Genesis
47
- Joseph went and told Pharaoh, "My father
and brothers, with their flocks and herds and everything they own, have come
from the land of Canaan and are now in Goshen."
- He chose five of his brothers and presented
them before Pharaoh.
- Pharaoh asked the brothers, "What is
your occupation?" "Your servants are shepherds," they replied
to Pharaoh, "just as our fathers were."
- They also said to him, "We have come
to live here awhile, because the famine is severe in Canaan and your servants'
flocks have no pasture. So now, please let your servants settle in Goshen."
- Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Your father
and your brothers have come to you,
- and the land of Egypt is before you; settle
your father and your brothers in the best part of the land. Let them live
in Goshen. And if you know of any among them with special ability, put them
in charge of my own livestock."
- Then Joseph brought his father Jacob in
and presented him before Pharaoh. After Jacob blessed Pharaoh,
- Pharaoh asked him, "How old are you
?"
- And Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The years
of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult,
and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers."
- Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out
from his presence.
- So Joseph settled his father and his brothers
in Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the district
of Rameses, as Pharaoh directed.
- Joseph also provided his father and his
brothers and all his father's household with food, according to the number
of their children.
- There was no food, however, in the whole
region because the famine was severe; both Egypt and Canaan wasted away because
of the famine.
- Joseph collected all the money that was
to be found in Egypt and Canaan in payment for the grain they were buying,
and he brought it to Pharaoh's palace.
- When the money of the people of Egypt and
Canaan was gone, all Egypt came to Joseph and said, "Give us food. Why
should we die before your eyes? Our money is used up."
- "Then bring your livestock," said
Joseph. "I will sell you food in exchange for your livestock, since your
money is gone."
- So they brought their livestock to Joseph,
and he gave them food in exchange for their horses, their sheep and goats,
their cattle and donkeys. And he brought them through that year with food
in exchange for all their livestock.
- When that year was over, they came to him
the following year and said, "We cannot hide from our lord the fact that
since our money is gone and our livestock belongs to you, there is nothing
left for our lord except our bodies and our land.
- Why should we perish before your eyes --
we and our land as well? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we
with our land will be in bondage to Pharaoh. Give us seed so that we may live
and not die, and that the land may not become desolate."
- So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for
Pharaoh. The Egyptians, one and all, sold their fields, because the famine
was too severe for them. The land became Pharaoh's,
- and Joseph reduced the people to servitude,
from one end of Egypt to the other.
- However, he did not buy the land of the
priests, because they received a regular allotment from Pharaoh and had food
enough from the allotment Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell
their land.
- Joseph said to the people, "Now that
I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh, here is seed for you so
you can plant the ground.
- But when the crop comes in, give a fifth
of it to Pharaoh. The other four-fifths you may keep as seed for the fields
and as food for yourselves and your households and your children."
- "You have saved our lives," they
said. "May we find favor in the eyes of our lord; we will be in bondage
to Pharaoh."
- So Joseph established it as a law concerning
land in Egypt--still in force today -- that a fifth of the produce belongs
to Pharaoh. It was only the land of the priests that did not become Pharaoh's.
- Now the Israelites settled in Egypt in the
region of Goshen. They acquired property there and were fruitful and increased
greatly in number.
- Jacob lived in Egypt seventeen years, and
the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven.
- When the time drew near for Israel to die,
he called for his son Joseph and said to him, "If I have found favor
in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise that you will show
me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt,
- but when I rest with my fathers, carry me
out of Egypt and bury me where they are buried." "I will do as you
say," he said.
- "Swear to me," he said. Then Joseph
swore to him, and Israel worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
Back |
Home |
Next