Verse Lens · Context pointer
Genesis 47:8 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 8. 8And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou?
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
Pharaoh asks Jacob the number of the years of his life. The question opens Jacob's extended answer rather than teaching a general doctrine about age.
Read It With
- Genesis 46:28–47:12
Read verses 7–10 together. Jacob answers with 130 years of sojourning, describes them as comparatively few and hard, compares them with his fathers, and then blesses Pharaoh again.
Why It Needs Context
The age question needs Jacob's own life interpretation in verse 9; isolated, it supplies only the occasion for that testimony.
Read Genesis 47:7–10 together
Why these verses belong together: Jacob's two blessings frame Pharaoh's age question and Jacob's testimony about 130 few and hard years of sojourning.
Verse 7. 7 And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
Verse 8. 8 And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou?
Verse 9. 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.
Verse 10. 10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Genesis 46:28–47:12 — Jacob's Family Settles in GoshenSources used for this context pointer
How certain is this explanation? very strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Displayed text, Judah and reunion context, patriarchal blessing and lifespan comparisons, settlement, famine provision, burial, multiplication, and later oppression.
Exact location: Genesis 46:28–47:12 with 12:1–3; 15:13–16; 25:7; 35:28; 46:1–27; 47:13–31; 49:28–50:14; and Exodus 1:1–14 in the pinned standardized 1769 KJV
Open source ↗hebrew text morphology and lemma data
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible — Genesis
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project
Open Scriptures, Version 2.2 released 2021; repository inspected 2026
Supports: Exact Hebrew direction, occupation, aversion, sojourning, competence, blessing, lifespan, holding, toponym, and dependent language.
Exact location: WLC Genesis 46:28–47:12, especially lehorot in 46:28; shepherd and abomination wording in 46:32–34; lagur and anshei-hayil in 47:4–6; vayevarekh and megurai in 47:7–10; ahuzzah, Ra'meses, and lefi hattaf in 47:11–12
Open source ↗