Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, i.e. whilst thou lookest upon us like an idle spectator, not pitying and relieving us? The land is said to die improperly, when it is desolate and barren, and when the fruits of it die, or, which is equivalent to it, do not live. We and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh; Pharaoh shall be the sole proprietor, and we are content to be his tenants, to manage it for his use. Give us seed, because this was the last year of famine, as Joseph informed them, and therefore they tilled and sowed the ground for the following year. That the land be not desolate, without inhabitants, as it will be if thou sufferest us to die for want of bread.
Related Commentaries of Genesis 47:19
Genesis 47:19
19 Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh: and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, that the land be not desolate.