Chapter 47

  Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brethren, and their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have, have come from the land of Canaan; and behold, they are in the land of Goshen.  

  And he took some of his brethren, even five men, and presented them to Pharaoh.  

  And Pharaoh said to his brethren, What is your occupation? And they said to Pharaoh, Thy servants are shepherds, both we, and also our fathers.  

  They said moreover to Pharaoh, We have come to sojourn in the land: for thy servants have no pasture for their flocks, for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan: now therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen.  

  And Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren have come to thee:  

  The land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell; and if thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle.  

  And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.  

  And Pharaoh said to Jacob, How old art thou?  

  And Jacob said to Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years: few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, nor have they attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.  

  And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.  

  And Joseph placed 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.  

  And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father's household, with bread according to their families.  

  And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very distressing, so that the land of Egypt, and all the land of Canaan, fainted by reason of the famine.  

  And Joseph gathered all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house.  

  And when money failed in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, and said, Give us bread: for why should we die in thy presence: for the money faileth.  

  And Joseph said, Give your cattle; and I will give you for your cattle, if money hath failed.  

  And they brought their cattle to Joseph: and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses, and for the flocks, and for the cattle of the herds, and for the asses; and he fed them with bread, for all their cattle, for that year.  

  When that year was ended, they came to him the second year, and said to him, We will not hide from my lord, how that our money is spent; my lord also hath our herds of cattle; there is not aught left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies and our lands:  

  Why shall we die before thy eyes, both we and our land? buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh: and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, that the land be not desolate.  

  And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them: so the land became Pharaoh's.  

  And as for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt even to the other end thereof.  

  Only the land of the priests bought he not; for the priests had a portion assigned them by Pharaoh, and ate their portion which Pharaoh gave them: wherefore they sold not their lands.  

  Then Joseph said to the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land.  

  And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part to Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.  

  And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants.  

  And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part; except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh's.  

  And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions in it and grew, and multiplied exceedingly.  

  And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was a hundred and forty seven years.  

  And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said to him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt:  

  But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying-place. And he said, I will do as thou hast said.  

  And he said, Swear to me: and he swore to him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head.