Genesis 47

So Joseph went and told Pharaoh, “My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and everything they own, have come from Canaan, and they're now in Goshen.”

He'd taken five of his brothers with him, and he presented them to Pharaoh.

And Pharaoh said to the brothers, “What's your occupation?” “Your servants are shepherds,” they said, “just as our fathers were.”

And they said to Pharaoh, “We've come to stay a while, because there's no pasture for your servants' flocks. The famine is bad in Canaan. So please let your servants settle in Goshen.”

And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you.

The land of Egypt is in front of you. Settle your father and your brothers in the best part of it. Let them live in Goshen. And if you know any capable men among them, put them in charge of my own livestock.”

Then Joseph brought his father Jacob in and presented him to Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

And Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How old are you?”

And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my wandering are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and hard, and they don't come up to the years of the wandering of my fathers.”

And 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 had ordered.

And Joseph provided food for his father and his brothers and his father's whole household, according to the number of their children.

There was no food anywhere, because the famine was very bad. Egypt and Canaan both wasted away because of it.

Joseph collected all the money to be found in Egypt and Canaan in payment for the grain people were buying, and he brought it to Pharaoh's palace.

When the money in Egypt and Canaan was gone, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die in front of you? Our money's finished.”

“Then bring your livestock,” said Joseph. “I'll sell you food in exchange for your livestock, since your money's finished.”

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 carried them through that year with food in exchange for all their livestock.

When that year was over, they came to him the next year and said, “We can't hide it from you, sir. Our money's gone and our livestock are yours. There's nothing left for you except our bodies and our land.

Why should we die in front of you — us and our land? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we and our land will be Pharaoh's slaves. Give us seed so we can live and not die, and so the land won't become a waste.”

So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. Every Egyptian sold his field, because the famine was too much for them, and the land became Pharaoh's.

And Joseph moved the people into the cities, from one end of Egypt to the other.

But he didn't buy the land of the priests, because they received a fixed allowance from Pharaoh and had enough to live on from it. That's why they didn't sell their land.

And Joseph said to the people, “Now that I've bought you and your land today for Pharaoh, here's seed for you to sow the land.

But when the crop comes in, give a fifth of it to Pharaoh. The other four fifths you can keep, as seed for the fields and as food for yourselves and your households and your children.”

And they said, “You've saved our lives. Let us find favour with you, sir, and we'll be Pharaoh's slaves.”

So Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt, still in force today, that a fifth belongs to Pharaoh. Only the land of the priests didn't become Pharaoh's.

Now the Israelites settled in Egypt, in the region of Goshen. They took property there and were fruitful and multiplied greatly.

Jacob lived in Egypt seventeen years, and the years of his life came to a hundred and forty-seven.

When the time came near for Israel to die, he sent for his son Joseph and said to him, “If I've found favour with you, put your hand under my thigh and promise me you'll show me kindness and faithfulness. Don't bury me in Egypt.

When I lie down with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me where they're buried.” “I'll do as you say,” he said.

“Swear to me,” he said. So Joseph swore to him, and Israel bowed in worship at the head of his bed.