Bible Strands
Genesis 46:31
Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and inform Pharaoh: ‘My brothers and my father’s household from the land of Canaan have come to me.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Joseph speaks to his brothers and his father’s household immediately after Jacob’s statement of relief in Genesis 46:30. He announces his plan to travel upward to Egypt to deliver a formal report to Pharaoh.
The words — The Hebrew אֶעֱלֶ֖ה ('e.'e.Leh) literally means "I will go up," denoting the geographic ascent toward the Nile Delta. Joseph’s speech is introduced with וַ/יֹּ֨אמֶר (va/i.Yo.mer), marking the shift from private family dialogue to official diplomatic correspondence.
The thread — This announcement sets up the exact report recorded in Genesis 47:1 and fulfills the earlier note that Pharaoh and his servants would be pleased in Genesis 45:16. The structural parallel to Acts 18:3 demonstrates how mediators routinely use direct communication to navigate between distinct social or professional groups.
Why it lands — The text records a factual transition from kinship reunion to state administration without embellishment. It asks a reader to observe how Joseph immediately operationalizes his family’s arrival through official channels rather than private arrangement.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Joseph said unto his brethren, and unto his father’s house, I will go up, and shew Pharaoh, and say unto him, My brethren, and my father’s house, which were in the land of Canaan, are come unto me;
Cross-references
- Genesis 45:16 When the news reached Pharaoh’s house that Joseph’s brothers had come, Pharaoh and his servants were pleased.
- Genesis 47:1 So Joseph went and told Pharaoh: “My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all they own, have come from the land of Canaan and are now in Goshen.”
- Acts 18:3 and he stayed and worked with them because they were tentmakers by trade, just as he was.
- Hebrews 2:11 For both the One who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.