Genesis 47:3

3 And Pharaoh said to his brothers, "What [is] your occupation?" And they said to Pharaoh, "Your servants [are] keepers of sheep, both we and also our ancestors."

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 So Joseph went and reported to Pharaoh. And he said, "My father and my brothers, with their flocks and their herds, and all that they have, have come from the land of Canaan. Now [they are] here in the land of Goshen."

2 And from among his brothers he took five men and presented them before Pharaoh.

3 And Pharaoh said to his brothers, "What [is] your occupation?" And they said to Pharaoh, "Your servants [are] keepers of sheep, both we and also our ancestors."

4 And they said to Pharaoh, "We have come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for your servant's flocks, for the famine [is] severe in the land of Canaan. So now, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen."

5 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Your father and your brothers have come to you.

Footnotes

• [a] Or "fathers"