People of the Bible

Pharaoh (Genesis 39:1)

The name Pharaoh means “that disperses; that spoils.” Pharaoh is mentioned in 63 verses of the Bible, first in Genesis 39:1.

Who was Pharaoh?

The Pharaoh of Joseph’s days (Gen. 41) was probably Apopi, or Apopis, the last of the Hyksos kings. To the old native Egyptians, who were an African race, shepherds were “an abomination;” but to the Hyksos kings these Asiatic shepherds who now appeared with Jacob at their head were congenial, and being akin to their own race, had a warm welcome (Gen. 47:5, 6). Some argue that Joseph came to Egypt in the reign of Thothmes III., long after the expulsion of the Hyksos, and that his influence is to be seen in the rise and progress of the religious revolution in the direction of monotheism which characterized the middle of the Eighteenth Dynasty. The wife of Amenophis III., of that dynasty, was a Semite. Is this singular fact to be explained from the presence of some of Joseph’s kindred at the Egyptian court? Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee: the land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell” (Gen. 47:5, 6).

Biography adapted from Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897), public domain, linked via Theographic Bible Metadata.

Key verses about Pharaoh

  • Genesis 39:1

    And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmeelites, which had brought him down thither.

  • Genesis 41:1

    And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river.

  • Genesis 41:14

    Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh.

  • Genesis 41:42

    And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck;

  • Genesis 41:45

    And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnath–paaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Poti–pherah priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt.

  • 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.

Timeline of Pharaoh's life

DateEvent
1717 BCJoseph imprisoned
1714 BC7 years of plenty
All 63 verses mentioning Pharaoh

Other people named Pharaoh