Joseph also provided his father and brothers and all his father’s household with food for their families.
Parallel translations
- WEB Joseph nourished his father, his brothers, and all of his father’s household, with bread, according to their families.
- KJV And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father’s household, with bread, according to their families.
- NKJV Then Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with bread, according to the number in their families.
- NASB Joseph also provided his father and his brothers and all his father’s household with food, according to the number of their little ones.
- NLT And Joseph provided food for his father and his brothers in amounts appropriate to the number of their dependents, including the smallest children.
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
Joseph provides food for his father, brothers, and their households throughout the famine. He sustains the entire family.
Overview
Joseph nourishes his whole family with bread according to their needs, caring for every household. His provision in famine mirrors the role God assigned him to preserve life. As the brother once sold into slavery now feeds those who wronged him, Joseph foreshadows Christ, who gives the bread of life to undeserving people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Gen 45:11And there I will provide for you, because there will be five more years of famine. Otherwise, you and your household and everything you own will come to destitution.’
- Exod 20:12Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
- 1 Tim 4:8For physical exercise is of limited value, but godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for the present life and for the one to come.
- 1 Tim 5:4But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to show godliness to their own family and repay their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God.
- 1 Tim 5:8If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
- Gen 47:21and Joseph reduced the people to servitude from one end of Egypt to the other.
- 1 Th 2:7On the contrary, we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother caring for her children.
- Matt 15:4–6For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’
- Gen 47:1So Joseph went and told Pharaoh: “My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all they own, have come from the land of Canaan and are now in Goshen.”
- Ruth 4:15He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”
- Mark 7:10–13For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’
- Gen 47:24At harvest time, you are to give a fifth of it to Pharaoh, and four-fifths will be yours as seed for the field and food for yourselves and your households and children.”
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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 47:12 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.