Genesis 47:16-17 - Exposition

And Joseph said, Give (literally, bring ) your cattle; and I will give you ( sc . bread) for your cattle, if money fail. And they brought their cattle unto Joseph: and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses, and for the flocks (literally, and for cattle of the flocks ) , and for the cattle of the herds, and for the asses (the severity of these terms of sale and purchase was not so great as at first sight appears, since to a famishing people under-fed cattle and starving horses must have been comparatively worthless): and he fed them —literally, led, in the sense of cared for and maintained, them (cf. Psalms 23:2 ; Isaiah 40:11 )— for all their cattle for that year —this was the sixth year of the famine ( vide Genesis 47:23 ).