Genesis 47
47
Chapter 47
Joseph works well for his master Pharaoh
1Joseph went to Pharaoh. He told him, ‘My father and brothers have arrived from Canaan. They have come with their animals and everything that belongs to them. They are now in Goshen.’ 2Joseph took five of his brothers to go with him to meet Pharaoh. 3Pharaoh asked the brothers, ‘What is your job?’ The brothers replied, ‘We are shepherds, sir. We take care of animals, just like our ancestors did.’ 4They also said to Pharaoh, ‘We have come to stay here for a short time because there is a bad famine in Canaan. Our animals do not have any grass to eat there. Please sir, let us stay in Goshen.’
5Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Your father and your brothers have now come to you. 6The whole land of Egypt is here for them. Your father and your brothers should stay in the best part of the land. They may live in Goshen. Choose the best shepherds from among them to take care of my own animals.’
7Then Joseph brought his father Jacob to meet Pharaoh. Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8Then Pharaoh asked Jacob, ‘How old are you?’ 9Jacob replied, ‘I have been alive for 130 years. My years have been few, and they have been difficult. I have not lived for as long as my ancestors lived.’ #47:9 Abraham lived for 175 years (Genesis 25:7). And Isaac lived for 180 years (Genesis 35:28). 10Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh again and he left.
11So Joseph helped his father and his brothers to make their home in Egypt. He gave them a good place to live in the best region of Egypt. This was in the region that is now called Rameses. Joseph did for his family what Pharaoh had told him to do. #47:11 Rameses is the Egyptian name for Goshen.
12Joseph also sent food to his father, his brothers and all his father's people. He gave them enough food for themselves and all their children.
13But because the famine was bad, no food grew in all of Egypt. As a result, the people of Egypt and Canaan became hungry and weak. 14Joseph received money from the people when he sold food to them. He took all the money to Pharaoh's palace. 15Soon the people of Egypt and Canaan did not have any more money. All the Egyptians went to Joseph and they said, ‘Give us food to eat. If not, we will die! We do not have any more money.’
16Joseph said to the people, ‘If you have no money, bring me your animals. I will give you food if you pay me with your animals instead of money.’ 17So the people brought their animals to Joseph. They brought horses, sheep, goats, cows and donkeys. Joseph sold food to them in return for their animals. In that way, he sold enough food for them to eat that year.
18When that year finished, the people came to Joseph again. They said to him, ‘Sir, you know that we do not have any money. Our animals now belong to you. We have nothing left to give to you. We only have our land and our own bodies. 19Do not let us die here and now! Do not destroy our land! If you give food to us, we will pay you with ourselves and with our land. We will become Pharaoh's slaves. Our land will become Pharaoh's land. Give us grain to eat and seed to plant. Then we will not die. Our fields will not be empty.’
20Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. Because the famine was very bad, all the Egyptians sold their fields to buy food. So all the land now belonged to Pharaoh. 21Joseph made all the people become slaves, wherever they lived in Egypt. 22But Joseph did not buy the land which belonged to the priests. Pharaoh himself gave the priests enough food. So the priests did not have to sell their land.
23Joseph said to the people, ‘Now I have bought you and your land for Pharaoh. So I will give you some seed to plant in your fields. 24But when the plants are ready to eat, you must give one fifth part to Pharaoh. You may keep the other four parts. You may keep it for seed to plant again and you may eat it. It will be food for you, for your people and for your children.’ 25The people said, ‘You have saved our lives! Because you have been kind to us, we agree to become Pharaoh's slaves.’
26So Joseph made a law which everybody in Egypt has to obey. The law says that one fifth of all food that people grow belongs to Pharaoh. Only the priests' land did not become Pharaoh's land. This law still has authority today. #47:26 ‘still has authority today’ means that the law was still there when Genesis was written.
27The Israelites stayed in Egypt, in the region called Goshen. They had their own land there. They gave birth to many children so that they became very many people.
28Jacob lived in Egypt for 17 years. His whole life was 147 years. 29The time came for him to die. So he called his son Joseph to come to him. Jacob said to him, ‘If you agree, make a serious promise to me. Put your hand between my legs to show that I can trust you. Promise that you will be kind to me and that you will do as I ask. When I die, do not bury me here in Egypt. #47:29 See also Genesis 24:2. 30Carry my body out of Egypt. Bury me in the grave of my ancestors.’ Joseph said, ‘I will do as you say.’ 31Jacob said, ‘Promise me that you will do this.’ Then Joseph made a promise to him. After that, Jacob rested on his bed and he thanked God.
MissionAssist 2018
Berĕshith (Genesis) 47
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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