Genesis 47
47
1Joseph went to Pharaoh and told him, “My father and brothers with their flocks and herds and everything they own have come from Canaan. Right now they are in Goshen.”
2-3a He had taken five of his brothers with him and introduced them to Pharaoh. Pharaoh asked them, “What kind of work do you do?”
3b-4 “Your servants are shepherds, the same as our fathers were. We have come to this country to find a new place to live. There is no pasture for our flocks in Canaan. The famine has been very bad there. Please, would you let your servants settle in the region of Goshen?”
5-6Pharaoh looked at Joseph. “So, your father and brothers have arrived—a reunion! Egypt welcomes them. Settle your father and brothers on the choicest land—yes, give them Goshen. And if you know any among them that are especially good at their work, put them in charge of my own livestock.”
7-8Next Joseph brought his father Jacob in and introduced him to Pharaoh. Jacob blessed Pharaoh. Pharaoh asked Jacob, “How old are you?”
9-10Jacob answered Pharaoh, “The years of my sojourning are 130—a short and hard life and not nearly as long as my ancestors were given.” Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and left.
11-12Joseph settled his father and brothers in Egypt, made them proud owners of choice land—it was the region of Rameses (that is, Goshen)—just as Pharaoh had ordered. Joseph took good care of them—his father and brothers and all his father’s family, right down to the smallest baby. He made sure they had plenty of everything.
* * *
13-15The time eventually came when there was no food anywhere. The famine was very bad. Egypt and Canaan alike were devastated by the famine. Joseph collected all the money that was to be found in Egypt and Canaan to pay for the distribution of food. He banked the money in Pharaoh’s palace. When the money from Egypt and Canaan had run out, the Egyptians came to Joseph. “Food! Give us food! Are you going to watch us die right in front of you? The money is all gone.”
16-17Joseph said, “Bring your livestock. I’ll trade you food for livestock since your money’s run out.” So they brought Joseph their livestock. He traded them food for their horses, sheep, cattle, and donkeys. He got them through that year in exchange for all their livestock.
18-19When that year was over, the next year rolled around and they were back, saying, “Master, it’s no secret to you that we’re broke: our money’s gone and we’ve traded you all our livestock. We’ve nothing left to barter with but our bodies and our farms. What use are our bodies and our land if we stand here and starve to death right in front of you? Trade us food for our bodies and our land. We’ll be slaves to Pharaoh and give up our land—all we ask is seed for survival, just enough to live on and keep the farms alive.”
20-21So Joseph bought up all the farms in Egypt for Pharaoh. Every Egyptian sold his land—the famine was that bad. That’s how Pharaoh ended up owning all the land and the people ended up slaves; Joseph reduced the people to slavery from one end of Egypt to the other.
22Joseph made an exception for the priests. He didn’t buy their land because they received a fixed salary from Pharaoh and were able to live off of that salary. So they didn’t need to sell their land.
23-24Joseph then announced to the people: “Here’s how things stand: I’ve bought you and your land for Pharaoh. In exchange I’m giving you seed so you can plant the ground. When the crops are harvested, you must give a fifth to Pharaoh and keep four-fifths for yourselves, for seed for yourselves and your families—you’re going to be able to feed your children!”
25They said, “You’ve saved our lives! Master, we’re grateful and glad to be slaves to Pharaoh.”
26Joseph decreed a land law in Egypt that is still in effect, A Fifth Goes to Pharaoh. Only the priests’ lands were not owned by Pharaoh.
* * *
27-28And so Israel settled down in Egypt in the region of Goshen. They acquired property and flourished. They became a large company of people. Jacob lived in Egypt for seventeen years. In all, he lived 147 years.
29-30When the time came for Israel to die, he called his son Joseph and said, “Do me this favor. Put your hand under my thigh, a sign that you’re loyal and true to me to the end. Don’t bury me in Egypt. When I lie down with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me alongside them.”
“I will,” he said. “I’ll do what you’ve asked.”
31Israel said, “Promise me.” Joseph promised.
Israel bowed his head in submission and gratitude from his bed.
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Genesis 47
47
1Then Yosef came and told Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brethren, and their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have, are come out of the land of Kena’an; and, behold, they [are] in the land of Goshen [Drawing Near].
2And he took some of his brethren, [even] five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh.
3And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, What [is] youri occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh (Great House), youri servants [are] shepherds, both we, [and] also our fathers.
4They said moreover unto Pharaoh, For to sojourn in the land are we come; for youri servants have no pasture for their flocks; for the famine [is] sore in the land of Kena’an (merchant; trader; or that humbles and subdues): now therefore, we pray youi, let youri servants dwell in the land of Goshen [Drawing Near] (approaching; drawing near).
5And Pharaoh spoke unto Yosef, saying, youri father and youri brethren are come unto youi:
6The land of Mitzrayim [Egypt] (Double Distress or Double Stronghold, Black Land) is before youi; in the best of the land make youri father and brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen [Drawing Near] (approaching; drawing near) let them dwell: and if youi know [any] men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle.
7And Yosef (Increaser; May God the Powerful One add [Yah]) brought in Ya’akov (he who holds onto the heel of) his father, and set him before Pharaoh (Great House): and Ya’akov Blessed (Favored by God; happy; prosperous) Pharaoh.
8And Pharaoh said unto Ya’akov, How old [are] youi?
9And Ya’akov said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage [are] an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.
10And Ya’akov Blessed (Favored by God; happy; prosperous) Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.
11And Yosef placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Mitzrayim [Egypt] in the best of the land, in the land of Ra’amses [child or born of the sun god Ra], as Pharaoh (Great House) had commanded.
12And Yosef (Increaser; May God the Powerful One add [Yah]) nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father’s household, with bread, according to [their] families.
13And [there was] no bread in all the land; for the famine [was] very sore, so that the land of Mitzrayim [Egypt] [all] the land of Kena’an (merchant; trader; or that humbles and subdues) fainted by reason of the famine.
14And Yosef gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Mitzrayim [Egypt], and in the land of Kena’an (merchant; trader; or that humbles and subdues), for the corn which they bought: and Yosef brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.
15And when money failed in the land of Mitzrayim [Egypt], and in the land of Kena’an all the Mitzrayimot [Egyptians] (People of the Black Land) came unto Yosef, and said, Give us bread: for why should we die in youri presence? for the money fails.
16And Yosef said, Give youri cattle; and I will give youi for youri cattle, if money fail.
17And they brought their cattle unto Yosef: and Yosef gave them bread [in exchange] for horses, and for the flocks, and for the cattle of the herds, and for the donkeys: and he fed them with bread for all their cattle for that year.
18When that year was ended, they came unto him the second year, and said unto him, We will not hide [it] from my lord, how that our money is spent; my lord also has our herds of cattle; there is not ought left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands:
19For what reason shall we die before youri eyes, both we and our land? buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh: and give [us] seed, that we may live, and not die, that the land be not desolate.
20And Yosef bought all the land of Mitzrayim [Egypt] for Pharaoh; for the Mitzrayimot [Egyptians] sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them: so the land became Pharaoh’s.
21And as for the people, he removed them to cities from [one] end of the borders of Mitzrayim [Egypt] even to the [other] end thereof.
22Only the land of the priests bought he not; for the priests had a portion [assigned them] of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them: For what reason they sold not their lands.
23Then Yosef said unto the people, Behold, I have bought youi this day and youri land for Pharaoh: lo, [here is] seed for you, and youf shall sow the land.
24And it shall come to pass in the increase, that youf shall give the fifth [part] unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be youri own, for seed of the field, and for youri food, and for them of your households, and for food for youri little ones.
25And they said, Youi have saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.
26And Yosef made it a law over the land of Mitzrayim [Egypt] unto this day, [that] Pharaoh should have the fifth [part]; except the land of the priests only, [which] became not Pharaoh’s.
27And Isra’el (he who holds onto God-The Creator) dwelt in the land of Mitzrayim [Egypt] (Double Distress or Double Stronghold, Black Land), in the country of Goshen [Drawing Near] (approaching; drawing near); and they had possessions in it, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly.
28And Ya’akov (he who holds onto the heel of) lived in the land of Mitzrayim [Egypt] seventeen years: so the whole age of Ya’akov was an hundred forty and seven years.
29And the time drew near that Isra’el (he who holds onto God-The Creator) must die: and he called his son Yosef (Increaser; May God the Powerful One add [Yah]), and said unto him, If now I have found grace in youri sight, put, I pray youi, youri hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray youi, in Mitzrayim [Egypt] (Double Distress or Double Stronghold, Black Land):
30But I will lie with my fathers, and youi shall carry me out of Mitzrayim [Egypt], and bury me in their burying place. And he said, I will do as youi have said.
31And he said, Swear unto me. And he swore unto him. And Isra’el bowed himself upon the bed’s head.
Text copyright © 2000-2018 TOV Rose
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