Genesis 47:13–26

Joseph Acquires All the Land in Egypt for Pharaoh

¹³The famine was so severe that there was no food anywhere. Neither Egypt nor Canaan were producing crops because of the famine. ¹⁴Joseph collected all the money that could be found in Egypt and in Canaan as payment for the grain people bought. Then he took it to Pharaoh’s palace. ¹⁵When the money in Egypt and Canaan was gone, all the Egyptians came to Joseph. “Give us food,” they said. “Do you want us to die right in front of you? We don’t have any more money!” 

¹⁶Joseph replied, “If you don’t have any more money, give me your livestock, and I’ll give you food^ain exchange.” ¹⁷So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for their horses, sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys. During that year he supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock. 

¹⁸When that year was over, they came to him the next year. “Sir,” they said to him, “you know that our money is gone, and you have all our livestock. There’s nothing left to bring you except our bodies and our land. ¹⁹Do you want us to die right in front of you? Do you want the land to be ruined? Take us and our land in exchange for food. Then we will be Pharaoh’s slaves and our land will be his property. But give us seed so that we won’t starve to death and the ground won’t become a desert.” 

²⁰Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. Every Egyptian sold his fields because the famine was so severe. The land became Pharaoh’s. ²¹All over Egypt Joseph moved the people to the cities. ²²But he didn’t buy the priests’ land because the priests received an income from Pharaoh, and they lived on that income. That’s why they didn’t sell their land. 

²³Joseph said to the people, “Now that I have bought you and your land for Pharaoh, here is seed for you. Plant crops in the land. ²⁴Every time you harvest, give one-fifth of the produce to Pharaoh. Four-fifths will be yours to use as seed for your fields and as food for your households.” 

²⁵“You have saved our lives,” they said. “Please, sir, we are willing to be Pharaoh’s slaves.” 

²⁶Joseph made a law concerning the land in Egypt which is still in force today: One-fifth ⸤of the produce⸥ belongs to Pharaoh. Only the land of the priests didn’t belong to Pharaoh.