Genesis 47

¹ So Joseph went and told Pharaoh, ‘My father and brothers, along with their flocks and cattle and all their possessions, have come from the land of Canaan and are now in the land of Goshen’.

² He had taken five of his brothers, and he now presented them to Pharaoh.

³ Pharaoh asked his brothers, ‘What is your occupation?’ and they gave Pharaoh the answer, ‘Your servants are shepherds, like our fathers before us’.

⁴ They went on to tell Pharaoh, ‘We have come to stay for the present in this land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks, the land of Canaan is hard-pressed by famine. Now give your servants leave to stay in the land of Goshen.’

⁷ Joseph brought his father and presented him to Pharaoh. Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

⁸ Pharaoh asked Jacob, ‘How many years of life can you reckon?’

⁹ ‘My life of wandering has lasted one hundred and thirty years,’ Jacob told Pharaoh ‘few years and unhappy, falling short of the years of my fathers in their life of wandering.’

¹⁰ Jacob blessed Pharaoh and left Pharaoh’s presence.

¹¹ Joseph settled his father and brothers, giving them a holding in the land of Egypt, and in the best region of the land, namely the land of Rameses, according to Pharaoh’s command.

¹² Joseph provided his father, brothers and all his father’s family with food according to the number of their dependants.

¹³ There was no bread in the whole land, for the famine had grown so severe that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan were weakened with hunger.

¹⁴ Joseph accumulated all the money there was to be found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, in return for the grain which men were buying, and he brought the money to Pharaoh’s palace.

¹⁵ When all the money in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan had run out, the Egyptians all came to Joseph: ‘Give us bread’ they said. ‘Have we to perish before your eyes? For our money has come to an end.’

¹⁶ Joseph answered, ‘Hand over your livestock; I am willing to give you bread in exchange for your livestock, if your money has come to an end’.

¹⁷ So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread, in exchange for horses and livestock, whether sheep or cattle, and for donkeys. Thus he fed them that year with bread, in exchange for all their livestock.

¹⁸ When that year was over, they came to him the next year, and said to him, ‘We cannot hide it from my lord: the truth is, our money has run out and the livestock is in my lord’s possession. There is nothing left for my lord except our bodies and our land.

¹⁹ Have we to perish before your eyes, we and our land? Buy us and our land in exchange for bread; we with our land will be Pharaoh’s serfs. But give us something to sow, that we may keep our lives and not die and the land may not become desolate.’

²⁰ Thus Joseph acquired all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh, since one by one the Egyptians sold their estates, so hard-pressed were they by the famine, and the whole country passed into Pharaoh’s possession.

²¹ As for the people, he reduced them to serfdom from one end of Egypt to the other.

²² The only land he did not acquire belonged to the priests, for the priests received an allowance from Pharaoh and lived on the allowance that Pharaoh gave them. Therefore they did not have to sell their land.

²³ Then Joseph said to the people, ‘This is how we stand: I have bought you out, with your land, on Pharaoh’s behalf. Here is seed for you so that you can sow the land.

²⁴ But when harvest comes you must give a fifth to Pharaoh. The other four-fifths you can have for sowing your fields, to provide food for yourselves and your households, and food for your dependants.

²⁵ ‘You have saved our lives’ they replied. ‘If we may enjoy my lord’s favour, we will be Pharaoh’s serfs.’

²⁶ So Joseph made a statute, still in force today, concerning the soil of Egypt: a fifth goes to Pharaoh. The land of the priests alone did not go to Pharaoh.

²⁷ The Israelites stayed in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen. They acquired property there; they were fruitful and increased in numbers greatly.

²⁸ Jacob lived seventeen years in the land of Egypt, and the length of his life was a hundred and forty-seven years.

²⁹ When Israel’s time to die drew near he called his son Joseph and said to him, ‘If I enjoy your favour, place your hand under my thigh and promise to be kind and good to me, do not bury me in Egypt.

³⁰ When I sleep with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their tomb.’ ‘I will do as you say’ he replied.

³¹ ‘Swear to me’ he insisted. So he swore to him, and Israel sank back on the pillow.