Genesis 47:1-31

  • Jacob meets Pharaoh (1-12)

  • Joseph’s wise administration (13-26)

  • Israel settles in Goshen (27-31)

47  So Joseph went and reported to Pharʹaoh:+ “My father and my brothers and their flocks and their herds and all that they possess have come from the land of Caʹnaan, and they are in the land of Goʹshen.”+ 2  He took five of his brothers and presented them to Pharʹaoh.+ 3  Pharʹaoh said to his brothers: “What is your occupation?” They replied to Pharʹaoh: “Your servants are herders of sheep, both we and our forefathers.”+ 4  Then they said to Pharʹaoh: “We have come to reside as foreigners in the land+ because there are no pastures for the flock of your servants, for the famine is severe in the land of Caʹnaan.+ So please let your servants dwell in the land of Goʹshen.”+ 5  At that Pharʹaoh said to Joseph: “Your father and your brothers have come here to you. 6  The land of Egypt is at your disposal. Have your father and your brothers dwell in the very best part of the land.+ Let them dwell in the land of Goʹshen, and if you know of any capable men among them, put them in charge of my livestock.” 7  Then Joseph brought in Jacob his father and presented him to Pharʹaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharʹaoh. 8  Pharʹaoh asked Jacob: “How old are you?” 9  Jacob said to Pharʹaoh: “The years of my wanderings* are 130. Few and distressing the years of my life have been,+ and they are not as long as the years of the lives of my forefathers during their wanderings.”*+ 10  After that Jacob blessed Pharʹaoh and went out from before him. 11  So Joseph settled his father and his brothers, and he gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the very best part of the land, in the land of Ramʹe·ses,+ just as Pharʹaoh had commanded. 12  And Joseph kept supplying his father and his brothers and the entire household of his father with food* according to the number of their children. 13  Now there was no food* in all the land, because the famine was very severe, and the land of Egypt and the land of Caʹnaan became exhausted as a result of the famine.+ 14  Joseph was collecting all the money that was to be found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Caʹnaan for the grain that people were buying,+ and Joseph kept bringing the money into Pharʹaoh’s house. 15  In time the money from the land of Egypt and the land of Caʹnaan was spent, and all the Egyptians began coming to Joseph, saying: “Give us food! Why should we die before your very eyes because our money has run out?” 16  Then Joseph said: “If your money has run out, hand over your livestock, and I will give you food in exchange for your livestock.” 17  So they began bringing their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph kept giving them food in exchange for their horses, the livestock of the flock and of the herd, and the donkeys, and he kept providing them with food in exchange for all their livestock during that year. 18  When that year came to its close, they began coming to him the next year and saying: “We will not hide from my lord that the money and the stock of domestic animals have already been given to my lord. We have nothing left for my lord but our bodies and our land. 19  Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we together with our land will become slaves to Pharʹaoh. Give us seed so that we may live and not die and that our land may not become desolate.” 20  Joseph then bought all the land of the Egyptians for Pharʹaoh because every Egyptian sold his field, for the famine was very severe; and the land became Pharʹaoh’s. 21  Then he moved the people into cities, from one end of the territory of Egypt to its other end.+ 22  Only the land of the priests he did not buy,+ because the rations for the priests were from Pharʹaoh and they lived on their rations that Pharʹaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their land. 23  Then Joseph said to the people: “See, I have today bought you and your land for Pharʹaoh. Here is seed for you, and you must sow the land with it. 24  When it produces, give a fifth to Pharʹaoh,+ but four parts will be yours as seed for the field and as food for you and for those in your houses and for your children to eat.” 25  So they said: “You have preserved our lives.+ Let us find favor in the eyes of my lord, and we will become slaves to Pharʹaoh.”+ 26  Then Joseph made it a decree, which is valid until today over the land of Egypt, that a fifth belongs to Pharʹaoh. It was only the land of the priests that did not become Pharʹaoh’s.+ 27  Israel continued to dwell in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goʹshen,+ and they settled in it and were fruitful and increased greatly.+ 28  And Jacob lived on in the land of Egypt for 17 years, so that the days of Jacob’s life came to be 147 years.+ 29  The time was approaching for Israel to die,+ so he called his son Joseph and said: “If, now, I have found favor in your eyes, place your hand, please, under my thigh, and show loyal love and faithfulness to me. Please, do not bury me in Egypt.+ 30  When I die,* you must carry me out of Egypt and bury me in the grave of my forefathers.”+ Accordingly, he said: “I will do just as you say.” 31  Then he said: “Swear to me.” So he swore to him.+ At that Israel bowed down at the head of his bed.+

Footnotes

Or “sojourning; residing as a foreigner.”
Or “sojourning; residing as foreigners.”
Lit., “bread.”
Lit., “bread.”
Lit., “lie down with my fathers.”