Genesis 41:37-57

Joseph Rises to Power

37 This proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants.

38 And Pharaoh said to his servants, "Can we find a man like this, ¹in whom is the Spirit of God?"^[a]

39 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are.

40 ²You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command.^[b] Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you."

41 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, "See, ³I have set you over all the land of Egypt."

42 Then Pharaoh ⁴took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, and ⁵clothed him in garments of fine linen ⁶and put a gold chain about his neck.

43 And he made him ride in his second chariot. ⁷And they called out before him, "Bow the knee!"^[c] Thus he set him ⁸over all the land of Egypt.

44 Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I am Pharaoh, and ⁹without your consent no one shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt."

45 And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphenath-paneah. And he gave him in marriage Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On. So Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

46 Joseph was thirty years old when he ¹⁰entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt.

47 During the seven plentiful years the earth produced abundantly,

48 and he gathered up all the food of these seven years, which occurred in the land of Egypt, and put the food in the cities. He put in every city the food from the fields around it.

49 And Joseph stored up grain in great abundance, ¹¹like the sand of the sea, until he ceased to measure it, for it could not be measured.

50 Before the year of famine came, ¹²two sons were born to Joseph. Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore them to him.

51 Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. "For," he said, "God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house."^[d]

52 The name of the second he called Ephraim, "For God has ¹³made me fruitful in the land of my affliction."^[e]

53 The seven years of plenty that occurred in the land of Egypt came to an end,

54 and ¹⁴the seven years of famine began to come, ¹⁵as Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.

55 When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, "Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do."

56 So when the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses^[f] and ¹⁶sold to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt.

57 Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe ¹⁷over all the earth.

Genesis 41:37-57 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 41

In this chapter are related Pharaoh's dreams, which his magicians could not interpret, Ge 41:1-9, upon which the chief butler now remembering Joseph, recommended him to Pharaoh as an interpreter, having had an happy experience of him as such himself, Ge 41:10-13, when Joseph was sent for out of prison; and Pharaoh having related his dreams, he interpreted them of seven years of plenty, and seven years of famine, that should be in the land of Egypt, Ge 41:14-32; and having done, he gave his advice to provide in the years of plenty against the years of famine, and proposed a scheme for doing it, which was approved of by Pharaoh and his ministers, Ge 41:33-37; and Joseph himself was pitched upon as the most proper person to execute it, and was appointed chief over the kingdom next to Pharaoh, who gave him a new name and a wife upon this occasion, Ge 41:38-45; accordingly, in the years of plenty he took a tour throughout the whole land, and gathered and laid up food in vast quantities in every city, Ge 41:46-49; an account is given of two sons born to Joseph, and of their names, Ge 41:50-52; and of the seven years of famine, beginning to come on at the end of the seven years of plenty, which brought great distress on the land of Egypt, and the countries round about, who all came to Joseph to buy corn, Ge 41:53-57.

Cross References

• 1. Numbers 27:18; Daniel 4:8, 18; Daniel 5:11, 14
• 2. Psalms 105:21; Acts 7:10
• 3. Genesis 42:6
• 4. Esther 3:10; Esther 8:2, 8, 10
• 5. [Esther 8:15]
• 6. Ezekiel 16:11; [Daniel 5:7, 29]
• 7. [Esther 6:9]
• 8. ver. 40; Genesis 42:6; Genesis 45:8, 9, 26
• 9. [Psalms 105:21, 22]
• 10. 1 Samuel 16:21; 1 Kings 12:6, 8; Daniel 1:19
• 11. Genesis 22:17; Judges 7:12; 1 Samuel 13:5; Psalms 78:27
• 12. Genesis 46:20; Genesis 48:5
• 13. [Genesis 49:22; Hosea 13:15]
• 14. Psalms 105:16; Acts 7:11
• 15. ver. 30
• 16. Genesis 42:6; [Genesis 47:14, 20, 24]
• 17. ver. 54, 56

Footnotes

• [a]. Or of the gods
• [b]. Hebrew and according to your command all my people shall kiss the ground
• [c]. Abrek, probably an Egyptian word, similar in sound to the Hebrew word meaning to kneel
• [d]. Manasseh sounds like the Hebrew for making to forget
• [e]. Ephraim sounds like the Hebrew for making fruitful
• [f]. Hebrew all that was in them