47
1 And Joseph came and told Pharao, saying, My father, and my brethren, and their cattle, and their oxen, and all their possessions, are come out of the land of Chanaan, and, behold, they are in the land of Gesem. 2 And he took of his brethren five men, and set them before Pharao. 3 And Pharao said to the brethren of Joseph, What is your occupation? and they said to Pharao, Thy servants are shepherds, both we and our fathers. 4 And they said to Pharao, We are come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for the flocks of thy servants, for the famine has prevailed in the land of Chanaan; now then, *we will dwell in the land of Gesem. And Pharao said to Joseph, Let them dwell in the land of Gesem; and if thou knowest that there are among them able men, make them overseers of my cattle. So Jacob and his sons came into Egypt, to Joseph; and Pharao, king of Egypt, heard of it. 5 And Pharao spoke to Joseph, saying, Thy father, and thy brethren, are come to thee. 6 Behold, the land of Egypt is before thee; settle thy father and thy brethren in the best land. 7 And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharao; and Jacob blessed Pharao. 8 And Pharao said to Jacob, How many are the years of the days of thy life? 9 And Jacob said to Pharao, The days of the years of my life, wherein I sojourn, are a hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, they have not attained to the days of the life of my fathers, in which days they sojourned. 10 And Jacob blessed Pharao, and departed from him. 11 And Joseph settled his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best land, in the land of Ramesses, as Pharao commanded. 12 And Joseph gave provision to his father, and his brethren, and to all the house of his father, corn for each person.
13 And there was no corn in all the land, for the famine prevailed greatly; and the land of Egypt, and the land of Chanaan, fainted for the famine. 14 And Joseph gathered all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and the land of Chanaan, in return for the corn which they bought, and he distributed corn to them; and Joseph brought all the money into the house of Pharao. 15 And all the money failed out of the land of Egypt, and out of the land of Chanaan; and all the Egyptians came to Joseph, saying, Give us bread, and why do we die in thy presence? for our money is spent. 16 And Joseph said to them, Bring your cattle, and I will give you bread for your cattle, if your money is spent. 17 And they brought their cattle to Joseph; and Joseph gave them bread in return for their horses, and for their sheep, and for their oxen, and for their asses; and Joseph maintained them with bread for all their cattle in that year. 18 And that year passed, and they came to him in the second year, and said to him, Must we then be consumed from before our lord? for if our money has failed, and our possessions, and our cattle, brought to thee our lord, and there has not been left to us before our lord more than our own bodies and our land, we are indeed destitute. 19 In order, then, that we die not before thee, and the land be made desolate, buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants to Pharao: give seed that we may sow, and live and not die, so our land shall not be made desolate. 20 And Joseph bought all the land of the Egyptians, for Pharao; for the Egyptians sold their land to Pharao; for the famine prevailed against them, and the land became Pharao's. 21 And he brought the people into bondage to him, for servants, from one extremity of Egypt to the other, 22 except only the land of the priests; Joseph bought not this, for Pharao gave a portion in the way of gift to the priests; and they ate their portion which Pharao gave them; therefore they sold not their land. 23 And Joseph said to all the Egyptians, Behold, I have bought you and your land this day for Pharao; take seed for you, and sow the land. 24 And there shall be the fruits of it; and ye shall give the fifth part to Pharao, and the four remaining parts shall be for yourselves, for seed for the earth, and for food for you, and all that are in your houses. 25 And they said, Thou hast saved us; we have found favour before our lord, and we will be servants to Pharao. 26 And Joseph appointed it to them for an ordinance until this day; to reserve a fifth part for Pharao, on the land of Egypt, except only the land of the priests, that was not Pharao's.
27 And Israel dwelt in Egypt, in the land of Gesem, and they gained an inheritance upon it; and they increased and multiplied very greatly. 28 And Jacob survived seventeen years in the land of Egypt; and Jacob's days of the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven years. 29 And the days of Israel drew nigh for him to die: and he called his son Joseph, and said to him, If I have found favour before thee, put thy hand under my thigh, and thou shalt execute mercy and truth toward me, so as not to bury me in Egypt. 30 But I will sleep with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me up out of Egypt, and bury me in their sepulchre. And he said, I will do according to thy word. 31 And he said, Swear to me; and he swore to him. And Israel did reverence, leaning on the top of his staff.
* 47:4 Or, let us dwell. See 1 Tim. 6. 8.