And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou?
And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How many are the days of the years of thy life?
And Pharaoh saith unto Jacob, `How many are the days of the years of thy life?'
And Pharaoh said to Jacob, How many are the days of the years of thy life?
Genesis — The book of beginnings. Creation, fall, flood, covenant, election, providence — eleven generational seams stitch one unbroken story from heaven-and-earth to a coffin in Egypt.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
Voices4
And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, how old art thou? Or, "how many are the days of the years of thy life?" which way of speaking Jacob takes up, and very pertinently makes use of in his answer that follows: Dr. Lightfoot (m) thinks Pharaoh had never seen so old a man before, so grave a head, and so grey a beard, and in admiration asked this question. (m) Works, vol. 1. p. 667.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)reformed
Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou?--The question was put from the deep and impressive interest which the appearance of the old patriarch had created in the minds of Pharaoh and his court.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871reformed
How old art thou? - A question usually put to old men, for it is natural to us to admire old age, and to reverence it. Jacob's countenance no doubt shewed him to be old, for be had been a man of labour and sorrow.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765evangelical
Jacob's countenance, no doubt, showed him to be very old, for he had been a man of labour and sorrow; in Egypt people were not so long-lived as in Canaan, and therefore Pharaoh looks upon Jacob with wonder; he was as a show in his court. When we are reflecting upon ourselves, this should come into the account, "How old are we?" (2.) Jacob gives Pharaoh an uncommon answer,
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710puritan
The verses this one reaches3
And at a ripe old age he breathed his last and died, old and contented, and was gathered to his people.
And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years, and the length of his life was 147 years.
But Barzillai replied, “How many years of my life remain, that I should go up to Jerusalem with the king?
