Discovery BoxGenesis 47:1-6 
Context47:1 Joseph went and told Pharaoh, “My father, my brothers, their flocks and herds, and all that they own have arrived from the land of
Canaan. They are now 1 in the land of Goshen.” 47:2 He took five of his brothers and introduced them to Pharaoh. 2
47:3 Pharaoh said to Joseph’s 3 brothers, “What is your occupation?” They said to Pharaoh, “Your servants take care of flocks, just as our ancestors did.” 4 47:4 Then they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to live as temporary residents 5 in the land. There 6 is no pasture for your servants’ flocks because the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. So now, please let your servants live in the land of Goshen.”
47:5 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. 47:6 The land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and your brothers in the best region of the land. They may live in the land of Goshen. If you know of any highly capable men 7 among them, put them in charge 8 of my livestock.”
1 tn Heb “Look they [are] in the land of Goshen.” Joseph draws attention to the fact of their presence in Goshen.
2 tn Heb “and from the whole of his brothers he took five men and presented them before Pharaoh.”
3 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Heb “both we and our fathers.”
5 tn Heb “to sojourn.”
6 tn Heb “for there.” The Hebrew uses a causal particle to connect what follows with what precedes. The translation divides the statement into two sentences for stylistic reasons.
7 tn Heb “men of skill.”
8 tn Heb “make them rulers.”
sn Put them in charge of my livestock. Pharaoh is, in effect, offering Joseph’s brothers jobs as royal keepers of livestock, a position mentioned often in Egyptian inscriptions, because the Pharaohs owned huge herds of cattle.
