Genesis 47

1 Then Joseph [May he add] went in and told Pharaoh, and said, “My father and my brothers, with their flocks, their herds, and all that they own, have come out of the land of Canaan [Humbled]; and behold, they are in the land of Goshen [Drawing near].”

2 From among his brothers he took five men, and presented them to Pharaoh.

3 Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” They said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, both we, and our fathers.”

4 They said to Pharaoh, “We have come to live as foreigners in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks. For the famine is severe in the land of Canaan [Humbled]. Now therefore, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen [Drawing near].”

5 Pharaoh spoke to Joseph [May he add], saying, “Your father and your brothers have come to you.

6 The land of Egypt [Abode of slavery] is before you. Make your father and your brothers dwell in the best of the land. Let them dwell in the land of Goshen [Drawing near]. If you know any able men among them, then put them in charge of my livestock.”

7 Joseph [May he add] brought in Jacob [Supplanter], his father, and set him before Pharaoh, and Jacob [Supplanter] blessed Pharaoh.

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

9 Jacob [Supplanter] said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred thirty years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.”

10 Jacob [Supplanter] blessed Pharaoh, and went out from the presence of Pharaoh.

11 Joseph [May he add] placed his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt [Abode of slavery], in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had enjoined.

12 Joseph [May he add] nourished his father, his brothers, and all of his father’s household, with bread, according to their families.

13 There was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt [Abode of slavery] and the land of Canaan [Humbled] fainted by reason of the famine.

14 Joseph [May he add] gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt [Abode of slavery], and in the land of Canaan [Humbled], for the grain which they bought: and Joseph [May he add] brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.

15 When the money was all spent in the land of Egypt [Abode of slavery], and in the land of Canaan [Humbled], all the Egyptians [people from Abode of slavery] came to Joseph [May he add], and said, “Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? For our money fails.”

16 Joseph [May he add] said, “Give me your livestock; and I will give you food for your livestock, if your money is gone.”

17 They brought their livestock to Joseph [May he add], and Joseph [May he add] gave them bread in exchange for the horses, and for the flocks, and for the herds, and for the donkeys: and he fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock for that year.

18 When that year was ended, they came to him the second year, and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord how our money is all spent, and the herds of livestock are my lord’s. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands.

19 Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh. Give us seed, that we may live, and not die, and that the land won’t be desolate.”

20 So Joseph [May he add] bought all the land of Egypt [Abode of slavery] for Pharaoh, for every man of the Egyptians [people from Abode of slavery] sold his field, because the famine was severe on them, and the land became Pharaoh’s.

21 As for the people, he moved them to the cities from one end of the border of Egypt [Abode of slavery] even to the other end of it.

22 Only he didn’t buy the land of the priests, for the priests had a chok ·portion· from Pharaoh, and ate their chok ·portion· which Pharaoh gave them. That is why they didn’t sell their land.

23 Then Joseph [May he add] said to the people, “Behold, I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh. Behold, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land.

24 It will happen at the harvests, that you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four parts will be your own, for seed of the field, for your food, for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.”

25 They said, “You have saved our lives! Let us find chen ·grace· in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.”

26 Joseph [May he add] made it a chok ·statute· concerning the land of Egypt [Abode of slavery] to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth. Only the land of the priests alone didn’t become Pharaoh’s.

27 Israel [God prevails] lived in the land of Egypt [Abode of slavery], in the land of Goshen [Drawing near]; and they got themselves possessions therein, and were fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly.

28 Jacob [Supplanter] lived in the land of Egypt [Abode of slavery] seventeen years. So the days of Jacob [Supplanter], the years of his life, were one hundred forty-seven years.

29 The time came near that Israel [God prevails] must die, and he called his son Joseph [May he add], and said to him, “If now I have found chen ·grace· in your sight, please put your hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me. Please don’t bury me in Egypt [Abode of slavery],

30 but when I sleep with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt [Abode of slavery], and bury me in their burying place.” He said, “I will do as you have said.”

31 He said, “Swear to me,” and he swore to him. Israel [God prevails] bowed at the head of his bed.