Genesis 47:4 - Exposition

They said moreover (literally, and they said ) unto Pharaoh, For to sojourn in the land are we come ;—an unconscious fulfillment of an ancient prophecy ( Genesis 15:13 )— for thy servants have no pasture for their flocks (it was solely the extreme drought that had caused them for a season to vacate their own land); for the famine is sore (literally, heavy ) in the land of Canaan: now therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell (literally, and now might thy servants dwell, we pray, the future having here the force of an optative) in the land of Goshen.