Genesis 47

1 And Joseph cometh, and declareth to Pharaoh, and saith, 'My father, and my brethren, and their flock, and their herd, and all they have, have come from the land of Canaan, and lo, they [are] in the land of Goshen.'

Joseph went to report to Pharaoh and told him, “My father and brothers, along with their flocks and herds and all their possessions, have arrived from the land of Canaan and now they're here in Goshen.”

2 And out of his brethren he hath taken five men, and setteth them before Pharaoh;

Joseph took five of his brothers to go with him and introduced them to Pharaoh.

3 and Pharaoh saith unto his brethren, 'What [are] your works?' and they say unto Pharaoh, 'Thy servants [are] feeders of a flock, both we and our fathers;'

Pharaoh asked the brothers, “What work do you do?” “Your servants are shepherds, just like our fathers before us,” they replied.

4 and they say unto Pharaoh, 'To sojourn in the land we have come, for there is no pasture for the flock which thy servants have, for grievous [is] the famine in the land of Canaan; and now, let thy servants, we pray thee, dwell in the land of Goshen.'

“We have come to live in Egypt because there's no grass left in Canaan for our flocks to eat,” they explained. “The famine is really bad in Canaan. So we would like to please ask permission to live in Goshen.”

5 And Pharaoh speaketh unto Joseph, saying, 'Thy father and thy brethren have come unto thee:

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Now that your father and brothers have arrived to join you,

6 the land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land cause thy father and thy brethren to dwell — they dwell in the land of Goshen, and if thou hast known, and there are among them men of ability, then thou hast set them heads over the cattle I have.'

you can choose wherever you like in Egypt, the best place, for them to live. Let them live in Goshen. If you know any of them who are good at what they do, put them in charge of my livestock as well.”

7 And Joseph bringeth in Jacob his father, and causeth him to stand before Pharaoh; and Jacob blesseth Pharaoh.

Then Joseph went with his father Jacob and introduced him Pharaoh. After Jacob blessed Pharaoh,

8 And Pharaoh saith unto Jacob, 'How many [are] the days of the years of thy life?'

Pharaoh asked him, “So how long have you lived?”

9 And Jacob saith unto Pharaoh, 'The days of the years of my sojournings [are] an 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.'

“I have been wandering for 130 years,” Jacob replied. “My life has been short and difficult—I have not lived as long as my forefathers who also wandered from place to place.”

10 And Jacob blesseth Pharaoh, and goeth out from before Pharaoh.

Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh again before leaving him.

11 And Joseph settleth his father and his brethren, and giveth to them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh commanded;

So Joseph arranged for his father and brothers to live in Egypt and gave them land in the best part near Rameses, as Pharaoh had ordered.

12 and Joseph nourisheth his father, and his brethren, and all the house of his father [with] bread, according to the mouth of the infants.

He also provided food for all of them—his father, his brothers, and his father's whole household—depending on family size.

13 And there is no bread in all the land, for the famine [is] very grievous, and the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan are feeble because of the famine;

No food was left in the whole country because the famine had become so bad. Throughout Egypt and Canaan people were starving.

14 and Joseph gathereth all the silver that is found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corn that they are buying, and Joseph bringeth the silver into the house of Pharaoh.

By selling grain Joseph collected all the money in Egypt and Canaan, and placed it in Pharaoh's treasury.

15 And the silver is consumed out of the land of Egypt, and out of the land of Canaan, and all the Egyptians come in unto Joseph, saying, 'Give to us bread — why do we die before thee, though the money hath ceased?'

Once the money from Egypt and Canaan had run out, the Egyptians all came to Joseph and demanded, “Give us food! Do you want us to die right in front of you? All our money is gone!”

16 and Joseph saith, 'Give your cattle; and I give to you for your cattle, if the money hath ceased.'

“Bring me your livestock,” Joseph told them. “I'll give you grain in exchange for your livestock if you've run out of money.”

17 And they bring in their cattle unto Joseph, and Joseph giveth to them bread, for the horses, and for the cattle of the flock, and for the cattle of the herd, and for the asses; and he tendeth them with bread, for all their cattle, during that year.

So they brought Joseph their livestock, and he provided them with grain in exchange for their horses, sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys. He gave them grain in return for their livestock during that year.

18 And that year is finished, and they come in unto him on the second year, and say to him, 'We do not hide from my lord, that since the money hath been finished, and possession of the cattle [is] unto my lord, there hath not been left before my lord save our bodies, and our ground;

But when that year was over, they came to him the next year and said, “My lord, we can't hide from you the fact that our money is gone and that you now own our livestock. All we have left to give you are our bodies and our land.

19 why do we die before thine eyes, both we and our ground? buy us and our ground for bread, and we and our ground are servants to Pharaoh; and give seed, and we live, and die not, and the ground is not desolate.'

Do you want us to die right in front of you? So buy us and our land in return for food. Then our land will belong to Pharaoh, and we'll be his slaves. Just give us grain so we can live and won't die, and so the land won't be abandoned.”

20 And Joseph buyeth all the ground of Egypt for Pharaoh, for the Egyptians have sold each his field, for the famine hath been severe upon them, and the land becometh Pharaoh's;

So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. Each and every Egyptian sold their fields, because the famine was hurting them so badly. The land ended up being owned by Pharaoh,

21 as to the people he hath removed them to cities from the [one] end of the border of Egypt even unto its [other] end.

and all the people became his slaves, from one end of Egypt to the other.

22 Only the ground of the priests he hath not bought, for the priests have a portion from Pharaoh, and they have eaten their portion which Pharaoh hath given to them, therefore they have not sold their ground.

The only land he didn't buy belonged to the priests because they had a food allowance provided to them by Pharaoh, so they didn't have to sell their land.

23 And Joseph saith unto the people, 'Lo, I have bought you to-day and your ground for Pharaoh; lo, seed for you, and ye have sown the ground,

Then Joseph told the people, “Listen to me! Now that I have bought you and your land for Pharaoh, I'm giving you some seed for you to sow the fields.

24 and it hath come to pass in the increases, that ye have given a fifth to Pharaoh, and four of the parts are for yourselves, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for those who [are] in your houses, and for food for your infants.'

However, when it's harvested, you have to give one fifth of it to Pharaoh. The other four-fifths you can keep as seed for the fields and as food for you, your households, and your children.”

25 And they say, 'Thou hast revived us; we find grace in the eyes of my lord, and have been servants to Pharaoh;'

“You've saved our lives,” they declared. “May you continue to treat us well, my lord, and we'll be Pharaoh's slaves.”

26 and Joseph setteth it for a statute unto this day, concerning the ground of Egypt, [that] Pharaoh hath a fifth; only the ground of the priests alone hath not become Pharaoh's.

So Joseph made it a law for Egypt which is still is in effect today that one fifth of all produce from the land belongs to Pharaoh. Only the priests' land was exempt since it did not belong to Pharaoh.

27 And Israel dwelleth in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen, and they have possession in it, and are fruitful, and multiply exceedingly;

The Israelites settled in Goshen in Egypt where they became prosperous landowners and rapidly increased in number.

28 and Jacob liveth in the land of Egypt seventeen years, and the days of Jacob, the years of his life, are an hundred and forty and seven years.

Jacob lived in Egypt for seventeen years, so he lived in total 137 years.

29 And the days of Israel are near to die, and he calleth for his son, for Joseph, and saith to him, 'If, I pray thee, I have found grace in thine eyes, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and thou hast done with me kindness and truth; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt,

When the time came for Israel to die, he called for his son Joseph and said to him, “If you think well of me, place your hand under my thigh and promise to treat me with trustworthy love and faithfulness. Don't bury me here in Egypt.

30 and I have lain with my fathers, and thou hast borne me out of Egypt, and buried me in their burying-place.' And he saith, 'I — I do according to thy word;'

When I die, bury me with my forefathers. You must take my body from Egypt to the family tomb and bury me with them.” “I will do as you say,” Joseph promised.

31 and he saith, 'Swear to me;' and he sweareth to him, and Israel boweth himself on the head of the bed.

“Swear to me that you will,” he said. Joseph swore that he would. Israel bowed in worship at the head of his bed.