Génesis 47

¹Joseph went in to Pharaoh with the news. “My father and brothers have come from Canaan with their sheep and goats, their cattle, and all they own. At this moment they are in the land of Goshen.” ²He had brought five of his brothers with him, and he presented them to Pharaoh. ³Pharaoh asked Joseph’s brothers, “What do you do?” They replied, “Your servants keep flocks, as our fathers did before us.” ⁴They went on, “We have come to live in this country as foreigners for a while. The famine weighs hard on Canaan, and there is no pasture left there for the flocks your servants keep. Now please let your servants make their home in the land of Goshen.” ⁵Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you.^{a 6}The whole land of Egypt is open to you. Give your father and brothers a home in the best part of the country; they may live in Goshen. And if there are capable men among them that you know of, make them chief herdsmen over the livestock that is mine.” ⁷Joseph then brought in his father Jacob and had him stand before Pharaoh, and Jacob gave Pharaoh his blessing. ⁸Pharaoh asked Jacob, “How many years have you lived?” ⁹Jacob replied, “I have lived as a foreigner for 130 years. My years have been few and hard, and they fall short of the years my fathers lived as foreigners.” ¹⁰Jacob blessed Pharaoh again as he took his leave. ¹¹Joseph gave his father and brothers a home in Egypt, granting them land of their own in the finest part of the country, the region of Rameses, just as Pharaoh had said. ¹²Joseph fed his father, his brothers and all his father’s household, giving each family food in proportion to its little ones. ¹³Food was gone from the whole land, so cruel had the famine become, and both Egypt and Canaan grew faint under it. ¹⁴As people bought grain, Joseph took in all the money there was in Egypt and in Canaan, and he deposited it in Pharaoh’s palace. ¹⁵When the money in Egypt and Canaan ran out, the Egyptians all came to Joseph. “Give us food,” they pleaded. “Must we die in front of you? We have no money left.” ¹⁶“If your money is used up,” Joseph answered, “hand over your livestock, and I will give you food in return for them.” ¹⁷The people led their animals to Joseph, and he traded them food for horses, for sheep and goats, for cattle and for donkeys. Through that whole year he sustained them with food, taking all their livestock in return. ¹⁸That year came to an end, and in the next they came to him again. “My lord,” they said, “we will not pretend otherwise: the money is spent, and the animals are already yours. We have nothing left to offer my lord but ourselves and our land. ¹⁹Why let us die before your eyes, our land as well as ourselves? Purchase us and our land in return for food. We will be Pharaoh’s slaves and our land will be his. Give us seed, so that we can live and not die, and the soil will not go to ruin.” ²⁰So Joseph acquired all the farmland of Egypt for Pharaoh. The famine pressed so hard on the Egyptians that every one of them sold his field, and the land passed to Pharaoh. ²¹The people he relocated to the cities, throughout Egypt from border to border.^{b 22}Only the priests’ land he did not buy, because the priests had a fixed share of food from Pharaoh and lived on what Pharaoh allotted them. So they kept their land. ²³Joseph told the people, “As of today, you and your land belong to Pharaoh; I have bought them for him. Here is seed. Go and sow your fields. ²⁴At harvest time you will hand over one fifth to Pharaoh. Four parts out of five will be yours to use as seed for the fields and to feed yourselves, everyone in your homes and your little ones.” ²⁵They replied, “You have kept us alive! Let us find favor with you, my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.” ²⁶Joseph laid this down as a rule for the land of Egypt, and it holds to this day: Pharaoh receives a fifth. The priests’ land was the only land that never came to belong to Pharaoh. ²⁷Israel made its home in Egypt, in the land of Goshen. They gained land there, were fruitful, and multiplied greatly. ²⁸Jacob lived on in Egypt for seventeen more years; his whole life came to 147 years. ²⁹When Israel’s death was near, he summoned his son Joseph. “If you hold me in your favor,” he said, “put your hand under my thigh and pledge me your loyalty and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt. ³⁰When I lie down with my fathers, take me up out of Egypt and lay me in their grave.” “I will do what you have asked,” Joseph said. ³¹“Swear it to me,” Israel said, and Joseph swore it. Then Israel bowed down at the head of his bed.^c