Genesis 47

1 So Joseph came and told Pharaoh, “My father and my brothers, with their cattle and their oxen and everything they own, have come from the land of Canaan — and look, they are in the land of Goshen.” 2 And he took five of his brothers and presented them to Pharaoh. 3 And Pharaoh said to Joseph’s brothers, “What is your work?” And they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds of sheep, we and our fathers before us.” 4 And they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to stay for a time in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ cattle — the famine has grown strong in the land of Canaan. So now, let your servants settle in the land of Goshen.” 5 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Let them settle in the land of Goshen. And if you know of able men among them, set them as rulers over my own cattle.” So Jacob and his sons came into Egypt to Joseph, and Pharaoh, king of Egypt, heard of it. And Pharaoh spoke to Joseph: “Your father and your brothers have come to you. 6 Look — the land of Egypt is before you. Settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land.” 7 Then Joseph brought in Jacob his father and set him before Pharaoh — and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8 And Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many are the years of your life?” 9 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my life, in which I have lived as a stranger, are a hundred and thirty years. Few and hard have been the days of the years of my life — they have not reached the days of the years of my fathers, in the days of their wanderings.” 10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from his presence. 11 So Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a holding in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. 12 And Joseph provided food for his father and his brothers and all his father’s household — grain for every mouth.

13 Now there was no grain in all the land, for the famine had grown very heavy, and the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan wasted away under the famine. 14 And Joseph gathered up all the money to be found in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan, in exchange for the grain the people bought and he measured out to them, and Joseph brought all the money into Pharaoh’s house. 15 When the money had run out in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, saying, “Give us bread! Why should we die in front of you? — for our money is gone.” 16 And Joseph said to them, “Bring your cattle, and I will give you bread in exchange for your cattle, if your money is gone.” 17 So they brought their cattle to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for their horses, their sheep, their oxen, and their donkeys. He sustained them with bread that year in exchange for all their cattle. 18 That year ended, and they came to him in the second year and said, “Are we to be wiped out before our lord? Our money is gone, and our goods and our cattle have gone to you, our lord — nothing is left before our lord but our own bodies and our land. 19 So that we do not die before your eyes and the land turn to desert — buy us and our land in exchange for bread, and we and our land will serve Pharaoh. Give us seed, so that we may sow and live and not die, and the land will not become a desert.” 20 So Joseph bought all the land of the Egyptians for Pharaoh — for the Egyptians sold their land to Pharaoh, since the famine had overpowered them — and the land became Pharaoh’s. 21 And the people he made servants to him, from one end of Egypt to the other — [a] 22 except the land of the priests. That Joseph did not buy, for Pharaoh gave the priests an allowance as a gift, and they lived on the allowance Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their land. 23 And Joseph said to all the Egyptians, “Look — today I have bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Here is seed for you: sow the land. 24 And when it bears its fruit, you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own — seed for the field, and food for you and everyone in your houses.” 25 And they said, “You have saved us. We have found favor in the sight of our lord — and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.” 26 So Joseph made it a standing rule over the land of Egypt, to this day: a fifth belongs to Pharaoh — except only the land of the priests, which was not Pharaoh’s.

27 And Israel lived in Egypt, in the land of Goshen, and they took hold of it as their own, and they increased and multiplied greatly. 28 Jacob lived seventeen years in the land of Egypt, and the days of the years of Jacob’s life were a hundred and forty-seven years. 29 And the days drew near for Israel to die, and he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If I have found favor with you, put your hand under my thigh, and deal with me in mercy and truth: do not bury me in Egypt. 30 Let me lie down with my fathers — carry me up out of Egypt and bury me in their tomb.” And he said, “I will do as you have said.” 31 And he said, “Swear it to me.” And he swore to him. And Israel bowed low, leaning on the top of his staff. [b]