Genesis 47

1 So then Joseph went in, and told Pharaoh, and said—My father and my brethren, and their flocks and their herds and all that they have, are come in from the land of Canaan, —and, here they are, in the land of Goshen.

Joseph chose five of his [older] brothers to go with him to talk to the king. He introduced his [older] brothers to the king, and then he said, “My father and my [older] brothers [and younger brother] have come from the Canaan region. They have brought all their sheep and goats and cattle and everything else that they own, and they are living now in Goshen region.”

2 Moreover out of the whole number of his brethren, he took with him five men, —and set them before Pharaoh.

3 And Pharaoh said unto the brethren of Joseph—What is your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh—Feeders of flocks, are thy servants, both we and our fathers.

The king asked the brothers, “What work do you do?” They replied, “We are shepherds, just as our ancestors were.”

4 And they said unto Pharaoh—To sojourn in the land, are we come in, for there is no pasture for the flocks which pertain to thy servants, for, severe, is the famine in the land of Canaan. Now, therefore, let thy servants dwell we pray thee in the land of Goshen.

They also said to him, “We have come here to live for a while in this land, because the famine is very severe in Canaan, and our animals have no (pasture/grass to eat) there. So now, please let us live in the Goshen region.”

5 Then spake Pharaoh unto Joseph saying, —Thy father and thy brethren, are come in unto thee.

The king said to Joseph, “I am happy that your father and your [older] brothers [and younger brother] have come to you.

6 The land of Egypt, is, before thee, in the best of the land, cause thou thy father and thy brethren to dwell, —let them dwell in the land of Goshen, And if thou knowest that there are among them men of ability, then shalt thou set them as chieftains of cattle over mine.

They can live wherever you want in the whole country of Egypt. Give your father and your brothers the best part of the land. They can live in Goshen. And if you know that any of them have any special ability to work with livestock, have them be in charge of my own livestock, too.”

7 So Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and caused him to stand before Pharaoh, —and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

Then Joseph brought his father Jacob [into the palace] and introduced him to the king. Jacob asked God to bless the king.

8 And Pharaoh said unto Jacob: About how many, have been the days of the years of thy life?

Then the king asked Jacob, “How old are you?”

9 And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my sojournings, have been a hundred and thirty years, —Few and evil, have been the days of the years of my life, neither have they attained unto the days of the years of the lives of my fathers, in the days of their sojournings.

Jacob replied, “I have been traveling around for 130 years. I have not lived as long as my ancestors, but my life has been full of troubles.”

10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, —and came forth from the presence of Pharaoh.

Then Jacob again [asked God to] bless the king, and left him.

11 So then Joseph fixed the dwelling of his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt in the best of the land. in the land of Rameses, —as Pharaoh had commanded.

[That is how Joseph enabled his father and older] brothers [and younger brother] to start living in Egypt. As the king had commanded, he gave them property in the best part of the land, in [Goshen, which is now called] Rameses.

12 And Joseph nourished his father and his brethren, and all his father’s house, —with bread, according to the need of their little ones.

Joseph also provided food for all his father’s family. The amounts that he gave them were according to how many children each of them had.

13 But, bread, was there none in all the land, —for the famine was, very severe, —so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine,

There were no crops growing in the whole region, because the famine was very severe. The people of Egypt and Canaan [MTY] became weak because they did not have enough food to eat.

14 So Joseph gathered up all the silver that was found in the land of Egypt. and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which, they, were buying, —and Joseph brought the silver into the house of Pharaoh.

Joseph collected all the money that the people in Egypt and Canaan paid for the grain they were buying from him, and he brought the money to the king’s palace.

15 And the silver was spent out of the land of Egypt and out of the land of Canaan, so all the Egyptians came in unto Joseph, saying—Do give us bread, for why should we die before thee, although, silver, hath failed?

When the people of Egypt and Canaan had spent all their money for grain, they all kept coming to Joseph and saying, “Please give us some food! If you do not give us grain, we will die [RHQ]! We have used all our money to buy food, and we have no money left!”

16 Then said Joseph: Give your cattle, and I will give you for your cattle, —if silver hath failed.

Joseph replied, “Since your money is all gone, bring me your livestock. If you do that, I will give you food in exchange for your livestock.”

17 So they brought in their cattle unto Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses and for the cattle of the flock and for the cattle of the herd, and for the asses, —and he provided them with bread for all their cattle, throughout that year.

So they brought their livestock to Joseph. He gave them food in exchange for their horses, their sheep and goats, their cattle, and their donkeys.

18 When that year was ended, then came they unto him in the second year and said to him—We will not hide from my lord, how that the silver and the herds of beasts for my lord are come to an end, —there is nothing left before my lord, save only our bodies and our ground:

The next year they came to him again and said, “We cannot hide this from you: We have no more money, and now our livestock belongs to you. We have only our bodies and our land to give to you. We have nothing else left.

19 Wherefore should we die before thine eyes both we, and our ground? Buy thou us and our ground, for bread, —and we and our ground will become servants to Pharaoh, and give seed, that we may live, and not die, and the ground, not lie waste.

(If you do not give us some food, we will die!/Do you want to watch us die?) [RHQ] If you do not give us seeds, our fields will become useless [IDM]. Buy us and our land in exchange for food. Then we will be the king’s slaves, and he will own the land. Give us seeds that we can plant and grow food, in order that we will not die, and in order that our land will not become like a desert.”

20 So Joseph bought all the ground of the Egyptians for Pharaoh, for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine had laid fast hold upon them, —so the land became Pharaoh’s.

So Joseph bought all the farms in Egypt for the king. The people of Egypt each sold their land to him because the famine was very severe, [and they had no other way to get money to buy food]. So all the farms became the king’s farms.

21 And as for the people, he brought them into bondage as servants, —from one end of the boundary of Egypt unto the other end thereof.

As a result, Joseph caused all the people from one border of the country to the other to become the king’s slaves.

22 Only, the ground of the priests, bought he not, —for the priests had a statutory-portion, from Pharaoh and they had been eating their statutory-portion, which Pharaoh had given them, for which cause, they had not sold their ground.

But he did not buy the priests’ land, because they received food from the king regularly, so the food that the king gave them was enough for them. That is the reason they did not sell their land to him.

23 And Joseph said unto the people, Lo! I have bought you this day, and your ground for Pharaoh, —see, here is seed for you, so shall ye sow the ground;

Joseph said to the people [who sold themselves and their land to him], “Listen to me! Today I have bought you and your land for the king. So here are seeds for you so that you can plant them in the ground.

24 and it shall come to pass that, of the yield, ye shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, —but the four parts, shall be your own—for seed for the field, and for your food and for them who are in your households and for food for your little ones.

But when you harvest the crop, you must give one-fifth of the crop to the king. The rest of the crop you can keep, to be seed to plant in the fields, and to be food for you and your children and for everyone else in your household to eat.”

25 And they said—Thou hast saved our lives! let us find favour in the eyes of my lord, so will we become Pharaoh’s servants.

They replied, “You have saved our lives! We want you to be pleased with us. And we will be the king’s slaves.”

26 And Joseph appointed it for a statute—until this day, regarding the ground of Egypt, that Pharaoh, should take a fifth, —only, the ground of the priests, was, theirs alone, it had not become Pharaoh’s.

So Joseph made a law about all the land in Egypt, stating that one-fifth of the crops that are harvested belongs to the king. That law still exists. Only the land that belonged to the priests did not become the king’s land.

27 Thus Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt in the land of Goshen, —and gained possessions therein, and became fruitful and multiplied exceedingly.

Jacob and his family started to live in Egypt, in the Goshen region. They acquired property there. Many children were born to them there. As a result, their population increased greatly.

28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years, —so it came to pass that the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were a hundred and forty-seven years.

Jacob lived in Egypt 17 years. Altogether he lived 147 years.

29 And the days of Israel drew near that he must die, so he called for his son for Joseph and said to him—If, I pray thee I have found favour in thine eyes, place, I pray thee thy hand under my thigh, —so shalt thou deal with me in lovingkindness and faithfulness—Do not I pray thee, bury me in Egypt.

When it was almost time for him to die, he summoned his son Joseph and said to him, “If I have pleased you, make a solemn promise that you will be kind to me and faithfully do what I am now asking you: When I die, do not bury me here in Egypt.

30 When I shall lie down with my fathers, then shalt thou carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their buryingplace. And he said: I, will do according to thy word.

Instead, take my body out of Egypt, and bury it in Canaan where my ancestors are buried.” Joseph replied, “I will do that.”

31 Then he said: Come, swear to me! And he sware to him. Then did Israel bow himself down on the head of the couch.

Jacob said, “(Swear/Solemnly promise) to me that you will do it!” So Joseph swore to do it. Then Jacob turned over in bed, bowed his head, and worshiped God.