Genesis 47
1SO Joseph went and told Pharao saying, My father and my brothers with their flocks and their herds and all that belong to them are come from the land of Chanaan; and lo! they are in the land of Gesem.
2And he took of his brothers five men and presented them before Pharao.
3And Pharao said to Joseph’s brothers, What is your occupation? and they said to Pharao, Thy servants are shepherds, both we and our fathers.
4Moreover they said to Pharao, We are come to sojourn in this land, because there is no pasture for thy servants’ cattle, for the famine hath been great in the land of Chanaan. Now therefore let us sojourn in the land of Gesem. And Pharao said to Joseph, Let them dwell in the land of Gesem; and if thou knowest any men of ability among them, make them overseers of my cattle.
5Now when Jacob and his sons came into Egypt to Joseph and Pharao king of Egypt heard of it he said to Joseph, Thy father and thy brothers are come to thee,
6behold the land of Egypt is before thee, settle thy father and thy brothers in the best of the land.
7And when Joseph introduced his father Jacob and presented him before Pharao and Jacob had blessed Pharao,
8Pharao said to Jacob, How many are the years of the days of thy life?
9And Jacob said to Pharao, The days of the years of my life which I am now sojourning are a hundred and thirty years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life. They have not reached to the days of the years of the life of my fathers which they sojourned.
10And when Jacob had blessed Pharao he went out from him.
11And Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land of Ramesses, as Pharao had ordered.
12And Joseph supplied his father and his brothers and all his father’s household with a certain portion of corn for each person.
13Now there was no food in the land, for the famine prevailed exceedingly; and both the land of Egypt and the land of Chanaan fainted by reason of the famine.
14And Joseph collected all the money which was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Chanaan for the corn which they bought and which he dealt out to them. And Joseph brought all the money to Pharao’s house.
15And when all the money was gone, out of the land of Egypt and out of the land of Chanaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, Give us bread. Must we die in thy presence because we have no money?
16Thereupon Joseph said to them, Bring your cattle, and I will give you bread for your cattle if your money be gone.
17So they brought their cattle to Joseph, and he gave them bread for their horses and for their flocks and for their herds and for their asses and supplied them with bread that year for all their cattle.
18When that year was ended they came to him the next year and said, Perhaps we may be rejected by our lord: for as our money is gone and our stock and cattle are transferred to thee our lord, there is indeed nothing left us in the presence of our lord, but our persons and our lands.
19That we therefore may not die in thy presence and the land become a waste, purchase us and our land for bread, and we with our lands will be servants to Pharao. Give us seed that we may sow and live and not die. So the land will not become desolate.
20Upon this Joseph purchased all the land of the Egyptians for Pharao. For the Egyptians sold their land to Pharao, because the famine prevailed over them. Thus the land became Pharao’s,
21and he reduced the people to a state of vassalage from one border of Egypt to the other,
22save the land of the priests only. This Joseph did not buy; because Pharao had assigned them a gratuitous portion, and they ate the portion which Pharao assigned them. Therefore they did not sell their land.
23Then Joseph said to all the Egyptians, Behold I have this day purchased you and your land for Pharao. Take seed and sow the land.
24And of the products thereof you shall give Pharao the fifth. And the other four parts shall be your own to sow the land, and to be food for you and all your families.
25And they said, Thou hast saved our lives. We have found favour in the sight of our lord, and we will be servants to Pharao.
26So Joseph enjoined upon them the giving a fifth to Pharao as a statute which continueth even to this day in all the land of Egypt, excepting only the land of the priests. That did not belong to Pharao.
27Thus Israel became sojourners in the land of Egypt in the district of Gesem, and they had possessions therein and increased and multiplied exceedingly.
28And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. And all the days of the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven years.
29Now when the time of Israel’s death drew nigh he sent for his son Joseph and said to him, If I have found favour in thy sight, put thy hand under my thigh and thou shalt deal kindly and truly with me, that thou wilt not bury me in Egypt,
30but let me sleep with my fathers. Therefore thou shalt carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their sepulchre. And he said I will do as thou hast said.
31And he said, Swear to me. So he swore to him. And Israel bowed down on the head of his staff.