Genesis 47:4

For to sojourn in the land are we come.

They do not ask for. permanent settlement in Egypt, but wish to sojourn for. time. They, no doubt, had heard of the prophecies made concerning their race, that it should possess Canaan as its permanent home, but that it should sojourn for. season in Egypt. They probably did not understand that several generations would pass before their descendants would return. It was proper that they should explain that they did not design to settle in Egypt permanently. He might, otherwise, think that they were merely the advance guard of another invasion like that of the Hyksos.