They said, “You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.”
Parallel translations
- KJV And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.
- BSB “You have saved our lives,” they said. “We have found favor in our lord’s eyes, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.”
- NKJV So they said, “You have saved our lives; let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.”
- NASB So they said, “You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.”
- NLT “You have saved our lives!” they exclaimed. “May it please you, my lord, to let us be Pharaoh’s servants.”
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
The people gratefully declare that Joseph has saved their lives and willingly become Pharaoh's servants. They respond with thankfulness, not resentment.
Overview
Far from complaining, the Egyptians acknowledge Joseph as their deliverer and gladly accept their new status. Their words, 'you have saved our lives,' express genuine gratitude for his provision. Joseph the savior, freely confessed by a thankful people, foreshadows Christ, the greater Savior whom redeemed people gladly own as Lord.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Gen 33:15Esau said, “Let me now leave with you some of the folk who are with me.” He said, “Why? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.”
- Prov 11:26–27People curse someone who withholds grain, but blessing will be on the head of him who sells it.
- Gen 45:6–8For 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.
- Ruth 2:13Then she said, “Let me find favor in your sight, my lord, because you have comforted me, and because you have spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not as one of your servants.”
- Gen 6:19Of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ship, to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.
- Gen 18:3and said, “My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please don’t go away from your servant.
- Gen 50:20As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is today, to save many people alive.
- Gen 41:45Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphenath-Paneah; and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On as a wife. Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 47:25 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.