Genesis 46:31

31 Joseph then spoke to his brothers and his father's family. "I'll go and tell Pharaoh, 'My brothers and my father's family, all of whom lived in Canaan, have come to me.

Genesis 46:31 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 46:31

And Joseph said unto his brethren, and to his father's house,
&c.] To them and their families, after he had paid his filial respects to his father, in honour, reverence, and affection:

I will go up and shew Pharaoh;
acquaint him that his father and all his family were come to Egypt; he says, "I will go up"; which same phrase is used of him, ( Genesis 46:29 ) ; when he came, and carries some difficulty in it how to account for it, that he should be said to go up when he came, and to go up when he returned. Some have thought of upper Egypt, others of the upper part of the Nile, and others, that Pharaoh's palace was situated on an eminence; but then, as it is to be supposed he went the same road he came, it would have been said, that when he came, he came down; what Ben Melech suggests seems most agreeable, I will go up to my chariot, mount that, and return to Pharaoh, and give him an account of his father's arrival, which it was very proper, prudent, and politic to do:

and say unto him, my brethren, and my father's house, which [were] in
the land of Canaan, are come unto me;
not merely to pay him a visit, but to continue there.

Genesis 46:31 In-Context

29 Joseph gave orders for his chariot and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel. The moment Joseph saw him, he threw himself on his neck and wept. He wept a long time.

30 Israel said to Joseph, "I'm ready to die. I've looked into your face - you are indeed alive."

31 Joseph then spoke to his brothers and his father's family. "I'll go and tell Pharaoh, 'My brothers and my father's family, all of whom lived in Canaan, have come to me.

32 The men are shepherds; they've always made their living by raising livestock. And they've brought their flocks and herds with them, along with everything else they own.'

33 When Pharaoh calls you in and asks what kind of work you do,