Genesis 47

1Joseph went to Pharaoh. He told him, “My father and brothers have come from the land of Canaan. They’ve brought along their flocks and herds and everything they own. They are now in Goshen.” 2Joseph had chosen five of his brothers to meet with Pharaoh.

3Pharaoh asked the brothers, “What do you do for a living?”

“We’re shepherds,” they replied to Pharaoh. “And that’s what our fathers were.” 4They also said to him, “We’ve come to live in Egypt for a while. There isn’t enough food anywhere in Canaan. There isn’t any grass for our flocks. So please let us live in Goshen.”

5Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. 6The land of Egypt is open to you. Let your father and brothers live in the best part of the land. Let them live in Goshen. Do any of them have special skills? If they do, put them in charge of my own livestock.”

7Then Joseph brought his father Jacob in to meet Pharaoh. Jacob gave Pharaoh his blessing. 8Then Pharaoh asked him, “How old are you?”

9Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my journey through life are 130. My years have been few and hard. They aren’t as many as the years of my father and grandfather before me.” 10Jacob gave Pharaoh his blessing. Then he left him.

11So Joseph helped his father and his brothers make their homes in Egypt. He gave them property in the best part of the land, just as Pharaoh had directed him to do. That part was known as the territory of Rameses. 12Joseph also provided food for his father and brothers. He provided for them and the rest of his father’s family. He gave them enough for all their children.

Joseph Saves Many Lives

13But there wasn’t any food in the whole area. In fact, there wasn’t enough food anywhere. The people of Egypt and Canaan lost their strength because there wasn’t enough food to go around. 14Joseph collected all the money in Egypt and Canaan. People paid it to him for the grain they were buying. And Joseph brought it to Pharaoh’s palace. 15When the money of the people of Egypt and Canaan was gone, all the Egyptians came to Joseph. They said, “Give us food. What good would it do you to watch us all die? Our money is all gone.”

16“Then bring your livestock,” said Joseph. “You say your money is gone. So I’ll trade you food for your livestock.” 17They brought their livestock to Joseph. He traded them food for their animals. They gave him their horses, sheep, goats, cattle and donkeys. He helped the people live through that year by trading them food for all their livestock.

18When that year was over, they came to him the next year. They said, “We can’t hide the truth from you. Our money is gone. Our livestock belongs to you. We don’t have anything left to give you except our bodies and our land. 19What good would it do you to watch us die? Why should our land be destroyed? Trade us food for ourselves and our land. Then we and our land will belong to Pharaoh. Give us some seeds so we can live and not die. We don’t want the land to become a desert.”

20So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. All the people of Egypt sold their fields. They did that because there wasn’t enough food anywhere. So the land became Pharaoh’s. 21Joseph made the people slaves from one end of Egypt to the other. 22But Joseph didn’t buy the land that belonged to the priests. They received a regular share of food from Pharaoh. They had enough food from what Pharaoh gave them. That’s why they didn’t have to sell their land.

23Joseph said to the people, “I’ve bought you and your land today for Pharaoh. So here are some seeds for you to plant in the ground. 24But when the crop comes in, give a fifth of it to Pharaoh. Keep the other four-fifths for yourselves. They will be seeds for the fields. And they will be food for yourselves, your children, and the other people who live with you.”

25“You have saved our lives,” they said. “If you are pleased with us, we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.”

26So Joseph made a law about land in Egypt. It’s still the law today. A fifth of the produce belongs to Pharaoh. Only the land belonging to the priests didn’t become Pharaoh’s.

27The people of Israel lived in Egypt in the area of Goshen. They received property there. They had children and so became many.

28Jacob lived 17 years in Egypt. He lived a total of 147 years. 29The time came near for Israel to die. So he sent for his son Joseph. He said to him, “If you are pleased with me, put your hand under my thigh. Promise me that you will be kind and faithful to me. Don’t bury me in Egypt. 30When I join the members of my family who have already died, carry me out of Egypt. Bury me where they are buried.”

“I’ll do exactly as you say,” Joseph said.

31“Give me your word that you will do it,” Jacob said. So Joseph gave him his word. And Israel worshiped God as he leaned on the top of his walking stick.

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Genesis 47: NIrV

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Genesis 47

Pharaoh let Jacob and his family live in Egypt country

1Joseph left Goshen, and he went to Pharaoh’s house. Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “My father and my brothers came here from Canaan country. They brought all their sheep and cows with them, and everything else that they own. They are staying in the place called Goshen.”

2Joseph took 5 of his brothers to Pharaoh. 3Then Pharaoh said to Joseph’s brothers, “What sort of work do you do?”

Joseph’s brothers said to Pharaoh, “Sir, we look after animals, just like our father and our grand-fathers used to.” 4Then they said, “Sir, it is a really hard time in Canaan country. There is no rain, so there are no food plants growing, and there isn’t any grass there for our animals to eat. That’s the reason why we came here to Egypt country. We want to live here for a while. Please, sir, let us stay in the place called Goshen.”

5Then Pharaoh talked to Joseph. He said, “It is good that your father and your brothers have come here to be with you. 6There is lots of land here in Egypt country. Your father and brothers can live in the best part of the land. Let them live in Goshen, the land is good there.”

Pharaoh also said to Joseph, “Maybe some of the men in your family are really good at looking after animals. You can tell those men to look after my animals for me.”

7Then Joseph got his father Jacob, and he took Jacob to meet Pharaoh. Then Jacob said good things to Pharaoh, and he showed him respect.

8Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How old are you?”

9And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “I am 130 years old. All my life, I’ve lived on country that belongs to other people. I never had my own land, just like my grand-fathers never had their own land. You know, my grand-fathers lived for a long time, and they died when they were very old. But my life has been short, and I had a lot of trouble in my life.”

10Then Jacob said good-bye to Pharaoh, and he went out of Pharaoh’s house.

11After that, Joseph gave his father and his brothers the best land in Egypt country, just like Pharaoh said, and they lived on that land. That land was in the place called Goshen, but later on, people called that place Rameses. 12And Joseph gave food to his father, and his brothers, and the rest of his father’s family. He made sure that each brother always had enough food for their whole family.

Joseph gave the Egypt people food

13There was no rain in all of Egypt and Canaan country, and no food plants grew. It was really hard for everyone. The people did not have enough food, so they got really hungry and weak.

14At first, all the people in Egypt and Canaan country, they paid money to Joseph, and he gave them food. And Joseph took all that money into Pharaoh’s house. 15But after a while, the people in Egypt and Canaan country had no more money left. So all the Egypt people went to Joseph, and they said to him, “We’ve got no more money to buy food. You have to help us. Give us food, or we will die.”

16Joseph said to them, “All right. You don’t have any money, so you can give me your animals instead of money, and then I will give you food.”

17So the people brought their animals to Joseph. They brought horses, and sheep, and cows, and donkeys. Every time somebody gave an animal to Joseph, he gave them some food, so they had enough food to eat. They kept on doing that for one year. Then after that, they had no more animals left.

18The next year, the people went to Joseph again, and they said, “Sir, you know that we’ve got no money, and we gave you all our animals. The only things we have left are our own bodies and our land. There’s nothing else we can give you. 19We need food, and we need seeds to plant in the ground. We know we can plant seeds now, and those food plants will grow, but we don’t have any seeds to plant. You have to help us, or we will die, and our land will be useless.”

Then the people said, “This is what we want to do. We will give you our land and ourselves. Then all the land that belongs to us will belong to Pharaoh. And we will belong to Pharaoh too, we will become his workers. Then you give us food to eat and seeds to plant, so that we can grow food plants on the land again. It will be like we are paying for that food and those seeds with ourselves and our land. That way, we will have food to eat, and we will stay alive. But if you don’t do that, we will die, and our land will be useless.”

20So Joseph did what the people asked. You see, there was no rain and no food plants growing in Egypt country. It was really bad, and the people needed food. So everyone in Egypt country gave all their land to Joseph, and he gave their land to Pharaoh. Then that land didn’t belong to the people any more, it belonged to Pharaoh. 21And Joseph got all the Egypt people to work for Pharaoh.

22-26And Joseph said to the people, “Listen. Today I gave you mob to Pharaoh, to work for him. And I gave him your land as well. Now I will give you seeds to plant in the ground, so that you can grow food plants. Every time you take food from those plants, you have to split up that food into 5 piles, and give one pile to Pharaoh. You can keep the rest of that food for yourselves. Then you and your families and your little kids, and all the people that live in your homes, you will all have food to eat. And you can take some of the seeds from those food plants, and you can plant those seeds in the ground, so that you can keep growing more food plants.”

Then the Egypt people said to Joseph, “Sir, you saved our lives. Thank you for being good to us. We will be Pharaoh’s workers, just like you said.”

So Joseph made a new law for Egypt country. That law said that every time the Egypt people got food from their food plants, they had to split up that food into 5 piles, and give one pile to Pharaoh. And you know, that law is still there in Egypt country.

After that time, Pharaoh owned all the land in Egypt country. Only the ceremony men still owned their own land. You see, Pharaoh always paid those ceremony men, so they didn’t need to sell him their land to get food. So their land still belonged to them, it didn’t belong to Pharaoh.

Jacob told Joseph to bury his body in Canaan country

27At that time, Jacob and his family started to live in Egypt country, in the place called Goshen. They got their own land in that place, and lots more kids were born into their family, so that they became a really big mob of people.

28Jacob lived in Egypt country for 17 years. He lived until he was 147 years old.

29This story is about some things that happened before Jacob died.

Jacob knew that he was going to die soon, so he sent somebody to get his son Joseph. Then Jacob said to Joseph, “I am going to ask you to put your hand under my leg, and make me a strong promise.” You see, in that culture, people sometimes made promises to each other that way. The person that made the promise, they put their hand under the other person’s leg, and that showed that they had to keep their promise.

Then Jacob said to Joseph, “I know that you love me, so I want you to promise that you will be good to me, and do the right thing. When I die, don’t bury my body here in Egypt country. 30You have to take my body out of Egypt country, and go back to Canaan country, and bury me in the same grave as my father and grand-father.”#Genesis 49:29-32; 50:6

And Joseph said, “I will do those things that you said.”

31Jacob said, “Make me that strong promise.” So Joseph put his hand under Jacob’s leg, and he made him that strong promise. Then Jacob put his face down towards his bed, to thank God.#Hebrews 11:21

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