Genesis 41:49

49 And Joseph stored up grain in great abundance, like the sand of the sea, until he ceased to measure it, for it could not be measured.

Genesis 41:49 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 41:49

And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much,
until he left numbering
At first he took an account of the quantities that were bought and laid up, how much there was in each granary, until it amounted to so much, that there was no end of numbering it; it was like the sand of the sea, an hyperbolical expression, denoting the great abundance of it: for [it was] without number;
not only the grains of corn, but even the measures of it, whatever were used; so Artapanus, an Heathen writer, says F16, Joseph, when governor of Egypt, got together the corn of seven years, an immense quantity.


FOOTNOTES:

F16 Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 23. p. 430.

Genesis 41:49 In-Context

47 During the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth abundantly,
48 and he gathered up all the food of the seven years when there was plenty in the land of Egypt, and stored up food in the cities; he stored up in every city the food from the fields around it.
49 And Joseph stored up grain in great abundance, like the sand of the sea, until he ceased to measure it, for it could not be measured.
50 Before the year of famine came, Joseph had two sons, whom As'enath, the daughter of Poti'phera priest of On, bore to him.
51 Joseph called the name of the first-born Manas'seh, "For," he said, "God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house."
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.