Genesis 47 · Verse 9

Genesis 47:9

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.
Genesis 47:9, King James Version

Genesis 47:9 in other translations

BSB“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.”
WEBJacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my pilgrimage are one hundred thirty years. The days of the years of my life have been few and evil. They have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.”
ASVAnd 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.
YLTAnd Jacob saith unto Pharaoh, ‘The days of the years of my sojournings are an hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not reached the days of the years of the life of my fathers, in the days of their sojournings.'
DARBYAnd Jacob said to Pharaoh, The days of the years of my sojourning are a hundred and thirty years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they do not attain to the days of the years of the life of my fathers, in the days of their sojourning.
BBEAnd Jacob said, The years of my wanderings have been a hundred and thirty; small in number and full of sorrow have been the years of my life, and less than the years of the wanderings of my fathers.
WebsterAnd Jacob said to 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, nor have they attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.

What does Genesis 47:9 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
9. The days of the years of my pilgrimage, &c.--Though a hundred thirty years, he reckons by days (compare Psa 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).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 9 The 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. The pilgrim was a person who took a journey, long or short, on some religious account, submitting during the time to many hardships and privations. A more appropriate term could not be conceived to express the life of Jacob, and the motive which induced him to live such a life. His journey to Padan-aram or Mesopotamia excepted, the principal part of his journeys were properly pilgrimages, undertaken in the course of God's providence on a religious account. Have not attained unto the - life of my fathers - Jacob lived in the whole one hundred and forty-seven years; Isaac his father lived one hundred and eighty; and Abraham his grandfather, one hundred and seventy-five. These were days of years in comparison of the lives of the preceding patriarchs, some of whom lived nearly ten centuries!

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Genesis 47:7-12

With the gravity of old age, the piety of a true believer, and the authority of a patriarch and a prophet, Jacob besought the Lord to bestow a blessing upon Pharaoh. He acted as a man not ashamed of his religion; and who would express gratitude to the benefactor of himself and his family. We have here a very uncommon answer given to a very common question. Jacob calls his life a pilgrimage; the sojourning of a…

Read the full comment on Genesis 47:7-12 →

Genesis 47:9 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וַיֹּ֤אמֶרvai.Yo.merand he saidH559
יַעֲקֹב֙ya.'a.KoJacobH3290
אֶל\־'el-toH413
פַּרְעֹ֔הpar.'OhPharaohH6547
יְמֵי֙ye.Mei[the] days ofH3117
שְׁנֵ֣יshe.Nei[the] years ofH8141
מְגוּרַ֔יme.gu.Raisojournings myH4033
שְׁלֹשִׁ֥יםshe.lo.Shim[are] thirtyH7970
וּמְאַ֖תu.me.'Atand one hundredH3967
שָׁנָ֑הsha.Nahyear[s]H8141
מְעַ֣טme.'AtfewH4592
וְרָעִ֗יםve.ra.'Imand displeasingH7451
הָיוּ֙ha.Yuthey have beenH1961
יְמֵי֙ye.Mei[the] days ofH3117
שְׁנֵ֣יshe.Nei[the] years ofH8141
חַיַּ֔יchai.Yailife myH2416
וְלֹ֣אve.Lo'and notH3808
הִשִּׂ֗יגוּhi.Si.guthey have reachedH5381
אֶת\־'et-<obj.>H853
יְמֵי֙ye.Mei[the] days ofH3117
שְׁנֵי֙she.Nei[the] years ofH8141
חַיֵּ֣יchai.Yei[the] lives ofH2416
אֲבֹתַ֔י'a.vo.Taiancestors myH1
בִּימֵ֖יbi.Meiin [the] days ofH3117
מְגוּרֵיהֶֽם\׃me.gu.rei.Hemsojournings theirH4033

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Genesis 47:9

  • Job 14:1

    Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.

  • Psalms 39:12

    Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.

  • Genesis 35:28

    And the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years.

  • Psalms 39:5

    Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.

  • Exodus 7:7

    And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years old, when they spake unto Pharaoh.

  • Deuteronomy 34:7

    And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.

  • Exodus 6:4

    And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers.

  • James 4:14

    Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

  • 1 Peter 2:11

    Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

  • Genesis 50:26

    So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

  • Joshua 24:29

    And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being an hundred and ten years old.

  • Genesis 47:28

    And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
The days.
1Ch 29:15; Ps 39:12; 119:19,54; 2Co 5:6; Heb 11:9-16; 13:14
1Pe 2:11
and hundred.
Job 14:1; Ps 39:5; 89:47,48; 90:3-12; Jas 4:14
have not.
28; 5:27; 11:11,24,25; 25:7,8; 35:28; 50:26; Ex 6:4; 7:7; De 34:7
Jos 24:29; 2Sa 19:32-35; Job 8:8,9; 42:16,17

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Genesis 47:8

    And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou?

  • Genesis 47:9

    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.

  • Genesis 47:10

    And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.

Read all of Genesis 47

Genesis 47:9 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Y Jacob respondió á Faraón: Los días de los años de mi peregrinación son ciento treinta años; pocos y malos han sido los días de los años de mi vida, y no han llegado á los días de los años de la vida de mis padres en los días de su peregrinación.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Et Jacob dit au Pharaon: Les jours des années de mon séjournement sont 130 ans; les jours des années de ma vie ont été courts et mauvais, et ils n’ont pas atteint les jours des années de la vie de mes pères, dans les jours de leur séjournement.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Und Jakob sprach zum Pharao: Die Tage der Jahre meiner Fremdlingschaft sind 130 Jahre; wenig und böse waren die Tage meiner Lebensjahre, und sie haben nicht erreicht die Tage der Lebensjahre meiner Väter in den Tagen ihrer Fremdlingschaft.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		respondit: Dies peregrinationis meæ centum triginta annorum sunt, parvi et mali, et non pervenerunt usque ad dies patrum meorum quibus peregrinati sunt.