Genesis 47:18

18 When that year was ended, they came unto him the second year and said unto him, We will not hide it from my lord how that the money is gone; my lord also has our herds of cattle; there is not nothing left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies and our lands.

Genesis 47:18 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 47:18

When the year was ended, they came unto him the second year,
&c.] Which seems to be the seventh and last year of the years of famine; not the second year of the famine, as Jarchi, but the second year of their great distress, when having spent all their money they parted with their cattle; for it cannot be thought that they should be drained of their money and cattle too in one year:

and said unto him, we will not hide [it] from my lord, how that our
money is spent; my lord also hath our herds of cattle;
both these were well known to Joseph, and therefore cannot be the things which they say they would not hide: Musculus thinks it should be rendered in the past tense, "we have not hid"; this they told him the last year, that their money was gone, and he knew he had their cattle for their last year's provision: the sense seems to be this, that seeing their money was spent, and their cattle were in the hands of Joseph, they would not, and could not conceal from him what follows:

there is not enough left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies and
our lands;
and the one were starving and the other desolate.

Genesis 47:18 In-Context

16 And Joseph said, Give your livestock, and I will give you for your livestock if the money has failed.
17 And they brought their livestock unto Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses and for the sheep and for the bovine livestock and for the asses, and he fed them with bread for all their livestock that year.
18 When that year was ended, they came unto him the second year and said unto him, We will not hide it from my lord how that the money is gone; my lord also has our herds of cattle; there is not nothing left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies and our lands.
19 Why 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 slaves unto Pharaoh, and give us seed that we may live, and not die, that the land not be desolate.
20 Then Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for each one of the Egyptians sold his field because the famine prevailed over them; so the land became Pharaoh’s.
The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010