Genesis 47:1-24 ▼

1 And Joseph went and told Pharaoh and he said, “My father, and my brothers, and their flocks, and their herds, and all that is theirs, have come from the land of Canaan, and behold, they are in the land of Goshen.”

2 And from the end of his brothers, he took five men and he presented them before Pharaoh.

3 And Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What are your? works?” And they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds of sheep, both we and also our fathers.”

4 And they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to sojourn in the land because there is no pasture for the sheep that your servants have, for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. And now, please, let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.”

5 And Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, “Your father and your brothers have come to you.

6 The land of Egypt, it is before you. In the best of the land cause your father and your brothers to dwell; let them dwell in the land of Goshen. And if you know that there are among them men of valor, then you shall appoint them captains of livestock over what is mine.”

7 And Joseph brought in Jacob his father and he caused him to stand before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

8 And Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many are the days of the years of your life?”

9 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my sojournings are a hundred and thirty years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not reached the days of the years of the lives of my fathers in the days of their sojournings.”

10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and he went out from before Pharaoh.

11 And Joseph settled his father and his brothers, and he gave to them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

12 And Joseph provided his father and his brothers and all the house of his father with bread, according to the mouth of the little ones.

13 And there was no bread in all the earth, for the famine was very severe. And the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine.

14 And Joseph gathered up all the silver found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, for the grain that they were buying, and Joseph brought the silver to the house of Pharaoh.

15 And the silver was finished from the land of Egypt and from the land of Canaan, and all Egypt came to Joseph and said, “Give to us bread, and why should we die in your presence? For the silver is gone.”

16 And Joseph said, “Give your? livestock, and I will give it to you? for your? livestock, if the silver is gone.”

17 And they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave to them bread for the horses, and for the livestock of the sheep, and for the livestock of the cattle, and for the donkeys. And he led them with bread for all their livestock that year.

18 And that year ended, and they came to him in the second year and said to him, “we will not hide from my lord that the silver is gone and the livestock of the animals belong to my lord. Nothing remains before my lord, except our bodies and our land.

19 Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we will be—we and our land—servants to Pharaoh. And give us seed, and we will live and not die, that the land will not be desolate.”

20 And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for every man of Egypt sold his field because the famine was severe upon them. And the land became unto Pharaoh.

21 And the people—he reduced them to servitude, from one end of the border of Egypt and to its other end.

22 Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for a fixed portion belonged to the priests from Pharaoh, and they ate their fixed portion that Pharaoh gave to them. Upon thus they did not sell their land.

23 And Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have bought you? this day, and your? land, for Pharaoh. Behold, seed for you?, and you? shall sow the land.

24 And it shall come to pass at the harvest that you? shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four of the hands shall be for you?: As seed of the field, and for your? eating, and for those in your? houses, and to eat for your? little ones.”