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Genesis 47:13-26 — Joseph and the Famine

Gen.47.13-26

¹³There was no food in all the land , because the famine was very severe, and the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan wasted away because of the famine. ¹⁴Joseph gathered all the money found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan for the grain they were buying, and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house. ¹⁵When the money from the land of Egypt and from the land of Canaan was gone, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before you? For the money is gone.” ¹⁶Joseph said, “Bring your livestock, and I will give you food in exchange for your livestock if the money is gone.” ¹⁷So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the herds, and the donkeys. He supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock during that year. ¹⁸When that year ended, they came to him in the second year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that the money is gone and the livestock belongs to my lord. Nothing remains before my lord except our bodies and our farmland.” ¹⁹Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our farmland? Buy us and our farmland in exchange for food, and we and our farmland will become servants to Pharaoh. Give us seed so that we may live and not die, and so that the land may not become desolate." ²⁰So Joseph bought all the farmland of Egypt for Pharaoh, because every Egyptian sold his field, for the famine had become severe upon them. Thus the land became Pharaoh's. ²¹As for the people, he moved them to the cities , from one end of the border of Egypt to the other. ²²Only the farmland of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had a fixed allowance from Pharaoh, and they ate the allowance that Pharaoh gave them. Therefore they did not sell their farmland. ²³Then Joseph said to the people, “Look, I have bought you today, and your farmland, for Pharaoh. Here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land.” ²⁴At the harvests, you shall give one-fifth to Pharaoh, and four parts shall be yours for seed for the field, for your food, for those in your households, and for your children to eat." ²⁵They said, “You have kept us alive. Let us find favor in the eyes of my lord, and we will be servants to Pharaoh.” ²⁶So Joseph established it as a statute concerning the farmland of Egypt to this day, that one-fifth belongs to Pharaoh. Only the farmland of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh's.

Translation Notes

4/11/2026

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