḥăzū) is a Niphal of ’āḥaz, “to seize / take hold” — reflexive-passive, “they got themselves a holding / were given possession.” The same root names the permanent land-grant ’ăḥuzzāh. The BSB’s “acquired property” loses the legal weight: this is the verb of taking possession of an inheritance, ironic in a borrowed land.
  • וַיִּפְר֥וּ HTML: וַיִּפְרוּ (wayyip̄rū, “became fruitful”), וַיִּרְבּוּ (“multiplied”), and מְאֹד (“exceedingly”) are the precise covenant-blessing words of Genesis 1:28 and the patriarchal promise — the BSB’s “became fruitful and increased greatly in number” is accurate but spreads them out; in Hebrew they land as a single drum-beat triad.
Word by word11 · parsed+
יִשְׂרָאֵ֛לyiś·rā·’êlNow the IsraelitesH3478
√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular
וַיֵּ֧שֶׁבway·yê·šeḇsettledH3427
√ yâshab — properly, to sit down (specifically as judgeConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
Singular wayyēšeḇ, “and he dwelt / settled,” root yāšaḇ — to sit, remain, abide. A verb of permanence applied to a family that had come down only “to sojourn” (Genesis 47:4). The settling has begun before the bondage; the comfortable lodging is the seed of the captivity.
בְּאֶ֥רֶץbə·’e·reṣin the landH776
√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)Preposition-bNounfeminine singular construct
מִצְרַ֖יִםmiṣ·ra·yimof EgyptH4714
√ Mitsrayim — Mitsrajim, iNounproperfeminine singular
בְּאֶ֣רֶץbə·’e·reṣin the regionH776
√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)Preposition-bNounfeminine singular construct
גֹּ֑שֶׁןgō·šenof GoshenH1657
√ Gôshen — Goshen, the residence of the Israelites in EgyptNounproperfeminine singular
Goshen (gōšen) — the fertile Nile-delta district set apart for Israel. Barnes notes its providential function: a “definite territory, where they are free from the contamination which arises from promiscuous intermarriage with an idolatrous race.”
וַיֵּאָחֲז֣וּway·yê·’ā·ḥă·zūThey acquired propertyH270
√ ʼâchaz — to seize (often with the accessory idea of holding in possession)Conjunctive wawVerbNifalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
Niphal wayyē’āḥăzū, “they got themselves a holding,” from ’āḥaz, “to seize, hold in possession.” K&D point to the same verb in Genesis 34:10. Poole is careful: the holding was “for the use and profit… not for the dominion or propriety of them, for that rested in Pharaoh.”
בָ֔הּḇāhthere
Prepositionthird person feminine singular
וַיִּפְר֥וּway·yip̄·rūand became fruitfulH6509
√ pârâh — to bear fruit (literally or figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
pārāh, “to bear fruit.” The first of the three blessing-words. The same root rings through Genesis 1:28 and 9:1; here the Creator’s mandate becomes the patriarch’s promise, fulfilled on foreign soil.
מְאֹֽד׃mə·’ōḏand increased greatlyH3966
√ mᵉʼôd — properly, vehemence, iAdverb
mᵉ’ōḏ, “very, exceedingly” — properly “vehemence, muchness.” It intensifies what precedes; the multiplication is not modest but overwhelming, the engine that will trouble a later Pharaoh (Exodus 1:9).
וַיִּרְבּ֖וּway·yir·būin numberH7235
√ râbâh — to increase (in whatever respect)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
rāḇāh, “to multiply, become many.” Paired with pārāh it forms the fixed covenant doublet “be fruitful and multiply.” The Pulpit Commentary reads the whole clause as deliberate fulfillment: “This was the commencement of the promise (Genesis 46:3).”
The Voices✦ public domain+
And Israel ( i.e. the people) dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions therein ( i.e. acquired holdings in it), and grew (or became fruitful), and multiplied exceedingly - or became very numerous. This was the commencement of the promise ( Genesis 46:3 ).
They are now placed in a definite territory, where they are free from the contamination which arises from promiscuous intermarriage with an idolatrous race; and hence, the Lord bestows the blessing of fruitfulness and multiplication, so that in a generation or two more they can intermarry among themselves.
They had possessions, i.e. lands, not for the dominion or propriety of them, for that rested in Pharaoh, but for the use and profit of them for their present subsistence.
the house of Israel was able, without suffering any privations, or being brought into a relation of dependence towards Pharaoh, to dwell in the land of Goshen, to establish itself there (נאחז as in Genesis 34:10 ), and to become fruitful and multiply.
K&D's parenthetical flags the lexical link: the verb here, נאחז, is the possession-verb of Genesis 34:10.
28“And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years, and the le…”+

28And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years, and the length of his life was 147 years.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ya·‘ă·qōḇ way·ḥî bə·’e·reṣ miṣ·ra·yim šə·ḇa‘ ‘eś·rêh šā·nāh šə·nê ḥay·yāw way·hî yə·mê- ya·‘ă·qōḇ ū·mə·’aṯ še·ḇa‘ wə·’ar·bā·‘îm šā·nāh šā·nîm

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“And-lived Jacob in-the-land-of Egypt seven-ten year[s]; and-the-days-of Jacob, the-years-of his-life, were a-hundred and-forty and-seven year[s].”

Where the English smooths the original

  • וַיְחִ֤י HTML: וַיְחִי (wayḥî) is from ḥāyāh, “to live” — and the verse is built on the cognate noun חַיָּיו (ḥayyāw, “his life”). Hebrew makes a quiet pun the BSB cannot: Jacob lived his last living. Benson catches the providence of it — “seventeen years he had nourished Joseph… and now, seventeen years Joseph nourished him.”
  • שְׁנֵ֣י HTML: the closing tally is doubled in Hebrew — יְמֵי־יַעֲקֹב שְׁנֵי חַיָּיו, literally “the days of Jacob, the years of his life.” The Pulpit Commentary renders it exactly so. The BSB’s tidy “the length of his life” collapses the Hebrew’s solemn, weighing-out cadence — days, then years, then the sum.
  • וּמְאַ֖ת HTML: the number is spoken as Hebrew counts — שֶׁבַע וְאַרְבָּעִים וּמְאַת שָׁנָה, “seven and forty and a hundred year.” The BSB’s numeral “147” is correct but mute; Cambridge hears music in the figure: “147 = 7 × 7 × 3, sacred numbers.” (⚙ note: that is an old interpretive reading, not a claim the text makes.)
Word by word17 · parsed+
יַעֲקֹב֙ya·‘ă·qōḇAnd JacobH3290
√ Yaʻăqôb — Jaakob, the Israelitish patriarchNounpropermasculine singular
Jacob — the supplanter, the wrestler, now the dying patriarch. Named at the head of the verse that records the close of his life; the narrator returns to “Jacob” (not “Israel”) for the bare chronicle of his years.
וַיְחִ֤יway·ḥîlivedH2421
√ châyâh — to live, whether literally or figurativelyConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
wayḥî, “and he lived,” root ḥāyāh. Seventeen years in Egypt — the exact span Joseph had lived under Jacob’s care before being sold (Genesis 37:2). Benson and Gill both note the symmetry: the son nourishes the father for as long as the father nourished the son.
בְּאֶ֣רֶץbə·’e·reṣin the landH776
√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)Preposition-bNounfeminine singular construct
מִצְרַ֔יִםmiṣ·ra·yimof EgyptH4714
√ Mitsrayim — Mitsrajim, iNounproperfeminine singular
שְׁבַ֥עšə·ḇa‘vvvH7651
√ shebaʻ — seven (as the sacred full one)Numberfeminine singular construct
עֶשְׂרֵ֖ה‘eś·rêhseventeenH6240
√ ʻâsâr — ten (only in combination), iNumberfeminine singular construct
שָׁנָ֑הšā·nāhyearsH8141
√ shâneh — a year (as a revolution of time)Nounfeminine singular
šānāh, “year” — singular after the number, as Hebrew idiom requires (“seventeen year”). The first of the verse’s three year-words.
שְׁנֵ֣יšə·nêand the length of his lifeH8141
√ shâneh — a year (as a revolution of time)Nounfeminine plural construct
חַיָּ֔יוḥay·yāw. . .H2416
√ chay — aliveNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine singular
ḥayyāw, “his life / living,” from ḥay, “alive” — the cognate that turns the opening verb into a soft wordplay. The phrase “the years of his life” is the formal Priestly obituary formula (cf. Genesis 25:7; 35:28).
וַיְהִ֤יway·hîwasH1961
√ hâyâh — to exist, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
יְמֵֽי־yə·mê-. . .H3117
√ yôwm — a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)Nounmasculine plural construct
יַעֲקֹב֙ya·‘ă·qōḇ. . .H3290
√ Yaʻăqôb — Jaakob, the Israelitish patriarchNounpropermasculine singular
וּמְאַ֖תū·mə·’aṯ147H3967
√ mêʼâh — a hundredConjunctive wawNumberfeminine singular construct
mē’āh, “a hundred.” The total — 147 — is given as the deliberate sum of his pilgrimage. Jacob himself called his days “few and evil” before Pharaoh (Genesis 47:9); the narrator now closes the ledger.
שֶׁ֣בַעše·ḇa‘. . .H7651
√ shebaʻ — seven (as the sacred full one)Numberfeminine singular
וְאַרְבָּעִ֥יםwə·’ar·bā·‘îm. . .H705
√ ʼarbâʻîym — fortyConjunctive wawNumbercommon plural
שָׁנָֽה׃šā·nāhvvvH8141
√ shâneh — a year (as a revolution of time)Nounfeminine singular
שָׁנִ֔יםšā·nîmyearsH8141
√ shâneh — a year (as a revolution of time)Nounfeminine plural
šānîm, “years” (plural) — the closing word of the obituary, sealing the count. Where Abraham reached 175 and Isaac 180, Jacob’s 147 marks the shortening of the patriarchal span, as he had foreseen.
The Voices✦ public domain+
Jacob lived seventeen years after he came into Egypt, far beyond his own expectation: seventeen years he had nourished Joseph, for so old he was when he was sold from him, and now, seventeen years Joseph nourished him. Observe how kindly Providence ordered Jacob’s affairs; that when he was old, and least able to bear care and fatigue, he had least occasion for it, being well provided for by his son without his own forecast.
so the whole age of Jacob was (literally, the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were ) an hundred forty and seven years . He had lived seventy-seven years in Canaan, twenty years in Padanaram, thirty-three in Canaan again, and seventeen in Egypt, in all 147 years.
This verse, giving the years of Jacob’s life, comes from P: see Genesis 47:9 . Note that 147 = 7 × 7 × 3, sacred numbers.
The numerology (7×7×3) is the commentator's reading; the text states only the sum.
He lived just the same term of years with Joseph in Egypt as he had lived with him in Syria and Canaan, Genesis 37:2
29“When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called his son Jos…”+

29When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise to show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

yə·mê- way·yiq·rə·ḇū yiś·rå̄·ʾēl lā·mūṯ way·yiq·rā liḇ·nōw lə·yō·w·sêp̄ way·yō·mer lōw ’im- nā mā·ṣā·ṯî ḥên bə·‘ê·ne·ḵā śîm- nā yā·ḏə·ḵā ta·ḥaṯ yə·rê·ḵî wə·‘ā·śî·ṯā ‘im·mā·ḏî ḥe·seḏ we·’ĕ·meṯ ’al- nā ṯiq·bə·rê·nî bə·miṣ·rā·yim

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“And-drew-near the-days-of Israel to-die, and-he-called to-his-son, to-Joseph, and-said to-him: ‘If, I-pray, I-have-found favor in-your-eyes, put, I-pray, your-hand under my-thigh, and-do with-me kindness and-truth — do-not, I-pray, bury-me in-Egypt.’”

Where the English smooths the original

  • יְמֵֽי־ HTML: Hebrew does not say “the time drew near for Israel to die” but וַיִּקְרְבוּ יְמֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל לָמוּת — literally “the days of Israel drew near to die.” The Pulpit Commentary renders it so. The subject is days, plural — life measured out in days now running out — and the verb וַיִּקְרְבוּ is itself the root qāraḇ, “to approach.”
  • חֵן֙ HTML: אִם־נָא מָצָאתִי חֵן בְּעֵינֶיךָ — “if I have found ḥēn (grace, favor) in your eyes.” This is courtly oath-speech, the language an inferior uses to a superior. Gill insists it is not servility — Jacob speaks it to Joseph the vizier — yet JFB hears the title quietly in it: “if now I have found grace in thy sight,” that is, as the vizier of Egypt. The BSB’s “favor” is right; the cultural weight of a father bending to a son’s station is what English drops.
  • יְרֵכִ֑י HTML: שִׂים־נָא יָדְךָ תַּחַת יְרֵכִי — “put your hand under my thigh.” The rare word yārēḵ (thigh, loin — the seat of generative power) makes this the gravest of oaths, the same gesture Abraham required in Genesis 24:2. Poole spells the meaning the gesture conceals: “i.e. swear to me.” The BSB keeps the literal “thigh” but cannot carry why a hand placed there binds a man.
  • חֶ֣סֶד HTML: חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶתḥeseḏ we’ĕmeṯ, “covenant-kindness and faithfulness/truth,” the great paired covenant-virtues of the OT. The BSB’s “kindness and faithfulness” is faithful; Poole unfolds the pair: “Kindly in promising, and truly in performing thy promise.” ḥeseḏ is not generic kindness but loyal love owed within a bond.
Word by word27 · parsed+
יְמֵֽי־yə·mê-When the timeH3117
√ yôwm — a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)Nounmasculine plural construct
yôm in the plural construct, “the days of” — the verse opens not with “the time” but with Israel’s days, the sum totaled in v. 28 now ebbing. The same word will reappear in Jacob’s own “few and evil days” (Genesis 47:9).
וַיִּקְרְב֣וּway·yiq·rə·ḇūdrew nearH7126
√ qârab — to approach (causatively, bring near) for whatever purposeConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
qāraḇ, “to draw near, approach.” Henry’s image: “his candle gradually burnt down to the socket, so that he saw the time drawing nigh.” Cambridge sets the scene beside the deathbeds of Moses (Deut. 31–34) and David (1 Kings 2:1) — the patriarch ordering his end.
יִשְׂרָאֵ֘לyiś·rå̄·ʾēlfor IsraelH3478
√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular
“Israel” — the covenant name, chosen here over “Jacob,” precisely where faith in the promise is about to speak. Benson: “Israel, that had power over the angel, and prevailed, yet must yield to death.”
לָמוּת֒lā·mūṯto dieH4191
√ mûwth — to die (literally or figuratively)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct
וַיִּקְרָ֣א׀way·yiq·rāhe calledH7121
√ qârâʼ — to call out to (iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
לִבְנ֣וֹliḇ·nōwhis sonH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcPreposition-lNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular
לְיוֹסֵ֗ףlə·yō·w·sêp̄JosephH3130
√ Yôwçêph — Joseph, the name of seven IsraelitesPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular
וַיֹּ֤אמֶרway·yō·merand saidH559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
לוֹ֙lōwto him
Prepositionthird person masculine singular
אִם־’im-IfH518
√ ʼim — used very widely as demonstrative, lo!Conjunction
נָ֨א. . .H4994
√ nâʼ — 'I pray', 'now', or 'then'Interjection
מָצָ֤אתִיmā·ṣā·ṯîI have foundH4672
√ mâtsâʼ — properly, to come forth to, iVerbQalPerfectfirst person common singular
māṣā’, “to find,” in the fixed idiom “to find favor in the eyes of.” The opening formula of a solemn request; Cambridge cross-lists its other J occurrences (Genesis 18:3; 32:5; 33:8).
חֵן֙ḥênfavorH2580
√ chên — graciousness, iNounmasculine singular
ḥēn, “grace, favor, charm.” The thing sought; the same noun Noah “found” with the LORD (Genesis 6:8). Here it asks not for mercy but for the granting of a dying wish.
בְּעֵינֶ֔יךָbə·‘ê·ne·ḵāin your eyesH5869
√ ʻayin — an eye (literally or figuratively)Preposition-bNouncdcsecond person masculine singular
שִֽׂים־śîm-putH7760
√ sûwm — to put (used in a great variety of applications, literal, figurative, inferentially, and elliptically)VerbQalImperativemasculine singular
נָ֥א. . .H4994
√ nâʼ — 'I pray', 'now', or 'then'Interjection
יָדְךָ֖yā·ḏə·ḵāyour handH3027
√ yâd — a hand (the open one (indicating power, means, direction, etcNounfeminine singular constructsecond person masculine singular
תַּ֣חַתta·ḥaṯunderH8478
√ tachath — the bottom (as depressed)Preposition
יְרֵכִ֑יyə·rê·ḵîmy thighH3409
√ yârêk — the thigh (from its fleshy softness)Nounfeminine singular constructfirst person common singular
yārēḵ, “thigh, loin” — a deliberately rare oath-word. The hand under the thigh near the organ of procreation swears by the covenant of seed and circumcision; only Abraham (Genesis 24:2,9) and Jacob here use it. The gesture binds the oath to the promise of offspring and land.
וְעָשִׂ֤יתָwə·‘ā·śî·ṯāand promise to showH6213
√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectsecond person masculine singular
עִמָּדִי֙‘im·mā·ḏîmeH5978
√ ʻimmâd — along withPrepositionfirst person common singular
חֶ֣סֶדḥe·seḏkindnessH2617
√ chêçêd — kindnessNounmasculine singular
ḥeseḏ, “loyal love, covenant-kindness” — one of the OT’s richest words. Joined to ’ĕmeṯ (“truth, faithfulness”) it forms the bond-word pair that Scripture finally hangs on God Himself (Exodus 34:6).
וֶאֱמֶ֔תwe·’ĕ·meṯand faithfulnessH571
√ ʼemeth — stabilityConjunctive wawNounfeminine singular
’ĕmeṯ, “firmness, faithfulness, truth,” from a root meaning “to be firm, stable.” Not abstract veracity but reliability-in-action — keeping the word once given. Poole: “truly in performing thy promise.”
אַל־’al-Do notH408
√ ʼal — not (the qualified negation, used as a deprecative)Adverb
נָ֥א. . .H4994
√ nâʼ — 'I pray', 'now', or 'then'Interjection
תִקְבְּרֵ֖נִיṯiq·bə·rê·nîbury meH6912
√ qâbar — to interVerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singularfirst person common singular
qāḇar, “to bury, inter.” The Pulpit Commentary notes the root’s reach (cf. English cover) and Genesis 23:4. Gill names the reason for the refusal: not “choosing to lie among idolaters at death, with whom he cared not to have any fellowship in life.”
בְּמִצְרָֽיִם׃bə·miṣ·rā·yimin EgyptH4714
√ Mitsrayim — Mitsrajim, iPreposition-bNounproperfeminine singular
The Voices✦ public domain+
But there was a wish over which he had long pondered; and desiring to have his mind set at rest, he sends for Joseph, and makes him promise that he will bury him in the cave at Machpelah.
Put thy hand under my thigh, i.e. swear to me, as Genesis 47:31 , that thou wilt do what I am now desiring of thee
His address to Joseph—"if now I have found grace in thy sight," that is, as the vizier of Egypt—his exacting a solemn oath that his wishes would be fulfilled and the peculiar form of that oath, all pointed significantly to the promise and showed the intensity of his desire to enjoy its blessings
bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt; not choosing to lie among idolaters at death, with whom he cared not to have any fellowship in life.
30“but when I lie down with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and b…”+

30but when I lie down with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me with them.” Joseph answered, “I will do as you have requested.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·šā·ḵaḇ·tî ‘im- ’ă·ḇō·ṯay ū·nə·śā·ṯa·nî mim·miṣ·ra·yim ū·qə·ḇar·ta·nî biq·ḇu·rā·ṯām way·yō·mar ’ā·nō·ḵî ’e·‘ĕ·śeh ḵiḏ·ḇā·re·ḵā

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“But-I-will-lie-down with my-fathers, and-you-shall-carry-me out-of-Egypt and-bury-me in-their-burying-place. And-he-said: ‘I-myself will-do according-to-your-word.’”

Where the English smooths the original

  • וְשָֽׁכַבְתִּי֙ HTML: וְשָׁכַבְתִּי עִם־אֲבֹתַי — literally “and I shall lie down with my fathers.” The verb šāḵaḇ (“to lie down”) is the gentle Hebrew euphemism for death, which Cambridge renders “when I sleep with my fathers.” The BSB’s “when I lie down with my fathers” keeps it; but the Hebrew’s soft idiom — death as a lying-down beside kin — is the whole tone Jacob chooses.
  • וּנְשָׂאתַ֙נִי֙ HTML: וּנְשָׂאתַנִי (ūnᵉśā’ṯanî), from nāśā’, “to lift, bear, carry up” — “you shall bear me up / carry me out of Egypt.” It is the same lifting-verb used of the funeral cortège that fulfills this in Genesis 50:13. The BSB’s “carry me out” is exact, but the verb is the dignified one for bearing a body in procession.
  • אָנֹכִ֖י HTML: Joseph answers אָנֹכִי אֶעֱשֶׂה כִדְבָרֶךָ — “I-myself will do according to your word.” The emphatic long pronoun ’ānōḵî stands first for stress: the BSB’s “I will do as you have requested” renders the sense but loses the weight of the pledge — Joseph putting his own self forward as guarantor. And כִדְבָרֶךָ is literally “according to your word” (dāḇār), as the Pulpit Commentary notes.
Word by word11 · parsed+
וְשָֽׁכַבְתִּי֙wə·šā·ḵaḇ·tîbut when I lie downH7901
√ shâkab — to lie down (for rest, sexual connection, decease or any other purpose)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectfirst person common singular
šāḵaḇ, “to lie down” — the standard euphemism for death (“slept with his fathers”). Geneva reads the faith inside it: “By this he demonstrated that he died in the faith of his fathers, teaching his children to hope for the promised land.”
עִם־‘im-withH5973
√ ʻim — adverb or preposition, with (iPreposition
אֲבֹתַ֔י’ă·ḇō·ṯaymy fathersH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine plural constructfirst person common singular
’āḇ (plural, “my fathers”) — Abraham and Isaac, lying in Machpelah. Poole: “I will lie with my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, in Canaan,” a desire held “not so much for himself… as for his children, to show his own, and confirm their faith in God’s promise of Canaan.”
וּנְשָׂאתַ֙נִי֙ū·nə·śā·ṯa·nîcarry meH5375
√ nâsâʼ — to lift, in a great variety of applications, literal and figurative, absolute and relativeConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectsecond person masculine singularfirst person common singular
nāśā’, “to lift, bear, carry” — one of the most elastic verbs in Hebrew. Here it means to bear a body up out of Egypt in funeral procession; the same verb carries Jacob’s bier in Genesis 50:13, and Joseph will require the same for his own bones (Genesis 50:25).
מִמִּצְרַ֔יִםmim·miṣ·ra·yimout of EgyptH4714
√ Mitsrayim — Mitsrajim, iPreposition-mNounproperfeminine singular
וּקְבַרְתַּ֖נִיū·qə·ḇar·ta·nîand bury meH6912
√ qâbar — to interConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectsecond person masculine singularfirst person common singular
qāḇar, “to bury” — repeated from v. 29, now positive: not “bury me in Egypt” but “bury me” in Canaan. The double use frames the whole request as a single covenant act.
בִּקְבֻרָתָ֑םbiq·ḇu·rā·ṯāmwith themH6900
√ qᵉbûwrâh — sepulturePreposition-bNounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine plural
qᵉḇûrāh, “grave, burying-place, sepulture” — a rare noun (13 occurrences). Cambridge: “the cave of Machpelah,” repeated in Genesis 49:29–30 and executed in Genesis 50:13. The family tomb is the visible deed to the promise.
וַיֹּאמַ֕רway·yō·marJoseph answeredH559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
אָנֹכִ֖י’ā·nō·ḵîIH595
√ ʼânôkîy — IPronounfirst person common singular
’ānōḵî, the long emphatic first-person pronoun “I (myself).” Hebrew already marks the subject inside the verb ’e‘ĕśeh (“I will do”); the added ’ānōḵî is therefore deliberate stress — Joseph putting his own person forward as guarantor of the oath. The same heavy pronoun carries the weight of God's self-binding in the covenant promises to the patriarchs (e.g. Genesis 28:13, 15).
אֶֽעֱשֶׂ֥ה’e·‘ĕ·śehwill doH6213
√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationVerbQalImperfectfirst person common singular
כִדְבָרֶֽךָ׃ḵiḏ·ḇā·re·ḵāas you have requestedH1697
√ dâbâr — a wordPreposition-kNounmasculine singular constructsecond person masculine singular
dāḇār, “word, matter, thing.” “According to your word” — Joseph binds himself to the exact terms of his father’s charge. The Pulpit Commentary: “literally, according to thy word.”
The Voices✦ public domain+
Which he desired not so much for himself, as knowing that wherever he was buried he should rise to glory; as for his children, to show his own, and confirm their faith in God’s promise of Canaan; to discover his high valuation of that land, not only for itself, but as it was a type and pledge of the heavenly inheritance
By this he demonstrated that he died in the faith of his fathers, teaching his children to hope for the promised land.
partly to express his faith in the promised land, that it should be the inheritance of his posterity; and partly to draw off their minds from a continuance in Egypt, and to incline them to think of removing thither at a proper time
This charge of Jacob that he should be carried out of Egypt and buried in the burying-place of his fathers, viz. in the cave of Machpelah, is repeated in Genesis 49:29-30 (P). See for its execution Genesis 50:13 (P).
31““Swear to me,” Jacob said. So Joseph swore to him, and Israel bo…”+

31“Swear to me,” Jacob said. So Joseph swore to him, and Israel bowed in worship at the head of his bed.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

hiš·šā·ḇə·‘āh lî way·yō·mer way·yiš·šā·ḇa‘ lōw yiś·rā·’êl way·yiš·ta·ḥū ‘al- rōš ham·miṭ·ṭāh

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“And-he-said: ‘Swear to-me!’ And-he-swore to-him; and-Israel bowed-himself at the-head-of the-bed.”

Where the English smooths the original

  • הִשָּֽׁבְעָה֙ HTML: הִשָּׁבְעָה (hiššāḇᵉ‘āh, “swear!”) and וַיִּשָּׁבַע (“and he swore”) come from šāḇa‘ — a verb that literally means “to seven oneself,” i.e. to bind by the sacred number seven. The BSB’s “swear / swore” is right but mute; the Hebrew oath-verb carries the seven inside it. Gill explains why Jacob pressed for the oath beyond the promise: that Joseph “would be able to say his father had bound him by an oath.”
  • וַיִּשְׁתַּ֥חוּ HTML: וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ (wayyištaḥū) is from šāḥāh, “to bow down, prostrate, worship.” The BSB rightly supplies “in worship” — Poole and Gill agree the bowing is “to God… whom with this gesture he worshipped and praised,” not homage to Joseph. The same verb is religious adoration throughout the OT.
  • הַמִּטָּֽה׃פ HTML: the final word הַמִּטָּה (hammiṭṭāh, “the bed”) is the unit’s great textual crux. The Masoretic vowels read miṭṭāh = “bed”; the LXX read the same consonants as maṭṭeh = “staff,” which Hebrews 11:21 follows (“leaning on the top of his staff”). Ellicott: “The word in the Hebrew, without vowels, may mean either bed or staff.” The BSB prints “bed”; the divergence is not English-vs-Hebrew but Hebrew-vs-Greek, and it is flagged in the threads below.
Word by word10 · parsed+
הִשָּֽׁבְעָה֙hiš·šā·ḇə·‘āhSwearH7650
√ shâbaʻ — to seven oneself, iVerbNifalImperativemasculine singularthird person feminine singular
šāḇa‘ (Niphal imperative), “swear!” — etymologically “to seven oneself,” the verb sharing its root with šeḇa‘, “seven” (the sacred full number, H7651, which counts Jacob's last years in v. 28). To swear was, in the idiom of the language, to bind oneself by sevens. Gill: Jacob required the oath “not from any distrust of Joseph, but to show… how much he was set upon it,” and so that the oath could answer any objection from Pharaoh's court (cf. Genesis 50:5).
לִ֔יto me
Prepositionfirst person common singular
וַיֹּ֗אמֶרway·yō·merJacob saidH559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
וַיִּשָּׁבַ֖עway·yiš·šā·ḇa‘So Joseph sworeH7650
√ shâbaʻ — to seven oneself, iConjunctive wawVerbNifalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
šāḇa‘ again, “and he swore” — Joseph seals the promise with the binding word. The oath, not merely the promise, is what makes the burial in Canaan a settled certainty enacted in Genesis 50.
ל֑וֹlōwto him
Prepositionthird person masculine singular
יִשְׂרָאֵ֖לyiś·rā·’êland IsraelH3478
√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular
“Israel” — the covenant name closes the chapter, as it opened it (v. 27). The dying man is named by the name of the nation he became; his last recorded act is worship.
וַיִּשְׁתַּ֥חוּway·yiš·ta·ḥūbowed [in worship]H7812
√ shâchâh — to depress, iConjunctive wawVerbHitpaelConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
šāḥāh (Hishtaphel/Hitpael), “bowed down, worshipped, did obeisance.” The verb of adoration. Cambridge compares 1 Kings 1:47 — David also “bowed himself upon the bed.” Geneva: “he rejoiced that Joseph had promised him, and setting himself up on his pillows, praised God.”
עַל־‘al-atH5921
√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition
רֹ֥אשׁrōšthe headH7218
√ rôʼsh — the head (as most easily shaken), whether literal or figurative (in many applications, of place, time, rank, itcNounmasculine singular construct
rō’š, “head, top.” “At the head of the bed” — Jacob, bedridden, turns toward the bed’s head to worship, as K&D explain: “he turned towards the head of the bed, so as to lie with his face upon the bed, and thus worshipped God.”
הַמִּטָּֽה׃פham·miṭ·ṭāhof his bedH4296
√ miṭṭâh — a bed (as extended) forsleeping or eatingArticleNounfeminine singular
miṭṭāh, “bed, couch” (article: hammiṭṭāh) — the contested word. JFB: “Oriental beds are mere mats, having no head, and the translation should be ‘the top of his staff,’ as the apostle renders it (Heb 11:21).” The consonants המטה bear both readings; only the later vowel-points decide. The closing פ is the Masoretic petuḥah, marking a paragraph break — the end of the chapter and of Jacob’s strength.
The Voices✦ public domain+
The word in the Hebrew, without vowels, may mean either bed or staff, and as we have mentioned above ( Genesis 22:14 ), the points indicating the vowels were added in later times, and while valuable as representing a very ancient tradition, are nevertheless not of final authority.
Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head—Oriental beds are mere mats, having no head, and the translation should be "the top of his staff," as the apostle renders it (Heb 11:21).
Israel bowed himself, not to Joseph, who being now not upon his throne, nor amongst the Egyptians, but in his father’s house, was doubtless more ready to pay that reverence (as he did Genesis 48:12 ) than to receive veneration from him, which he owed to his father; but to God
This he required, not from any distrust of Joseph, but to show his own eagerness, and the intenseness of his mind about this thing, how much he was set upon it, and what an important thing it was with him; as also, that if he should have any objections made to it, or arguments used with him to divert him from it, by Pharaoh or his court, he would be able to say his father had bound him by an oath to do it

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

Grand Commentary — the unit, read wholesynthesis · verify+

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The settling that becomes a snare — 27

The unit opens on a verb of permanence. Israel dwelt — singular וַיֵּשֶׁב, the verb yāšaḇ, “to sit, settle, remain” — in a land they had asked only “to sojourn” in (Genesis 47:4). The Pulpit Commentary reads the clause as the deliberate dawn of the covenant: “This was the commencement of the promise (Genesis 46:3).” Three blessing-words ring out in a single Hebrew breath — wayyip̄rū wayyirbū mᵉ’ōḏ, “fruitful, multiplied, exceedingly” — the very triad of Genesis 1:28. Barnes saw the providence in the geography: Goshen kept Israel “free from the contamination which arises from promiscuous intermarriage with an idolatrous race,” so that “the Lord bestows the blessing of fruitfulness and multiplication.” K&D mark the lexical seam with care, noting the possession-verb here, נאחז, “as in Genesis 34:10.” Yet the comfort carries its own irony: the settling that fulfills the promise of a people is the same settling that grows into a nation a later Pharaoh will fear (Exodus 1:9). The blessing and the bondage share one root.

ii. The shortened pilgrimage — 28

The narrator turns from the nation to the man, and from “Israel” back to “Jacob” for the bare obituary. He lived (וַיְחִי, wayḥî) seventeen years in Egypt — and the verse closes on the cognate noun חַיָּיו, “his life,” a quiet Hebrew pun the English cannot keep. Benson hears the symmetry of grace in the number: “seventeen years he had nourished Joseph… and now, seventeen years Joseph nourished him,” adding, “Observe how kindly Providence ordered Jacob’s affairs.” The Pulpit Commentary supplies the literal tally the BSB smooths — “the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were an hundred forty and seven years” — and totals the pilgrimage: seventy-seven in Canaan, twenty in Padanaram, thirty-three in Canaan again, seventeen in Egypt. The figure is less than Abraham’s 175 or Isaac’s 180; the patriarch had told Pharaoh his days were “few and evil” (Genesis 47:9). Cambridge hears a deliberate cipher — “147 = 7 × 7 × 3, sacred numbers” — though that, the tool notes, is the commentator’s reading and not a claim the text makes.

iii. The oath under the thigh — 29–30

“The days of Israel drew near to die” — and the dying man’s one recorded arrangement, JFB observes, “reveals his whole character.” He calls Joseph and frames the request in courtly oath-speech: “if I have found חֵן (favor) in your eyes.” Gill insists this is no servility — it is a father speaking — yet JFB hears the vizier’s station in it. Then comes the gravest gesture in the patriarchal repertoire: “put your hand under my יָרֵךְ (thigh),” the same oath Abraham required of his servant (Genesis 24:2). Poole decodes it plainly: “i.e. swear to me.” The hand laid near the seat of generative power binds the oath to the covenant of seed and land. Jacob asks for חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶתḥeseḏ we’ĕmeṯ, “kindness and truth,” the bond-words Scripture finally hangs on God Himself (Exodus 34:6); Poole unfolds the pair: “Kindly in promising, and truly in performing.” The content of the oath is a refusal and a request: not in Egypt, but “with my fathers,” borne up (וּנְשָׂאתַנִי, nāśā’) to the cave at Machpelah. Geneva names the faith inside it: “By this he demonstrated that he died in the faith of his fathers, teaching his children to hope for the promised land.” The grave, Poole adds, was valued “as it was a type and pledge of the heavenly inheritance.”

iv. The worship at the bed's head — and a crux — 31

Jacob is not content with a promise; he presses for an oath. Gill explains the urgency: not distrust, but “that if he should have any objections made to it… by Pharaoh or his court, he would be able to say his father had bound him by an oath” (cf. Genesis 50:5). The oath-verb itself, שָׁבַע, literally means “to seven oneself.” Then Israel bows himself in worshipוַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ, šāḥāh, the verb of adoration. Poole is emphatic that this is worship of God, “not to Joseph… but to God,” for all His favors and the assurance of Canaan; Geneva pictures it: “setting himself up on his pillows, praised God.” The unit ends on its one unresolved word. The Masoretic הַמִּטָּה reads “the bed”; the same consonants, vocalized maṭṭeh, read “the staff” — the reading the Septuagint took and Hebrews 11:21 quotes: “leaning on the top of his staff.” Ellicott states the textual fact: “The word in the Hebrew, without vowels, may mean either bed or staff… the points… were added in later times.” K&D argue for “bed,” holding that the staff-reading “arose from a false reading… and is not proved to be correct by the quotation in Hebrews 11:21.” JFB argue the reverse. The tool does not pretend to settle it; it flags it below, where it belongs.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

Read the whole unit against the rule that Scripture alone is the final authority, and three things stand out — offered as a reading to be tested, not a verdict to be trusted.

The blessing is given before it is earned, and contains the conflict to come. The covenant triad “fruitful, multiplied, exceedingly” lands on Israel in Egypt, on borrowed soil under another lord. The Word does not flinch from the irony: the same prosperity that fulfills the promise to Abraham becomes, by Exodus 1, the very growth a hostile king moves to crush. God’s faithfulness runs through the place of danger, not around it.

Faith is a man arranging his grave. Jacob’s one dying act is to bind his bones to Canaan — and the New Testament reads this exact moment as faith (Hebrews 11:21–22). He had no foot of the land but a cave; he asked to be carried to it because, as Poole says, it was “a type and pledge of the heavenly inheritance.” The patriarch dies looking past Egypt and past Machpelah to “a better country” (Hebrews 11:16). To be measured by the written Word is to read this burial-request not as sentiment but as creed.

The honest reading keeps the seam visible. The chapter’s last word, המטה, cannot be settled from the consonants alone, and Hebrews quotes the Greek tradition over the Masoretic vowels. A Berean handling of Scripture does not paper this over; it holds the promise (Jacob worshipped, in faith, at the edge of death) firmly while leaving the textual detail (bed or staff) open and marked. The certainty is the worship; the crux is flagged.

Jacob owned one cave in the whole land of promise, and asked to be carried to it — because a man of faith arranges his grave by the Word he could not yet see kept.

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripturecross-refs · verify+

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

“Be fruitful and multiply” → the creation mandate (Genesis 1:28) structural / thematic — confirmed

The two lead verbs of v. 27, pārāh (“be fruitful”) and rāḇāh (“multiply”), are the precise pair God spoke at creation: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” (Genesis 1:28), reissued to Noah (Genesis 9:1, 7) and woven into every patriarchal promise (Genesis 17:6; 28:3; 35:11). The rare pārāh (28 verses) carries the seam. On foreign soil, in a famine year, the Creator's first blessing is being fulfilled in Abraham's line; the mandate to fill the earth narrows to one family that will become a nation. No quotation is claimed — this is the reuse of a fixed blessing-doublet across the canon.

Genesis 47:27 · Genesis 1:28 · Genesis 9:1

basis: Hebrew↔Hebrew shared lexemes (Verifier, 47:27↔1:28): H6509 pârâh (uncommon — 28 vv), H7235 râbâh — the creation-and-covenant blessing doublet 'be fruitful and multiply'; a reused fixed formula, not a quotation.

“Fruitful and multiplied exceedingly” → the birth of the nation (and the bondage) structural / thematic — confirmed

The blessing-triad of v. 27 — pārāh / rāḇāh / mᵉ’ōḏ — is the same triad that opens Exodus: “the Israelites were fruitful and increased abundantly… and multiplied… exceeding mighty.” The seam is the same fixed blessing-language (the uncommon pārāh occurs in only 28 verses), reused, not quoted. The promise of a people fulfilled in Goshen becomes the demographic fact that triggers the oppression. The Verifier records the shared lexemes; the tool reads the providence in the link — the blessing and the bondage share one vocabulary.

Genesis 47:27 · Exodus 1:7

basis: Hebrew↔Hebrew shared lexemes (Verifier): H6509 pârâh (uncommon — 28 vv), H7235 râbâh, H3966 mᵉʼôd — the fixed covenant-blessing triad of Gen 1:28 reused at the head of Exodus; reuse of fixed language, not a quotation.

The hand under the thigh → Abraham's oath structural / thematic — confirmed

Jacob's oath-gesture in v. 29 — “put your hand under my thigh” — repeats the gravest oath in Genesis, the one Abraham required of his servant before sending him for Isaac's bride. The distinctive word is yārēḵ (“thigh, loin”), an uncommon term (32 verses) that ties the oath to the covenant of seed and circumcision; the full clause (sûm “put,” yāḏ “hand,” taḥat “under,” yārēḵ “thigh”) recurs in Scripture only of Abraham (Genesis 24:2, 9) and Jacob here. This is a deliberately reused gesture-formula, not a textual quotation — so the link is patterned, not citational. Both patriarchs employ it at the threshold of death or departure, binding a son or servant to the promise of the land.

Genesis 47:29 · Genesis 24:2 · Genesis 24:9

basis: Hebrew↔Hebrew shared lexemes (Verifier, 47:29↔24:2): H3409 yârêk (uncommon — 32 vv), H7760 sûwm, H8478 tachath, H3027 yâd — the full oath-formula clause, attested in Scripture only of Abraham (Gen 24:2,9) and Jacob (here). Downgraded from 'verbal': this is a repeated ritual gesture-formula, not a quotation or citation, so it is tiered structural rather than verbal.

“Bury me with my fathers” → the charge fulfilled at Machpelah structural / thematic — confirmed

The burial-request of v. 30 is the first statement of a charge Jacob repeats with his last breath (Genesis 49:29–32) and Joseph executes in solemn procession (Genesis 50:13). The shared verbs are qāḇar (“bury”) and nāśā’ (“carry / bear up”), and the rare noun qᵉḇûrāh (“burying-place,” only 13 verses) threads v. 30 to the family tomb. Joseph will require the very same carrying for his own bones (Genesis 50:25; Joshua 24:32). The cave is the one deed Israel holds to the promised land while still in Egypt.

Genesis 47:30 · Genesis 49:29 · Genesis 50:13 · Genesis 50:25

basis: Hebrew↔Hebrew shared lexemes (Verifier, 47:30↔50:13): H6912 qâbar, H5375 nâsâʼ — the burial-and-carrying charge, with the rare noun H6900 qᵉbûwrâh (13 vv) joining 47:30 to 49:29; same motif, no quotation claim.

Israel bowed in worship → the dying patriarch / king at the bed structural / thematic — confirmed

Jacob's closing act in v. 31 — “Israel bowed himself” (šāḥāh, the verb of worship) at the head of the bed — is mirrored when David, also dying, “bowed himself upon the bed” (1 Kings 1:47). Cambridge and K&D both draw the parallel: the aged saint, too weak to kneel, turns on his couch to worship God for a promise kept. It is the posture of faith at the end of life.

Genesis 47:31 · 1 Kings 1:47

basis: Hebrew↔Hebrew shared lexeme (Verifier): H7812 shâchâh (“bow down, worship”); the bowing-on-the-bed motif is drawn by Cambridge and K&D explicitly, a shared deathbed pattern with no quotation claim.

“Upon the bed's head” → Hebrews 11:21 — bed or staff? flagged — verify source

This is the unit's required flag. The Masoretic Hebrew of v. 31 reads hammiṭṭāh, “the bed”; the Septuagint read the identical unpointed consonants as maṭṭeh, “the staff,” and Hebrews 11:21 quotes that Greek tradition: Jacob “worshipped, leaning on the top of his staff.” Because the link is cross-Testament (Greek↔Hebrew) it cannot rest on a shared Strong's number — the Verifier finds none — so it can only be argued, never asserted as a verbal quotation. Worse, the connection sits on a genuine textual crux: the NT cites the LXX vocalization against the MT pointing. Held honestly: Ellicott grants both readings are possible (“may mean either bed or staff”); K&D defend “bed” and judge the staff-reading a “false reading… not proved correct by the quotation in Hebrews 11:21”; JFB defend “staff.” The faith Hebrews celebrates is certain; the word it quotes is disputed. Left flagged on purpose.

Genesis 47:31 · Hebrews 11:21 · Genesis 48:2

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek↔Hebrew) — no shared Strong's lexeme possible (Verifier: none found). The NT quotes the LXX (maṭṭeh, “staff”) against the MT vocalization (miṭṭāh, “bed”) of the same consonants המטה; provenance and reading are both contested (Ellicott, K&D, JFB).

Christ in the Unittypology · verify+

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

Faith that arranges its burial — looking for a better country ancient/widely-held

Hebrews 11 reads Jacob's deathbed (this very unit) as an act of faith, and sets it inside the patriarchs who “died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off… and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” — desiring “a better country, that is, an heavenly” (Hebrews 11:13–16). Poole, on v. 30, says Jacob valued Canaan “as it was a type and pledge of the heavenly inheritance,” and Matthew Henry draws the line to Christ explicitly: Jacob “would be buried in Canaan, because it was the land of promise. It was a type of heaven, that better country.” The patriarch's grave-request points past Machpelah to the resurrection inheritance secured in Christ — the true Land of which Canaan was the shadow.

Genesis 47:29-31 · Hebrews 11:13-16 · Hebrews 11:21-22

The true Bread, and the death no provision can prevent widely-held

Matthew Henry hears the whole Joseph-narrative resolve into Christ at this deathbed: Joseph “supplied him with bread, that he might not die by famine, but that did not secure him from dying by age or sickness… Even those who lived on Joseph's provision, and Jacob who was so dear to him, must die. But Christ Jesus gives us the true bread, that we may eat and live for ever.” Joseph the bread-giver who cannot finally stay death is the type; the antitype is the One who said “I am the living bread… if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever” (John 6:51). The patriarch who must still die, fed by a savior-son, points to the people whom the greater Savior-Son feeds unto resurrection.

Genesis 47:27-31 · John 6:48-51

Joseph, saviour of the Gentiles — the famine-provider as figure of Christ ancient/widely-held

Keil & Delitzsch read the chapter's whole economic drama — Joseph feeding Egypt through the famine while keeping Israel secure in Goshen (the very note v. 27 closes on) — as a figure of Christ's saving work reaching beyond Israel: through the famine “Joseph proved himself to both the king and people of Egypt to be the true support of the land, so that in him Israel already became a saviour of the Gentiles.” The one sold by his brothers becomes the bread of life for the nations — used by God, K&D add, for the “preservation of the lives of individuals and nations” — and preserves the line of promise besides. It is a figural reading the text invites but does not state outright: the rejected brother exalted to save those who cast him out anticipates the One who, “lifted up,” draws all peoples to Himself. Held as a type to be tested, not a verdict — though it has deep roots in the church's reading of Joseph.

Genesis 47:27 · John 4:42 · Acts 7:9-14

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). The named voices are quoted verbatim from public-domain commentaries on Genesis 47:27–31, attributed in place: Matthew Henry (Concise Commentary, 1706), Albert Barnes (Notes, 1834), Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (1871), Matthew Poole (1685), John Gill (1746–63), Geneva Study Bible (1599), Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (1880s), the Pulpit Commentary (1880s), Joseph Benson (1810s), Charles Ellicott (1878), and Keil & Delitzsch (1860s, ET) — all from biblehub.com. Spurgeon's verse-by-verse work is the Psalms (Treasury of David); he wrote no Genesis commentary, so he is not quoted here.

The Hebrew is the Masoretic tradition. Transliterations, literal renderings, the “where the English smooths the Hebrew” notes, and the per-word notes are this tool's own work (⚙) — careful but fallible; check them against a lexicon (BDB, HALOT) and grammar.

On the cross-references, tiers prefer under-claiming. The oath-gesture thread (47:29 → Abraham at Genesis 24:2, 9) is tiered structural, not verbal: though the rare word yārēḵ (32 vv) and the full hand-under-thigh clause appear only of Abraham and Jacob, a repeated ritual gesture-formula is a shared pattern, not a quotation, so the higher tier would overclaim. Two crux-points are flagged in the open rather than smoothed: (1) the closing word הַמִּטָּה in v. 31, where the Masoretic “bed” and the LXX/Hebrews “staff” are the same consonants under different vowels — a Greek↔Hebrew link that cannot rest on a shared lexeme and is therefore marked flagged — verify source; and (2) the numerology of 147 in v. 28 (Cambridge's “7 × 7 × 3”), noted as a commentator's reading, not a textual claim. Cross-reference bases are the Verifier's computed shared Strong's lexemes (engine/verifier.py). The Joseph-as-saviour-of-the-Gentiles reading is Keil & Delitzsch's own figural exposition, offered as a type to be tested. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)

= human, public-domain source, quoted and named. = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)