Joseph also provided his father and his brothers and all his father’s household with food, according to the number of their little ones.
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.
- BSB Joseph also provided his father and brothers and all his father’s household with food for 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.
- 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 45:11There I will nourish you; for there are yet five years of famine; lest you come to poverty, you, and your household, and all that you have.”’
- Exod 20:12“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.
- 1 Tim 4:8For bodily exercise has some value, but godliness has value in all things, having the promise of the life which is now, and of that which is to come.
- 1 Tim 5:4But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them learn first to show piety towards their own family, and to repay their parents, for this is acceptable in the sight of God.
- 1 Tim 5:8But if anyone doesn’t provide for his own, and especially his own household, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever.
- Gen 47:21As for the people, he moved them to the cities from one end of the border of Egypt even to the other end of it.
- 1 Th 2:7But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother cherishes her own children.
- Matt 15:4–6For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’
- Gen 47:1Then Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, and said, “My father and my brothers, with their flocks, their herds, and all that they own, have come out of the land of Canaan; and behold, they are in the land of Goshen.”
- Ruth 4:15He shall be to you a restorer of life, and sustain you in your old age, for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.”
- Mark 7:10–13For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother;’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’
- Gen 47:24It will happen at the harvests, that you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four parts will be your own, for seed of the field, for your food, for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.”
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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.