Genesis 47:15
And when the buyers wanted money, all Egypt came to Joseph, saying: Give us bread: why should we die in thy presence, having now no money.
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Cumque defecisset emptoribus pretium, venit cuncta Ægyptus ad Joseph, dicens : Da nobis panes : quare morimur coram te, deficiente pecunia ?
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ ἐξέλιπεν τὸ ἀργύριον πᾶν ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου καὶ ἐκ γῆς Χανάαν· ἦλθον δὲ πάντες οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι πρὸς Ἰωσὴφ λέγοντες Δὸς ἡμῖν ἄρτους· καὶ ἵνα τί ἀποθνήσκομεν ἐναντίον σου; ἐκλέλοιπεν γὰρ τὸ ἀργύριον ἡμῶν.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיִּתֹּ֣ם הַכֶּ֗סֶף מֵאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַיִם֮ וּמֵאֶ֣רֶץ כְּנַעַן֒ וַיָּבֹאוּ֩ כָל מִצְרַ֨יִם אֶל יוֹסֵ֤ף לֵאמֹר֙ הָֽבָה לָּ֣נוּ לֶ֔חֶם וְלָ֥מָּה נָמ֖וּת נֶגְדֶּ֑ךָ כִּ֥י אָפֵ֖ס כָּֽסֶף
Haydock's commentary
Wanted. Or "failed both in Egypt and Chanaan," as the Hebrew insinuates. (Haydock)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Ambrose On the Duties of the Clergy, Chapter XVI. Due measure must be observed in liberality, that it may not be expended on worthless persons, when it is needed by worthier ones. However, alms are not to be given in too sparing and hesitating a way. One ought rather to follow the example of the blessed Joseph, whose prudence is commended at great length
80. First of all, then, he gathered up their money, then their implements, last of all he acquired for the king all their rights to the ground. He did not wish to deprive all of them of their property, but to support them in it. He also imposed a general tax, that they might hold their own in safety. So pleasing was this to all from whom he had taken the land, that they looked on it, not as the selling of their rights, but as the recovery of their welfare. Thus they spoke: “Thou hast saved our lives, let us find grace in the sight of our Lord.” For they had lost nothing of their own, but had received a new right. Nothing of what was useful to them had failed, for they had now gained it in perpetuity.