6 For these two years have been years of need, and there are still five more years to come in which there will be no ploughing or cutting of grain.
Six days let work be done, but on the seventh day take your rest: at ploughing time and at the grain-cutting you are to have a day for rest.
And they are to take the cow into a valley where there is flowing water, and which is not ploughed or planted, and there the neck of the cow is to be broken:
And the oxen and the young asses which are used for ploughing, will have salted grain which has been made free from the waste with fork and basket.
Seven years are coming in which there will be great wealth of grain in Egypt; And after that will come seven years when there will not be enough food; and the memory of the good years will go from men's minds; and the land will be made waste by the bad years; And men will have no memory of the good time because of the need which will come after, for it will be very bitter.
And everywhere on the earth they were short of food; then Joseph, opening all his store-houses, gave the people of Egypt grain for money; so great was the need of food in the land of Egypt.
And when that year was ended, they came to him in the second year, and said, We may not keep it from our lord's knowledge that all our money is gone, and all the herds of cattle are my lord's; there is nothing more to give my lord but our bodies and our land;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Genesis 45
Commentary on Genesis 45 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 45
It is a pity that this chapter and the foregoing should be parted, and read asunder. There we had Judah's intercession for Benjamin, with which, we may suppose, the rest of his brethren signified their concurrence; Joseph let him go on without interruption, heard all he had to say, and then answered it all in one word, "I am Joseph.' Now he found his brethren humbled for their sins, mindful of himself (for Judah had mentioned him twice in his speech), respectful to their father, and very tender of their brother Benjamin; now they were ripe for the comfort he designed them, by making himself known to them, the story of which we have in this chapter. It was to Joseph's brethren as clear shining after rain, nay, it was to them as life from the dead. Here is,
Gen 45:1-15
Judah and his brethren were waiting for an answer, and could not but be amazed to discover, instead of the gravity of a judge, the natural affection of a father or brother.
Gen 45:16-24
Here is,
Gen 45:25-28
We have here the good news brought to Jacob.