Then Joseph said to the people, “Look, today I have bought you and your land for Pharaoh. I will provide you with seed so you can plant the fields.
Parallel translations
- WEB Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh. Behold, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land.
- KJV Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land.
- BSB Then Joseph said to the people, “Now that I have acquired you and your land for Pharaoh this day, here is seed for you to sow in the land.
- NKJV Then Joseph said to the people, “Indeed I have bought you and your land this day for Pharaoh. Look, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land.
- NASB Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, today I have purchased you and your land for Pharaoh; now, here is seed for you, and you may sow the land.
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 tells the people they now belong to Pharaoh and gives them seed to sow. He provides the means for them to begin again.
Overview
Having bought the people and land, Joseph supplies seed so the fields can be replanted as the famine eases. His provision looks beyond mere survival to renewed productivity and hope. This grace toward a needy people, giving them not only bread but a future, reflects God's generous care for those who depend on Him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Gen 41:27The seven thin and ugly cattle that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven empty heads of grain blasted with the east wind; they will be seven years of famine.
- Ps 107:36–37There he makes the hungry live, that they may prepare a city to live in,
- Isa 28:24–25Does he who plows to sow plow continually? Does he keep turning the soil and breaking the clods?
- Isa 55:10For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky, and doesn’t return there, but waters the earth, and makes it grow and bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
- Matt 24:45“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them their food in due season?
- Gen 45:6For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are yet five years, in which there will be no plowing and no harvest.
- Prov 12:11He who tills his land shall have plenty of bread, but he who chases fantasies is void of understanding.
- Prov 13:23An abundance of food is in poor people’s fields, but injustice sweeps it away.
- 2 Cor 9:10Now may he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, supply and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;
- Ps 112:5It is well with the man who deals graciously and lends. He will maintain his cause in judgment.
- Eccl 11:6In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening don’t withhold your hand; for you don’t know which will prosper, whether this or that, or whether they both will be equally good.
- Ps 41:1For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. Blessed is he who considers the poor. Yahweh will deliver him in the day of evil.
- Prov 11:26People curse someone who withholds grain, but blessing will be on the head of him who sells it.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 47:23 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.