Genesis 47:9 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Genesis 47:9
And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.
a year (as a revolution of time) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
few
מְעַ֣טme.'At
H4592
a little or few (often adverbial or compar.) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
evil
וְרָעִ֗יםve.ra.'Im
H7451
bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · conjunction + adjective, masculine plural absolute
days
יְמֵי֙ye.Mei
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · noun, common masculine plural construct
years
שְׁנֵ֣יshe.Nei
H8141
a year (as a revolution of time) · noun, common masculine plural construct
life
חַיַּ֔יchai.Yai
H2416
alive · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
attained
הִשִּׂ֗יגוּhi.Si.gu
H5381
to reach (literally or figuratively) · verb, hiphil perfect, 3rd person common plural
days
יְמֵי֙ye.Mei
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · noun, common masculine plural construct
years
שְׁנֵי֙she.Nei
H8141
a year (as a revolution of time) · noun, common masculine plural construct
life
חַיֵּ֣יchai.Yei
H2416
alive · noun, common masculine plural construct
fathers
אֲבֹתַ֔י'a.vo.Tai
H1
father · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix
days
בִּימֵ֖יbi.Mei
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
pilgrimage
מְגוּרֵיהֶֽםme.gu.rei.Hem
H4033
a temporary abode · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
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
Job 14:1 Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.
Psalms 39:12 Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my…
Genesis 35:28 And the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years.
Psalms 39:5 Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether v…
Genesis 50:26 So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
Exodus 6:4 And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were stranger…
Exodus 7:7 And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years old, when they spake unto Pharaoh.
Deuteronomy 34:7 And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 47:1-12
Here is, I. The respect which Joseph, as a subject, showed to his prince. Though he was his favourite, and prime-minister of state, and had had particular orders from him to send for his father down to Egypt, yet he would not suffer him to settle till he had given notice of it to Pharaoh, Gen 47:1. Christ, our Joseph, disposes of his followers in his kingdom as it is prepared of his Father, saying, It is not mine to give, Mat 20:23.
II. The respect which Joseph, as a brother, showed to his brethren, notwithstanding all the unkindness he had formerly received from them.
1. Though he was a great man, and they were comparatively mean and despicable, especially in Egypt, yet he owned them. Let t…
The days of the years of my pilgrimage, &c.--Though a hundred thirty years, he reckons by days (compare Psa 90:12), which he calls few, as they appeared in retrospect, and evil, because his life had been one almost unbroken series of trouble. The answer is remarkable, considering the comparative darkness of the patriarchal age (compare Ti2 1:10).
Adam Clarke on Genesis 47:9
The days of the years of my pilgrimage - מגורי megurai, of my sojourning or wandering. Jacob had always lived a migratory or wandering life, in different parts of Canaan, Mesopotamia, and Egypt, scarcely ever at rest; and in the places where he lived longest, always exposed to the fatigues of the field and the desert. Our word pilgrim comes from the French pelerin and pelegrin, which are corrupted from the Latin peregrinus, an alien, stranger, or foreigner, from the adverb peregre, abroad, not at home. The pilgrim was a person who took a journey, long or short, on some religious account, submitting during the time to many hardships and privations. A more appropriate term could not be conceiv…
Jacob said unto Pharaoh, the days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years,.... He calls his life a "pilgrimage"; as every good man's is; they are not at home in their own country, they are seeking a better, even an heavenly one: Jacob's life was very emphatically and literally a pilgrimage; he first dwelt in Canaan, from thence he removed to Padanaram, and sojourned there awhile, and then came to Canaan again; for some time he dwelt at Succoth, and then at Shechem, and after that at Hebron, and now he was come down to Egypt, and he had spent one hundred and thirty years of his life in this way: and with this perfectly agrees the account of Polyhistor from Demetrius (n),…
The Church Fathers
THE LIFE OF THIS WORLD IS ONLY A TEMPORARY ABODE. — What does it mean what Jacob said to Pharaoh: The days of the years of my life, in which I dwell as a stranger? So say the Septuagint. The Latin codices have either a (step) or habeo (I have) or some other similar word. He said perhaps in those who live as a foreigner, because he was born in a land that the people had not yet received in inheritance by the divine promise, and living there was evidently in a foreign land, not only when he was a pilgrim, as in Mesopotamia, but also when he was there where he was born? Or is it to interpret these words rather as the Apostle says: While we are in the body, we are pilgrims away from the Lord (II Cor. 5:6)? According to this is also meant what is said in the Psalm: I am a stranger on the earth and a pilgrim like all my parents (Ps. 39:12). About the days of his life he says again: They have not reached the days of the years of the life of my fathers, the days in which they dwelt as strangers . Here he has not wanted to understand anything other than what the Latin codices say: that is, the years they lived. By this he meant to indicate that the present life is a dwelling in another's homeland in the earth, that is to say, the dwelling of a pilgrim. I believe that this is convenient for the saints, to whom the Lord promises another life, which is eternal. Therefore, we must understand well what is said about the wicked: They will live as strangers and they will hide; they will observe my footsteps (Ps. 56:6). For this is better understood what the psalm says that they inhabit as strangers to hide themselves, that is to say, to lay up their children; they never stay at home. [
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
City — The earliest mention of city-building is that of Enoch, which was built by Cain (Gen. 4:17). After the confusion of tongues, the descendants of Nimrod founded several cities (10:10-12). Next, we have…
Benedictions · Upon Pharaoh — Upon Pharaoh
Egypt · History of Israel in: Jacob, &c presented to Pharaoh — History of Israel in: Jacob, &c presented to Pharaoh
Hospitality · .Pharaoh to Jacob — .Pharaoh to Jacob
Life · BREVITY AND UNCERTAINTY OF — BREVITY AND UNCERTAINTY OF
Life, Natural · Is compared to: A pilgrimage — Is compared to: A pilgrimage
Old Age · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Pilgrims And Strangers · Exemplified: Jacob — Exemplified: Jacob
Year · .Of Jacob — .Of Jacob
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).
Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been. Jacob may here seem to complain that he had lived but a little while, and that, in this short space of time, he had endured many and grievous afflictions. Why does he not rather recount the great and manifold favors of God which formed an abundant compensation for every kind of evil? Besides, his complaint respecting the shortness of life seems unworthy of him; for why did he not deem a whole century and a third part of another sufficient for him? But if any one will rightly weigh his words, he rather expresses his own gratitude, in celebrating the goodness of God towards his fathers. For he does not so much deplore his own decrepitude…
Joseph then presented his father to Pharaoh, but not till after the audience of his brothers had been followed by the royal permission to settle, for which the old man, who was bowed down with age, was not in a condition to sue. The patriarch saluted the king with a blessing, and replied to his inquiry as to his age, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are 130 years; few and sorrowful are the days of my life's years, and have not reached (the perfect in the presentiment of his approaching end) the days of the life's years of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage." Jacob called his own life and that of his fathers a pilgrimage (מגוּרים), because they had not come into actual possessi…
When Jacob entered Pharaoh’s court and when he left, he blessed Pharaoh, an indication of Jacob’s position as God’s representative (see Heb 7:7). God had promised that he would bless those who blessed Abraham’s family (Gen 12:2-3), so he now blessed Pharaoh and Egypt.
Rashi on Genesis 47:9
שני מגורי — means the days of my being a stranger. All my days I have been a stranger in other peoples’ lands.
ולא השיגו AND THEY HAVE NOT ATTAINED so far as happiness is concerned.
