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47
1 Joseph went to report to Pharaoh and told him, “My father and brothers, along with their flocks and herds and all their possessions, have arrived from the land of Canaan and now they're here in Goshen.” 2 Joseph took five of his brothers to go with him and introduced them to Pharaoh.
3 Pharaoh asked the brothers, “What work do you do?”
“Your servants are shepherds, just like our fathers before us,” they replied.
4 “We have come to live in Egypt because there's no grass left in Canaan for our flocks to eat,” they explained. “The famine is really bad in Canaan. So we would like to please ask permission to live in Goshen.”
5 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Now that your father and brothers have arrived to join you, 6 you can choose wherever you like in Egypt, the best place, for them to live. Let them live in Goshen. If you know any of them who are good at what they do, put them in charge of my livestock as well.”
7 Then Joseph went with his father Jacob and introduced him to Pharaoh. After Jacob blessed Pharaoh, 8 Pharaoh asked him, “So how long have you lived?”
9 “I have been wandering for 130 years,” Jacob replied. “My life has been short and difficult—I have not lived as long as my forefathers who also wandered from place to place.” 10 Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh again before leaving him.
11 So Joseph arranged for his father and brothers to live in Egypt and gave them land in the best part near Rameses, as Pharaoh had ordered. 12 He also provided food for all of them—his father, his brothers, and his father's whole household—depending on family size.
13 No food was left in the whole country because the famine had become so bad. Throughout Egypt and Canaan people were starving. 14 By selling grain Joseph collected all the money in Egypt and Canaan, and placed it in Pharaoh's treasury. 15 Once the money from Egypt and Canaan had run out, the Egyptians all came to Joseph and demanded, “Give us food! Do you want us to die right in front of you? All our money is gone!”
16 “Bring me your livestock,” Joseph told them. “I'll give you grain in exchange for your livestock if you've run out of money.”
17 So they brought Joseph their livestock, and he provided them with grain in exchange for their horses, sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys. He gave them grain in return for their livestock during that year.
18 But when that year was over, they came to him the next year and said, “My lord, we can't hide from you the fact that our money is gone and that you now own our livestock. All we have left to give you are our bodies and our land. 19 Do you want us to die right in front of you? So buy us and our land in return for food. Then our land will belong to Pharaoh, and we'll be his slaves. Just give us grain so we can live and won't die, and so the land won't be abandoned.”
20 So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. Each and every Egyptian sold their fields, because the famine was hurting them so badly. The land ended up being owned by Pharaoh, 21 and all the people became his slaves,*“The people became his slaves”: Septuagint and other ancient translations. The Hebrew has “he moved them to the cities.” from one end of Egypt to the other. 22 The only land he didn't buy belonged to the priests because they had a food allowance provided to them by Pharaoh, so they didn't have to sell their land.
23 Then Joseph told the people, “Listen to me! Now that I have bought you and your land for Pharaoh, I'm giving you some seed for you to sow the fields. 24 However, when it's harvested, you have to give one-fifth of it to Pharaoh. The other four-fifths you can keep as seed for the fields and as food for you, your households, and your children.”
25 “You've saved our lives,” they declared. “May you continue to treat us well, my lord, and we'll be Pharaoh's slaves.”
26 So Joseph made it a law for Egypt which is still is in effect today that one-fifth of all produce from the land belongs to Pharaoh. Only the priests' land was exempt since it did not belong to Pharaoh.
27 The Israelites settled in Goshen in Egypt where they became prosperous landowners and rapidly increased in number. 28 Jacob lived in Egypt for seventeen years, so he lived in total 147 years.
29 When the time came for Israel to die, he called for his son Joseph and said to him, “If you think well of me, place your hand under my thigh and promise to treat me with trustworthy love and faithfulness. Don't bury me here in Egypt. 30 When I die, bury me with my forefathers. You must take my body from Egypt to the family tomb and bury me with them.”
“I will do as you say,” Joseph promised.
31 “Swear to me that you will,” he said. Joseph swore that he would. Israel bowed in worship at the head of his bed.

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*47:21 “The people became his slaves”: Septuagint and other ancient translations. The Hebrew has “he moved them to the cities.”

© 2018 Dr. Jonathan Gallagher