Genesis 41:49

And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left numbering; for it was without number.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Joseph	יוֹסֵ֥ף yo.Sef	H3130	Joseph · proper noun, a man's name
gathered	וַיִּצְבֹּ֨ר vai.yitz.Bor	H6651	to aggregate · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
corn	בָּ֛ר bar	H1250	grain of any kind (even while standing in the field) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
sand	כְּח֥וֹל ke.Chol	H2344	sand (as round or whirling particles) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
sea	הַיָּ֖ם hai.Yam	H3220	a sea (as breaking in noisy surf) or large body of water · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
very	מְאֹ֑ד me.'Od	H3966	properly · cardinal number, masculine singular absolute
much	הַרְבֵּ֣ה har.Beh	H7235	to increase (in whatever respect) · verb, hiphil infinitive absolute
left	חָדַ֥ל cha.Dal	H2308	properly · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
numbering	לִסְפֹּ֖ר lis.Por	H5608	properly · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
without	אֵ֥ין 'ein	H369	a non-entity · noun, common masculine singular construct
number	מִסְפָּֽר mis.Par	H4557	a number · noun, common masculine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Psalms 78:27 He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea:
Genesis 22:17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon th…
Judges 6:5 For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without…
Judges 7:12 And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their ca…
1 Samuel 13:5 And the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as th…
Job 1:3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a ver…
Jeremiah 33:22 As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Lev…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 41:46–end

Observe here, I. The building of Joseph's family in the birth of two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, Gen 41:50-52. In the names he gave them, he owned the divine Providence giving this happy turn to his affairs, 1. He was made to forget his misery, Job 11:16. We should bear our afflictions when they are present as those that know not but Providence may so outweigh them by after-comforts as that we may even forget them when they are past. But could he be so unnatural as to forget all his father's house? He means the unkindness he received from his brethren, or perhaps the wealth and honour he expected from his father, with the birthright. The robes he now wore made him forget the coat of divers c…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 41:48

he gathered up all the food of the seven years--It gives a striking idea of the exuberant fertility of this land, that, from the superabundance of the seven plenteous years, corn enough was laid up for the subsistence, not only of its home population, but of the neighboring countries, during the seven years of dearth.

Adam Clarke on Genesis 41:47

The earth brought forth by handfuls - This probably refers principally to rice, as it grows in tufts, a great number of stalks proceeding from the same seed. In those years the Nile probably rose sixteen cubits; See Clarke on Gen 41:31 (note).

John Gill on Genesis 41:49

And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left numbering,.... At first he took an account of the quantities that were bought and laid up, how much there was in each granary, until it amounted to so much, that there was no end of numbering it; it was like the sand of the sea, an hyperbolical expression, denoting the great abundance of it: for it was without number; not only the grains of corn, but even the measures of it, whatever were used; so Artapanus, an Heathen writer, says (p), Joseph, when governor of Egypt, got together the corn of seven years, an immense quantity. (p) Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 23. p. 430.

The Church Fathers

WHAT IS THE MEANING: BECAUSE THERE WERE NO MORE NUMBERS? — And Joseph gathered grain as the sand of the sea, very much, until he could not count it, because it was innumerable . The words ‘because it was innumerable’ meant that the amount was so large, that it exceeded any number usually used and did not know what that number was. But how can there be no number to indicate a huge but finite quantity? In spite of everything, this has been said in the form of hyperbole. [
— Augustine of Hippo, QUESTIONS ON GENESIS, Q. 136 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Corn — The word so rendered (dagan) in Gen. 27:28, 37, Num. 18:27, Deut. 28:51, Lam. 2:12, is a general term representing all the commodities we usually describe by the words corn, grain, seeds, peas,…
Famine — The first mentioned in Scripture was so grievous as to compel Abraham to go down to the land of Egypt (Gen. 26:1). Another is mentioned as having occurred in the days of Isaac, causing him to go to…
Kine — (Heb. sing. parah, i.e., “fruitful”), mentioned in Pharaoh’s dream (Gen. 41: 18). Here the word denotes “buffaloes,” which fed on the reeds and sedge by the river’s brink.
Pharaoh — The official title borne by the Egyptian kings down to the time when that country was conquered by the Greeks. (See EGYPT.) The name is a compound, as some think, of the words Ra, the “sun” or…
Corn · A product of Egypt — A product of Egypt
Economics · POLITI — POLITI
Egypt · History of Israel in: Joseph’s successful provision against the years of famine — History of Israel in: Joseph’s successful provision against the years of famine
Frugality · .The provisions ma — .The provisions ma
Government · Paternal functions of — Paternal functions of
Joseph · .Provi — .Provi
Prudence · .Joseph, in the affairs of Egypt — .Joseph, in the affairs of Egypt

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Genesis 41:49

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 41:46–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 41:48

Adam Clarke on Genesis 41:47

John Gill on Genesis 41:49

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Genesis 41:49

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 41:46–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 41:48

Adam Clarke on Genesis 41:47

John Gill on Genesis 41:49

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Genesis 41:46-49

Keil & Delitzsch on Genesis 41:47-49

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Genesis 41:47-57

Rashi on Genesis 41:45