Genesis 47:3

3 And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, What is your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy slaves are pastors of sheep, both we and also our fathers.

Genesis 47:3 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 47:3

And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, what [is] your occupation?
&c.] Which is the question he had told his brethren beforehand would be asked them, and prepared them to give an answer to it, ( Genesis 46:33 Genesis 46:34 ) ; which was perhaps an usual question Pharaoh asked of persons that came to settle in his dominions, that he might have no idle vagrants there, and that he might know of what advantage they were like to be of in his kingdom, and might dispose of them accordingly:

and they said unto Pharaoh, thy servants [are] shepherds, both we
[and] also our fathers;
see ( Genesis 46:34 ) .

Genesis 47:3 In-Context

1 Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh and said, My father and my brethren and their sheep and their cows and all that they have are come out of the land of Canaan; and, behold, they are in the land of Goshen.

2 And of the least of his brethren he took five men and presented them unto Pharaoh.

3 And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, What is your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy slaves are pastors of sheep, both we and also our fathers.

4 They said moreover unto Pharaoh, For to sojourn in the land are we come, for thy slaves have no pasture for their sheep, for the famine is sore in the land of Canaan; now therefore, we pray thee, let thy slaves dwell in the land of Goshen.

5 And Pharaoh spoke unto Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee;