Let Pharaoh take action and appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance.
Parallel translations
- WEB Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint overseers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt’s produce in the seven plenteous years.
- KJV Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years.
- NKJV Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land, to collect one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt in the seven plentiful years.
- NASB Let Pharaoh take action to appoint overseers in charge of the land, and let him take a fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt as a tax in the seven years of abundance.
- NLT Then Pharaoh should appoint supervisors over the land and let them collect one-fifth of all the crops during the seven good years.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
He advises appointing overseers to collect a fifth of the harvest during the seven years of plenty.
Overview
Joseph proposes a concrete tax-and-storage plan to gather surplus grain during the abundant years. This wise administration would later preserve countless lives. The counsel shows God-given wisdom applied to real-world crisis management.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Prov 6:6–8Walk in the manner of the ant, O slacker; observe its ways and become wise.
- Neh 11:9Joel son of Zichri was the officer over them, and Judah son of Hassenuah was over the Second District of the city.
- Prov 27:12The prudent see danger and take cover; but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.
- Luke 16:5And he called in each one of his master’s debtors. ‘How much do you owe my master?’ he asked the first.
- 2 Chr 34:12And the men did the work faithfully. The Levites overseeing them were Jahath and Obadiah, descendants of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, descendants of Kohath. Other Levites, all skilled with musical instruments,
- Prov 22:3The prudent see danger and take cover, but the simple keep going and suffer the consequences.
- Num 31:14But Moses was angry with the officers of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—who were returning from the battle.
- Ps 33:19to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.
- Job 5:20In famine He will redeem you from death, and in battle from the stroke of the sword.
- 2 Kgs 11:11–12And the guards stood with weapons in hand surrounding the king by the altar and the temple, from the south side to the north side of the temple.
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 41:34 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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