Genesis 47:9
in Genesis 47“My travels have lasted 130 years,” Jacob replied. “My years have been few and hard, and they have not matched the years of the travels of my fathers.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years: few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Genesis 47
Commentary
6 notes on this verseThe 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.
This site's exposition
My years have been few and hard
on Genesis 47:9-10
Jacob gives his age as 130 years and calls them few and hard. The Hebrew word behind travels is the word for living as a foreigner, and Hebrews 11:13 takes it up for these men, strangers and exiles on the earth. He measures himself short of Abraham at 175 years and Isaac at 180. He blesses Pharaoh again on the way out.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Jacob calls his life a pilgrimage, looking upon himself as a stranger in this world, and a traveler towards another. He reckoned himself not only a pilgrim now he was in Egypt, a strange country in which he never was before, but his life even in the land of his nativity was a pilgrimage.
Jacob said unto Pharaoh, the days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years,....
As the young man should not be proud of his strength or beauty, so the old man should not be proud of his age, and the crown of his hoary hairs, though others justly reverence it; for those who are accounted very old attain not to the years of the patriarchs. The hoary head is a crown of glory only when it is found in the way of righteousness.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The days of the years of my pilgrimage, &c.--Though a hundred thirty years, he reckons by days (compare Ps 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 2Ti 1:10).
The words behind it
25 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֤אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| יַעֲקֹב֙ | yaako | Jacob | H3290 → | 350 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| פַּרְעֹ֔ה | paroh | Pharaoh | H6547 → | 274 times |
| יְמֵי֙ | yemei | [the] days of | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| שְׁנֵ֣י | shenei | [the] years of | H8141 → | 877 times |
| מְגוּרַ֔י | megurai | sojournings my | H4033 → | 11 times |
| שְׁלֹשִׁ֥ים | sheloshim | [are] thirty | H7970 → | 172 times |
| וּמְאַ֖ת | umeat | and one hundred | H3967 → | 581 times |
| שָׁנָ֑ה | shanah | year[s] | H8141 → | 877 times |
| מְעַ֣ט | meat | few | H4592 → | 101 times |
| וְרָעִ֗ים | veraim | and displeasing | H7451 → | 662 times |
| הָיוּ֙ | hayu | they have been | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| יְמֵי֙ | yemei | [the] days of | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| שְׁנֵ֣י | shenei | [the] years of | H8141 → | 877 times |
| חַיַּ֔י | chaiyai | life my | H2416 → | 498 times |
| וְלֹ֣א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| הִשִּׂ֗יגוּ | hisigu | they have reached | H5381 → | 50 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| יְמֵי֙ | yemei | [the] days of | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| שְׁנֵי֙ | shenei | [the] years of | H8141 → | 877 times |
| חַיֵּ֣י | chaiyei | [the] lives of | H2416 → | 498 times |
| אֲבֹתַ֔י | ʾavotai | ancestors my | H1 → | 1212 times |
| בִּימֵ֖י | bimei | in [the] days of | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| מְגוּרֵיהֶֽם׃ | megureihem | sojournings their | H4033 → | 11 times |
וַיֹּ֤אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
יַעֲקֹב֙Jacob
yaakoH3290 →350 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
פַּרְעֹ֔הPharaoh
parohH6547 →274 times
יְמֵי֙[the] days of
yemeiH3117 →2304 times
שְׁנֵ֣י[the] years of
sheneiH8141 →877 times
מְגוּרַ֔יsojournings my
meguraiH4033 →11 times
שְׁלֹשִׁ֥ים[are] thirty
sheloshimH7970 →172 times
וּמְאַ֖תand one hundred
umeatH3967 →581 times
שָׁנָ֑הyear[s]
shanahH8141 →877 times
מְעַ֣טfew
meatH4592 →101 times
וְרָעִ֗יםand displeasing
veraimH7451 →662 times
הָיוּ֙they have been
hayuH1961 →3559 times
יְמֵי֙[the] days of
yemeiH3117 →2304 times
שְׁנֵ֣י[the] years of
sheneiH8141 →877 times
חַיַּ֔יlife my
chaiyaiH2416 →498 times
וְלֹ֣אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
הִשִּׂ֗יגוּthey have reached
hisiguH5381 →50 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
יְמֵי֙[the] days of
yemeiH3117 →2304 times
שְׁנֵי֙[the] years of
sheneiH8141 →877 times
חַיֵּ֣י[the] lives of
chaiyeiH2416 →498 times
אֲבֹתַ֔יancestors my
ʾavotaiH1 →1212 times
בִּימֵ֖יin [the] days of
bimeiH3117 →2304 times
מְגוּרֵיהֶֽם׃sojournings their
megureihemH4033 →11 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Job 14:1“Man, who is born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble.
it leads to
- Job 5:7
Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.
- Ecclesiastes 2:23
Indeed, all his days are filled with grief, and his task is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is futile.
- Job 25:4
How then can a man be just before God? How can one born of woman be pure?
- Job 7:1
“Is not man consigned to labor on earth? Are not his days like those of a hired hand?
- Matthew 11:11
Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet even the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
- Job 5:7
Through
Psalms 39:12Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry for help; do not be deaf to my weeping. For I am a foreigner dwelling with You, a stranger like all my fathers.
it leads to
- 1 Peter 2:11
Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul.
- Hebrews 11:13
All these people died in faith, without having received the things they were promised. However, they saw them and welcomed them from afar. And they acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the…
- 1 Peter 2:11
Through
Psalms 39:5You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah
it leads to
- Psalms 89:47
Remember the briefness of my lifespan! For what futility You have created all men!
- Psalms 89:47
About Genesis
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.