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Ephrem the Syrian

Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500

764 passages across 40 books of the Bible · Who was this?

On Genesis

20 of 183
  1. Genesis 41:55
    Joseph went out to gather in the grain, and he stored it in every city.… Then at the end of the good years, when those of famine came, Joseph took special care of the orphans, widows and every needy person in Egypt so that there was no anxiety in Egypt.

    COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 36:1

  2. Genesis 41:57
    If this famine had been only in Egypt, Egypt would have had no fear, because of the grain Joseph [had stored up]. However, there was famine throughout the entire world, and because the entire earth stood in need of [the grain in] Egypt, the grain supply quickly dwindled and became expensive even for the Egyptians. The Egyptians would have consumed the grain at little expense, because of its abundance, if the entire earth had not come down to buy grain there. To make known that the entire earth hungered, [Moses] said, “The entire world came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph.”

    COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 36:2

  3. Genesis 42:9
    They answered and said, “We do not even know the Egyptian language so that, by speaking Egyptian, we might escape notice and deceive the Egyptians. That we dwell in the land of Canaan you can learn from our offering. Moreover, there are twelve of us, and it is impossible that we should all have the same evil purpose of spying. We have come of our own will to stand before you. That we are completely ignorant of the Egyptian language and do not wear the clothing of Egyptians also testifies to our truthfulness. It is clear that we are not spies, for we are twelve. We are recognized everywhere because of our race and our number. “Behold, one of our brothers is with our father and another is no more.”

    COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 36:4

  4. Genesis 42:38
    After they had loaded their supplies, the [brothers] went up and related to their father the evils that they had endured on this trip and how they had become objects of ridicule in Egypt, having been falsely accused of spying in Egypt, and that they would not have escaped this suffering had it not been for Benjamin. While some of them were recounting these things to their father, the others were emptying their sacks, and behold, each one found his money in the opening of his sack.Jacob was full of grief because of all that had happened to them, but even more because of Simeon who was imprisoned. Although the brothers implored him daily to send Benjamin with them, Jacob would not assent because of his fear due to [what had happened to] Joseph. Then, when their grain had run out and all the children of his household were languishing from hunger, all his sons drew near and said to Jacob, “Spare Simeon for the sake of his children and be without your youngest son for a few days, lest Simeon’s wife be widowed of Simeon.”

    COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 37:1-2

  5. Genesis 43:13
    Then Jacob was constrained by the famine, whether he was willing or not, to send Benjamin with them. So he gave them supplies and sent them off with blessings and said, “Just as I was bereaved of Rachel, so am I now bereaved of Rachel’s children.” Judah comforted his father and said, “If I do not bring back Benjamin and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever.” Then they took some of the choice fruits of the land: gum, pistachio nuts, which are berries, and so forth. They then went down and stood before Joseph. Joseph commanded his steward to give them lodging in his house.

    COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 37:3

  6. Genesis 43:18
    But when the [brothers] saw Joseph’s servants hurrying to unburden their beasts and to bring in their baggage, they said to themselves, grieving, “We have bereaved our father of Benjamin, and we shall never again see the face of our father. It was with treachery that our money was put into the openings of our packs, so that if we escape [the charge of] spying they might seize us and make us slaves [on the charge] of theft. Let us confess to the steward about the money before he begins to accuse us so that our brother Benjamin might free us from [the charge of] spying and the confession of our lips from [the charge of] theft.”

    COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 37:4

  7. Genesis 43:19
    Then the [brothers] approached Joseph’s steward and said to him, “When we returned the first time we opened our sacks, and behold, there was each one’s money in the opening of his sack. We are now returning it to you because it is not right that we take the money for the grain together with the grain.” But when the steward saw how terrified they were, he consoled them and said, “Rest assured, do not be afraid. It is not because of the money, which I received, that we are bringing you into this house. We have eagerly awaited you because of the truth that is found among you. You are not going to be condemned for something that you did not take. You have been summoned to recline and be seated before our master, for he is just, and by the honor that he has reserved for you this second time, he wishes to make you forget the disgrace that you endured the first time.”

    COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 37:5

  8. Genesis 43:27
    When Joseph entered the house, his brothers brought him an offering and bowed down to him trembling. He inquired about their welfare, and they took heart. He asked if their father was alive, and they were put at ease. He asked whether that one was their brother, and he blessed him and said, “God be gracious to you my son,” and all fear was taken from their mind. It was in the Egyptian language that Joseph blessed Benjamin, and it was through an interpreter that they heard these initial [exchanges].

    COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 37:6

  9. Genesis 43:33
    Joseph began to make his brothers sit down as if around his [divining] cup; the elder according to his status as elder and the youngest according to his youth. It is amazing that his brothers did not recognize him: not by the money in their provisions when they went home the first time, not when Joseph had Simeon bound, not when he asked about his old father when they brought Benjamin back, not when they were accused of cheating, not from the fact that he made them stay in his house and blessed Benjamin, not even from the fact that he knew the names of all of them. This was all the more [amazing] since even his appearance was so similar. Even if his majesty had deluded them, his dreams should have jarred their memory. Although they did not recognize Joseph because of his majesty, his rank and his angry tongue, it was nevertheless because of the Lord that he remained hidden from them until his dreams should be fulfilled in them who had sold him in order to render them false.

    COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 37:7

  10. Genesis 44:12
    The brothers did not know what to say; they found it impossible not to put the blame on Benjamin because the cup had come out from his sack, but the money that had twice come out from their own sacks did not permit them to put the blame on him. Then the brothers, confounded by the things that had befallen them, rent their garments and went back weeping to that house from which they had just departed rejoicing.

    COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 38:3

  11. Genesis 44:16
    Then Judah said, “Before God the sins of your servants have been discovered”—not this one [of the cup] but the one for which we have been requited with these things. “Therefore not only he in whose sack the cup was found but we also will become slaves to our master.” And Joseph said, “Far be it from” the just Egyptian “to do this!” These men, because of their great virtue, do not even eat bread with Hebrews lest they become unclean by them. How then can we do what is foreign to our conduct? The justice that hinders us from sinning against one who has not sinned against us compels us to be avenged on that one who has caused us offence. “The one in whose hand the cup was found shall remain and be a slave.” This will be better for him than freedom, for this later servitude, which will free him from theft, will be better for him than that first freedom that enslaved him to theft.

    COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 38:4

  12. Genesis 45:16
    When the things that needed to be said between them were finished, the doors of that judgment room were opened. The princes entered rejoicing and the army commanders full of gladness. This news was pleasing in the eyes of Pharaoh and his servants, for they had believed that he who had become like a father to Pharaoh and ruler over the freemen and princes of Egypt was no slave but was a son of a freeman from the blessed race of the house of Abraham.

    COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 40:1

  13. Genesis 45:24
    Joseph commanded them not to quarrel on the way. The quarrel which he forbade them was that one say to another, “It was you who counseled us to throw him into the pit,” while another would contend with his brother, saying, “It was you who urged us to sell him naked and in chains to the Arabs.” “As I have forgiven all of you, you forgive each other.”

    COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 40:2

  14. Genesis 45:27
    When they told Jacob about the honor of Joseph, about the wisdom with which he administered his affairs and about how their last judgment was more bitter than the first, their father asked them and said, “Did you not ask Joseph how or why he went down to Egypt?” Then, when they all looked at each other and did not know what to say, Judah opened his mouth and said to his father, “We are recalling our crime today before our father.” Because of the dreams of Joseph, Joseph’s brothers thought, in their simplicity, that you and they would soon serve him as slaves. They also imagined, in their foolishness, that “it was better that he alone should be the servant than that we and our father should serve him as slaves.” They did this because they took pity on you and on Benjamin and not because you loved Joseph. “You also loved Benjamin, but because he did not say that we would become servants to him, all of us love him. Forgive us then for having humiliated Joseph, for it is on account of our humiliating him that he has come to this exalted state.” Their father then accepted their apology an…
    When they told Jacob about the honor of Joseph, about the wisdom with which he administered his affairs and about how their last judgment was more bitter than the first, their father asked them and said, “Did you not ask Joseph how or why he went down to Egypt?” Then, when they all looked at each other and did not know what to say, Judah opened his mouth and said to his father, “We are recalling our crime today before our father.” Because of the dreams of Joseph, Joseph’s brothers thought, in their simplicity, that you and they would soon serve him as slaves. They also imagined, in their foolishness, that “it was better that he alone should be the servant than that we and our father should serve him as slaves.” They did this because they took pity on you and on Benjamin and not because you loved Joseph. “You also loved Benjamin, but because he did not say that we would become servants to him, all of us love him. Forgive us then for having humiliated Joseph, for it is on account of our humiliating him that he has come to this exalted state.” Their father then accepted their apology and said to them, “Because of the good news about Joseph by which you have brought me joy, this offense, which caused me great suffering when I heard it, is forgiven you.”

    COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 40:4

  15. Genesis 46:34
    Joseph went out to meet his father with chariots and with many people. [Joseph] got down [from his horse] and bowed down to his father, and they wept on each other’s neck. Then Joseph commanded his brothers to say to Pharaoh, “We and our fathers are keepers of cattle,” so that they might dwell in Goshen and thus keep their distance from those who worship sheep and bulls.

    COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 40:6

  16. Genesis 48:14
    Here too the cross is clearly symbolized to depict that mystery with which Israel the firstborn departed, just as Manasseh the firstborn, and the peoples increase in the manner of Ephraim the younger.

    COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 41:4

  17. Genesis 49:4
    Just as the justice of Jacob cursed his firstborn because of his evil deed and this curse of Reuben was blotted out by Moses who was the descendant of Jacob, so too was death decreed by God against Adam when he transgressed the commandment. But the Son of God came and, with the promise of the resurrection that he promised, brought to nought the judgment that accompanied Adam out of paradise.

    COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 43:2

  18. Genesis 49:5
    These too are figures for Satan and death. For just as Simeon and Levi, in their anger, destroyed a city and, through their greed, plundered its possessions, so also Satan, in his envy, killed the world secretly as Simeon and Levi had killed the sons of Shechem openly, and death fell suddenly upon all flesh as Simeon and Levi did on the possessions of the inhabitants of Shechem. The gospel of our Lord raised up those whom sin had slain in secret, and the blessed promise of the Son raised up the dead upon whom the tyrant Death suddenly fell.

    COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 43:3

  19. Genesis 49:11
    When our Lord came, he also bound his foal to the true vine. Just as all the symbols are fulfilled by him, he would fulfill in truth even this that was handed down to them in likeness. Either there was a vine in Jerusalem outside of the sanctuary to which he bound his foal when he entered the temple, or in that city from which the foal came it had been bound to a vine. He said, “If they say to you, ‘Why are you untying this foal?’ say to them, ‘The master requires it.’ ”

    COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 42:6

  20. Genesis 49:16
    If one from Dan judges his people, how much more will that one from Judah, to whom the kingdom belongs, judge all the nations? For our Lord became a serpent to that first serpent and a viper to Satan, just like the serpent of bronze that countered the snakes.

    COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 43:6

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