Genesis 47:13–26

Joseph and the Famine

¹³Now there was no ¹food in all the land because the famine was very heavy, so that ^athe land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine.

^14aAnd Joseph gathered all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan for the grain which they bought, and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.

¹⁵Then the money came to an end in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan. So all the Egyptians came to Joseph ¹and said, “Give us ²food, for ^awhy should we die in your presence? For our money ³is gone.”

¹⁶Then Joseph said, “Give up your livestock, and I will give you food for your livestock, since your money ¹is gone.”

¹⁷So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them ¹food in exchange for the horses and the ²flocks and the herds and the donkeys; and he ³fed them with ⁴food in exchange for all their livestock ⁵that year.

¹⁸Then that year came to an end. And they came to him the ¹next year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money has come to an end, and the ²livestock are my lord’s. There is nothing left ³for my lord except our bodies and our land.

¹⁹“Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for ¹food, and we and our land will be slaves to Pharaoh. So give us seed, that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.”

²⁰So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for ¹every Egyptian sold his field because the famine was severe upon them. Thus the land became Pharaoh’s.

²¹As for the people, he moved them to the cities from one end of Egypt’s border to the other end.

²²Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had an allotment from Pharaoh, and they ate off the allotment which Pharaoh gave them. Therefore, they did not sell their land.

²³Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have today bought you and your land for Pharaoh; now, here is seed for you, and you may sow the land.

²⁴“And it will be, at the harvest you shall give a ^afifth to Pharaoh, and ¹four-fifths shall be your own for seed of the field and for your food and for those of your households and as food for your little ones.”

²⁵So they said, “You have kept us alive! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.”

²⁶And Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt valid to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; ^aonly the land of the priests ¹did not become Pharaoh’s.