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.

Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version®, NIrV®

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Berĕshith (Genesis) 47

1Then Yosĕph went and spoke to Pharaoh, and said, “My father and my brothers, their flocks and their herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Kena‛an. And see, they are in the land of Goshen.”

2And he took five men from among his brothers and presented them to Pharaoh.

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

4And they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to dwell in the land, because there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks, for the scarcity of food is severe in the land of Kena‛an. And now, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.”

5And Pharaoh spoke to Yosĕph, saying, “Your father and your brothers have come to you.

6The land of Mitsrayim is before you. Settle your father and brothers in the best of the land, let them dwell in the land of Goshen. And if you know of capable men among them, then make them chief herdsmen over my livestock.

7And Yosĕph brought in his father Ya‛aqoḇ and set him before Pharaoh. And Ya‛aqoḇ blessed Pharaoh.

8And Pharaoh said to Ya‛aqoḇ, “How old are you?”

9And Ya‛aqoḇ said 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.”

10And Ya‛aqoḇ blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.

11So Yosĕph settled his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Mitsrayim, in the best of the land, in the land of Ra‛meses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

12And Yosĕph provided his father, and his brothers, and all his father’s household with bread for the mouth of the little ones.

13Now there was no bread in all the land, because the scarcity of food was very severe, and the land of Mitsrayim and all the land of Kena‛an became exhausted from the scarcity of food.

14And Yosĕph gathered up all the silver that was found in the land of Mitsrayim and in the land of Kena‛an, for the grain which they bought. And Yosĕph brought the silver into Pharaoh’s house.

15And when the silver was all spent in the land of Mitsrayim and in the land of Kena‛an, all the Mitsrites came to Yosĕph and said, “Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? For the silver is gone!”

16And Yosĕph said, “Give your livestock, and I give you bread for your livestock, if the silver is gone.”

17So they brought their livestock to Yosĕph, and Yosĕph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, and for the flocks they owned, and for the herds they owned, and for the donkeys. Thus he fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock that year.

18And when that year had ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, “We do not hide from my master that our silver is all spent, and my master also has the livestock we owned. There has not been left any before my master but our bodies and our lands.

19Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and let us and our land be servants of Pharaoh. And give us seed, and let us live and not die, and let the land not lie waste.

20And Yosĕph bought the entire land of Mitsrayim for Pharaoh, because every man of the Mitsrites sold his field, because the scarcity of food was severe upon them. And the land came to be Pharaoh’s.

21And as for the people, he moved them into the cities, from one end of the borders of Mitsrayim to the other end.

22Only the ground of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had from what Pharaoh gave them by law, and they ate that which Pharaoh gave them by law. Therefore they did not sell their ground.

23And Yosĕph said to the people, “Look, I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh. Look, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land.

24And it shall be that in the harvest you shall give one-fifth to Pharaoh. And four-fifths is your own, as seed for the field and for your food, for those of your households and as food for your little ones.

25And they said, “You have saved our lives. Let us find favour in the eyes of my master, and we shall become Pharaoh’s servants.”

26And Yosĕph made it a law over the land of Mitsrayim to this day, that Pharaoh should have one-fifth, except for the ground of the priests only, which did not become Pharaoh’s.

27And Yisra’ĕl dwelt in the land of Mitsrayim, in the land of Goshen. And they had possessions there and were fruirful and increased exceedingly.

28And Ya‛aqoḇ lived in the land of Mitsrayim seventeen years. So the length of Ya‛aqoḇ’s life was one hundred and forty-seven years.

29And the time for Yisra’ĕl to die drew near, and he called his son Yosĕph and said to him, “Now if I have found favour in your eyes, please put your hand under my thigh, and show loving-commitment and truth to me. Please do not bury me in Mitsrayim,

30but I shall lie with my fathers, and you shall take me up out of Mitsrayim and bury me in their burial-place.” And he said, “I do as you have said.”

31And he said, “Swear to me.” And he swore to him, and Yisra’ĕl bowed himself on the head of the bed.

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