Genesis 47

1 And Joseph comes and declares [it] to Pharaoh, and says, “My father, and my brothers, and their flock, and their herd, and all they have, have come from the land of Canaan, and behold, they [are] in the land of Goshen.”

Then Joseph went in and told Pharao, saying: My father and brethren, their sheep and their herds, and all that they possess, are come out of the land of Chanaan: and behold they stay in the land of Gessen.

2 And out of his brothers he has taken five men, and sets them before Pharaoh;

Five men also the last of his brethren, he presented before the king:

3 and Pharaoh says to his brothers, “What [are] your works?” And they say to Pharaoh, “Your servants [are] feeders of a flock, both we and our fathers”;

And he asked them: What is your occupation? They answered: We thy servants are shepherds, both we, and our fathers.

4 and they say to Pharaoh, “We have come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for the flock which your servants have, for the famine in the land of Canaan [is] grievous; and now, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.”

We are come to sojourn in thy land, because there is no grass for the flocks of thy servants, the famine being very grievous in the land of Chanaan: and we pray thee to give orders that we thy servants may be in the land of Gessen.

5 And Pharaoh speaks to Joseph, saying, “Your father and your brothers have come to you:

The king therefore said to Joseph: Thy father and thy brethren are come to thee.

6 the land of Egypt is before you; cause your father and your brothers to dwell in the best of the land—they dwell in the land of Goshen, and if you have known, and there are among them men of ability, then you have set them [as] heads over the livestock I have.”

The land of Egypt is before thee: make them dwell in the best place, and give them the land of Gessen. And if thou knowest that there are industrious men among them, make them rulers over my cattle.

7 And Joseph brings in his father Jacob, and causes him to stand before Pharaoh; and Jacob blesses Pharaoh.

After this Joseph brought in his father to the king, and presented him before him: and he blessed him.

8 And Pharaoh says to Jacob, “How many [are] the days of the years of your life?”

And being asked by him: How many are the days of the years of thy life?

9 And Jacob says to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my sojournings [are] one hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not reached the days of the years of the life of my fathers, in the days of their sojournings.”

He answered: The days of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years, few, and evil, and they are not come up to the days of the pilgrimage of my fathers.

10 And Jacob blesses Pharaoh, and goes out from before Pharaoh.

And blessing the king, he went out.

11 And Joseph settles his father and his brothers, and gives a possession to them in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh commanded;

But Joseph gave a possession to his father and his brethren in Egypt, in the best place of the land, in Ramesses, as Pharao had commanded.

12 and Joseph nourishes his father, and his brothers, and all the house of his father [with] bread, according to the mouth of the infants.

And he nourished them, and all his father’s house, allowing food to every one.

13 And there is no bread in all the land, for the famine [is] very grievous, and the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan are feeble because of the famine;

For in the whole world there was want of bread, and a famine had oppressed the land: more especially of Egypt and Chanaan.

14 and Joseph gathers all the silver that is found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, for the grain that they are buying, and Joseph brings the silver into the house of Pharaoh.

Out of which he gathered up all the money for the corn which they bought, and brought it into the king’s treasure.

15 And the silver is consumed out of the land of Egypt and out of the land of Canaan, and all the Egyptians come to Joseph, saying, “Give bread to us—why do we die before you, though the money has ceased?”

And when the buyers wanted money, all Egypt came to Joseph, saying: Give us bread: why should we die in thy presence, having now no money.

16 And Joseph says, “Give your livestock; and I give to you for your livestock, if the money has ceased.”

And he answered them: Bring me your cattle, and for them I will give you food, if you have no money.

17 And they bring in their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gives to them bread, for the horses, and for the livestock of the flock, and for the livestock of the herd, and for the donkeys; and he tends them with bread, for all their livestock, during that year.

And when they had brought them, he gave them food in exchange for their horses, and sheep, and oxen, and asses and he maintained them that year for the exchange of their cattle.

18 And that year is finished, and they come to him on the second year, and say to him, “We do not hide from my lord, that since the money has been finished, and possession of the livestock [is] to my lord, there has not been left before my lord except our bodies, and our ground;

And they came the second year, and said to him: We will not hide from our lord, how that our money is spent, and our cattle also are gone: neither art thou ignorant that we have nothing now left but our bodies and our lands.

19 why do we die before your eyes, both we and our ground? Buy us and our ground for bread, and we and our ground are servants to Pharaoh; and give seed, and we live, and do not die, and the ground is not desolate.”

Why therefore shall we die before thy eyes? we will be thine, both we and our lands: buy us to be the king’s servants, and give us seed, lest for want of tillers the land be turned into a wilderness.

20 And Joseph buys all the ground of Egypt for Pharaoh, for the Egyptians have each sold his field, for the famine has been severe on them, and the land becomes Pharaoh’s;

So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt, every man selling his possessions, because of the greatness of the famine. And he brought it into Pharao’s hands:

21 as for the people, he has removed them to cities from the [one] end of the border of Egypt even to its [other] end.

And all its people from one end of the borders of Egypt, even to the other end thereof,

22 Only the ground of the priests he has not bought, for the priests have a portion from Pharaoh, and they have eaten their portion which Pharaoh has given to them, therefore they have not sold their ground.

Except the land of the priests, which had been given them by the king: to whom also a certain allowance of food was given out of the public stores, and therefore they were not forced to sell their possessions.

23 And Joseph says to the people, “Behold, I have bought you today and your ground for Pharaoh; behold, seed for you, and you have sown the ground,

Then Joseph said to the people: Behold as you see, both you and your lands belong to Pharao: take seed and sow the fields,

24 and it has come to pass in the increases, that you have given a fifth to Pharaoh, and four of the parts are for yourselves, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for those who [are] in your houses, and for food for your infants.”

That you may have corn. The fifth part you shall give to the king: the other four you shall have for seed, and for food for your families and children.

25 And they say, “You have revived us; we find grace in the eyes of my lord, and have been servants to Pharaoh”;

And they answered: Our life is in thy hand: only let my lord look favourably upon us, and we will gladly serve the king.

26 and Joseph sets it for a statute to this day, concerning the ground of Egypt, [that] Pharaoh has a fifth; only the ground of the priests alone has not become Pharaoh’s.

From that time unto this day, in the whole land of Egypt, the fifth part is paid to the king, and it is become as a law, except the land of the priests, which was free from this covenant.

27 And Israel dwells in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen, and they have possession in it, and are fruitful, and multiply exceedingly;

So Israel dwelt in Egypt, that is, in the land of Gessen, and possessed it: and grew, and was multiplied exceedingly.

28 and Jacob lives in the land of Egypt seventeen years, and the days of Jacob, the years of his life, are one hundred and forty-seven years.

And he lived in it seventeen years: and all the days of his life came to a hundred and forty-seven years.

29 And the days of Israel are near to die, and he calls for his son, for Joseph, and says to him, “Now if I have found grace in your eyes, please put your hand under my thigh, and you have done kindness and truth with me; please do not bury me in Egypt,

And when he saw that the day of his death drew nigh, he called his son Joseph, and said to him: If I have found favour in thy sight, put thy hand under my thigh; and thou shalt shew me this kindness and truth, not to bury me in Egypt:

30 and I have lain with my fathers, and you have carried me out of Egypt, and buried me in their burying-place.” And he says, “I do according to your word”;

But I will sleep with my fathers, and thou shalt take me away out of this land, and bury me in the burying place of my ancestors. And Joseph answered him: I will do what thou hast commanded.

31 and he says, “Swear to me”; and he swears to him, and Israel bows himself on the head of the bed.

And he said: Swear then to me. And as he was swearing, Israel adored God, turning to the bed’s head.