Genesis 47:25
New International Version
“You have saved our lives,” they said. “May we find favor in the eyes of our lord; we will be in bondage to Pharaoh.”

New Living Translation
“You have saved our lives!” they exclaimed. “May it please you, my lord, to let us be Pharaoh’s servants.”

English Standard Version
And they said, “You have saved our lives; may it please my lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh.”

Berean Standard Bible
“You have saved our lives,” they said. “We have found favor in our lord’s eyes, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.”

King James Bible
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.

New King James Version
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.”

New American Standard Bible
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.”

NASB 1995
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.”

NASB 1977
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.”

Legacy Standard Bible
So they said, “You have kept us alive! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.”

Amplified Bible
And they said, “You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.”

Christian Standard Bible
“You have saved our lives,” they said. “We have found favor with our lord and will be Pharaoh’s slaves.”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
And they said, “You have saved our lives. We have found favor in our lord’s eyes and will be Pharaoh’s slaves.”

American Standard Version
And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants.

Contemporary English Version
"Sir, you have saved our lives!" they answered. "We are glad to be slaves of the king."

English Revised Version
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.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"You have saved our lives," they said. "Please, sir, we are willing to be Pharaoh's slaves."

Good News Translation
They answered, "You have saved our lives; you have been good to us, sir, and we will be the king's slaves."

International Standard Version
"You've saved our lives," they replied. "If it pleases you, your Excellency, we'll be Pharaoh's slaves."

Majority Standard Bible
?You have saved our lives,? they said. ?We have found favor in our lord?s eyes, and we will be Pharaoh?s servants.?

NET Bible
They replied, "You have saved our lives! You are showing us favor, and we will be Pharaoh's slaves."

New Heart English Bible
Then they said, "You have saved our lives. Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh?s slaves."

Webster's Bible Translation
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.

World English Bible
They said, “You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.”
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
And they say, “You have revived us; we find grace in the eyes of my lord, and have been servants to Pharaoh”;

Young's Literal Translation
And they say, 'Thou hast revived us; we find grace in the eyes of my lord, and have been servants to Pharaoh;'

Smith's Literal Translation
And they will say, Thou didst preserve us alive: shall we find grace in the eyes of my lord, we were servants to Pharaoh.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
And they answered: Our life is in thy hand: only let my lord look favourably upon us, and we will gladly serve the king.

Catholic Public Domain Version
And they responded: “Our health is in your hand; only let our lord look kindly upon us, and we will serve the king with gladness.”

New American Bible
“You have saved our lives!” they answered. “We have found favor with my lord; now we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.”

New Revised Standard Version
They said, “You have saved our lives; may it please my lord, we will be slaves to Pharaoh.”
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
And they said, You have saved our lives; let us find mercy in the sight of our lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
And they said, “You have saved us; let us find mercy in the eyes of our Lord and we will be Servants to Pharaoh.”
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
And they said: 'Thou hast saved our lives. Let us find favour in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's bondmen.'

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And they said, Thou hast saved us; we have found favour before our lord, and we will be servants to Pharao.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Joseph's Leadership During the Famine
24At harvest time, you are to give a fifth of it to Pharaoh, and four-fifths will be yours as seed for the field and food for yourselves and your households and children.” 25“You have saved our lives,” they said. “We have found favor in our lord’s eyes, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.” 26So Joseph established a law that a fifth of the produce belongs to Pharaoh, and it is in effect in the land of Egypt to this day. Only the priests’ land does not belong to Pharaoh.…

Cross References
Exodus 1:11-14
So the Egyptians appointed taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. As a result, they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. / But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and flourished; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. / They worked the Israelites ruthlessly ...

Exodus 12:31-36
Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Get up, leave my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD as you have requested. / Take your flocks and herds as well, just as you have said, and depart! And bless me also.” / And in order to send them out of the land quickly, the Egyptians urged the people on. “For otherwise,” they said, “we are all going to die!” ...

Leviticus 25:23-28
The land must not be sold permanently, because it is Mine, and you are but foreigners and residents with Me. / Thus for every piece of property you possess, you must provide for the redemption of the land. / If your brother becomes impoverished and sells some of his property, his nearest of kin may come and redeem what his brother has sold. ...

Deuteronomy 15:1-6
At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. / This is the manner of remission: Every creditor shall cancel what he has loaned to his neighbor. He is not to collect anything from his neighbor or brother, because the LORD’s time of release has been proclaimed. / You may collect something from a foreigner, but you must forgive whatever your brother owes you. ...

Deuteronomy 28:47-48
Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart in all your abundance, / you will serve your enemies the LORD will send against you in famine, thirst, nakedness, and destitution. He will place an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.

1 Samuel 8:10-18
So Samuel spoke all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. / He said, “This will be the manner of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them to serve his own chariots and horses, and to run in front of his chariots. / He will appoint some for himself as commanders of thousands and of fifties, and others to plow his ground, to reap his harvest, and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. ...

2 Kings 4:1-7
Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. And now his creditor is coming to take my two children as his slaves!” / “How can I help you?” asked Elisha. “Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She answered, “Your servant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.” / “Go,” said Elisha, “borrow empty jars from all your neighbors. Do not gather just a few. ...

Nehemiah 5:1-13
About that time there was a great outcry from the people and their wives against their fellow Jews. / Some were saying, “We and our sons and daughters are numerous. We must get grain in order to eat and stay alive.” / Others were saying, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our homes to get grain during the famine.” ...

Isaiah 61:1-3
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners, / to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of our God’s vengeance, to comfort all who mourn, / to console the mourners in Zion—to give them a crown of beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and a garment of praise for a spirit of despair. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.

Jeremiah 34:8-17
After King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim liberty, the word came to Jeremiah from the LORD / that each man should free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female, and no one should hold his fellow Jew in bondage. / So all the officials and all the people who entered into this covenant agreed that they would free their menservants and maidservants and no longer hold them in bondage. They obeyed and released them, ...

Ezekiel 18:7-9
He does not oppress another, but restores the pledge to the debtor. He does not commit robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing. / He does not engage in usury or take excess interest, but he withholds his hand from iniquity and executes true justice between men. / He follows My statutes and faithfully keeps My ordinances. That man is righteous; surely he will live, declares the Lord GOD.

Matthew 18:23-35
Because of this, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. / As he began the settlements, a debtor owing ten thousand talents was brought to him. / Since the man was unable to pay, the master ordered that he be sold to pay his debt, along with his wife and children and everything he owned. ...

Matthew 25:14-30
For it is just like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted them with his possessions. / To one he gave five talents, to another two talents, and to another one talent—each according to his own ability. And he went on his journey. / The servant who had received the five talents went at once and put them to work and gained five more. ...

Luke 4:18-19
“The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, / to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Luke 19:11-27
While the people were listening to this, Jesus proceeded to tell them a parable, because He was near Jerusalem and they thought the kingdom of God would appear imminently. / So He said, “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to lay claim to his kingship and then return. / Beforehand, he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Conduct business with this until I return,’ he said. ...


Treasury of Scripture

And they said, You have saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants.

Thou hast.

Genesis 6:19
And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.

Genesis 41:45
And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnathpaaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt.

Genesis 45:6-8
For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest…

let us.

Genesis 18:3
And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:

Genesis 33:15
And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me. And he said, What needeth it? let me find grace in the sight of my lord.

Ruth 2:13
Then she said, Let me find favour in thy sight, my lord; for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens.

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Bondage Bondmen Death Eyes Favor Favour Find Grace Kept Lives Pharaoh Pharaoh's Please Saved Servants Sight Slaves
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Bondage Bondmen Death Eyes Favor Favour Find Grace Kept Lives Pharaoh Pharaoh's Please Saved Servants Sight Slaves
Genesis 47
1. Joseph presents his father, and five of his brothers before Pharaoh.
11. He gives them habitation and maintenance.
13. He gets the Egyptian's money;
16. their cattle;
18. and their lands, except the priests', to Pharaoh.
23. He restores the land for a fifth.
28. Jacob's age.
29. He swears Joseph to bury him with his fathers.














“You have saved our lives,” they said.
This phrase reflects the gratitude of the Egyptian people towards Joseph, who, through his God-given wisdom, managed the resources of Egypt during a severe famine. Joseph's actions can be seen as a type of Christ, who provides salvation and sustenance to humanity. The context here is the seven-year famine that followed seven years of plenty, as interpreted by Joseph from Pharaoh's dreams (Genesis 41). Joseph's strategic planning ensured that Egypt had enough grain, saving countless lives. This mirrors the spiritual salvation offered by Jesus, who saves humanity from spiritual death.

“We have found favor in our lord’s eyes,”
The Egyptians acknowledge the grace and favor they have received from Joseph, who is acting as Pharaoh's representative. This phrase highlights the theme of finding favor, which is recurrent in the Bible. For instance, Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord (Genesis 6:8), and Mary found favor with God (Luke 1:30). In a broader sense, it reflects the biblical principle that those who act righteously and wisely often find favor with both God and man. Joseph's integrity and wisdom earned him a position of high authority, and through him, the Egyptians experienced the benefits of divine favor.

“and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.”
This statement signifies the Egyptians' willingness to submit to Pharaoh's authority in exchange for their survival. Historically, this reflects the socio-political structure of ancient Egypt, where Pharaoh was considered a god-king, and the people were his subjects. Theologically, this can be seen as a parallel to the Christian concept of servitude to Christ. Just as the Egyptians became servants to Pharaoh, believers are called to be servants of Christ, acknowledging His lordship in their lives. This servitude is not burdensome but is a response to the grace and salvation received, much like the Egyptians' response to Joseph's life-saving actions.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Joseph
The son of Jacob who rose to power in Egypt, second only to Pharaoh. He was instrumental in managing the resources of Egypt during the seven years of famine.

2. Pharaoh
The ruler of Egypt who entrusted Joseph with the administration of the land during the famine.

3. Egyptians
The people of Egypt who were affected by the severe famine and came to Joseph for help.

4. Famine
A severe shortage of food that affected Egypt and the surrounding regions, leading to the Egyptians selling their land and themselves to Pharaoh in exchange for food.

5. Goshen
The region in Egypt where Joseph's family settled, which was fertile and suitable for their livestock.
Teaching Points
Gratitude in Adversity
The Egyptians expressed gratitude to Joseph for saving their lives, even in difficult circumstances. This teaches us the importance of recognizing and being thankful for God's provision through others.

Stewardship and Responsibility
Joseph's wise management of resources during the famine is a model of stewardship. We are called to manage our resources wisely and responsibly, especially in times of scarcity.

Submission to Authority
The Egyptians' willingness to become Pharaoh's servants highlights the biblical principle of submitting to authority. As Christians, we are called to respect and submit to governing authorities, as long as it does not conflict with God's commands.

God's Sovereignty
The events in Egypt demonstrate God's sovereignty in using Joseph to preserve life. We can trust that God is in control, even in challenging situations.

Long-term Consequences
The Egyptians' decision to become servants had long-term implications. Our choices today can have lasting effects, and we should seek God's wisdom in making decisions.(25) Thou hast saved our lives.--The people were more than satisfied with Joseph's regulations; and if he had made them dependent upon the Pharaoh, apparently he had broken the yoke of the smaller lords, the hereditary princes of the districts into which Egypt was parcelled out; and they were more likely to be well-treated by the ruler of the whole land than by men of inferior rank. On these hereditary principalities at the period of the twelfth dynasty, see Maspero, Hist. Anc, p. 121.

Verse 25. - And they said, Thou hast saved our lives (literally, thou hast kept us alive): let us find grace in the sight of my lord (i.e. let us have the land on these favorable terms), and we will be Pharaoh's servants. "That a sort of feudal service is here intended - the service of free laborers, not bondmen - we may learn from the relationship of the Israelites to God, which was formed after the plan of this Egyptian model" (Gerlach).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
“You have saved our lives,”
הֶחֱיִתָ֑נוּ (he·ḥĕ·yi·ṯā·nū)
Verb - Hifil - Perfect - second person masculine singular | first person common plural
Strong's 2421: To live, to revive

they said.
וַיֹּאמְר֖וּ (way·yō·mə·rū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 559: To utter, say

“We have found
נִמְצָא־ (nim·ṣā-)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect Cohortative if contextual - first person common plural
Strong's 4672: To come forth to, appear, exist, to attain, find, acquire, to occur, meet, be present

favor
חֵן֙ (ḥên)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2580: Graciousness, subjective, objective

in our lord’s
אֲדֹנִ֔י (’ă·ḏō·nî)
Noun - masculine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 113: Sovereign, controller

eyes,
בְּעֵינֵ֣י (bə·‘ê·nê)
Preposition-b | Noun - cdc
Strong's 5869: An eye, a fountain

and will be
וְהָיִ֥ינוּ (wə·hā·yî·nū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - first person common plural
Strong's 1961: To fall out, come to pass, become, be

Pharaoh’s
לְפַרְעֹֽה׃ (lə·p̄ar·‘ōh)
Preposition-l | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 6547: Pharaoh -- a title of Egypt kings

servants.”
עֲבָדִ֖ים (‘ă·ḇā·ḏîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 5650: Slave, servant


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OT Law: Genesis 47:25 They said You have saved our lives! (Gen. Ge Gn)
Genesis 47:24
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