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went and told Pharaoh, “My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all that they own, have come from the land of Canaan and are now in the land of Goshen.” 2 He took five of his brothers and presented them before Pharaoh.
3 Pharaoh asked the brothers, “What is your occupation?”
“Your servants are shepherds,” they replied, “just as our fathers were.” 4 Then they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to live in the land for a while, because the famine is severe in the land of Canaan and there is no pasture for your servant’s flocks there. So now, please let your servants settle in the land of Goshen.”
5 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you, 6 and the land of Egypt is open before you; settle your father and your brothers in the best part of the land. Let them live in the land of Goshen, and if you know of any capable men among them, put them in charge of my own livestock.”
7 Then Joseph brought his father Jacob in and presented him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8 Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many are the years of your life?”
9 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. Few and difficult have been the years of my life, and they have not equalled the years of my fathers during their pilgrimages.” 10 Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from his presence.
11 So Joseph settled his father and his brothers in the land of Egypt, and gave them property in the best part of the land, the land of Ramses, as Pharaoh had commanded. 12 Joseph also provided his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with food, according to the number of their dependants.
13 But there was no food in the whole region, because the famine was very severe. Both the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan wasted away because of the famine. 14 Joseph collected all the money that was to be found in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan in payment for the grain they were buying, and he brought the money to Pharaoh’s palace. 15 When the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? Our money is all used up.”
16 “Then give me your livestock,” Joseph answered, “and I will give you food in exchange for your livestock, since your money is gone.” 17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food in the exchange for their horses, their flocks and herds, and their donkeys. That year he provided them with food in exchange for all their livestock.
18 When that year was over, they came to him the following year and said, “We cannot hide from our lord that our money is gone and our livestock belongs to our lord. There is nothing left for our lord but our bodies and our land. 19 Why should we perish before your eyes—both us and our land? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we with our land will become slaves to Pharaoh. Give us seed so we may live and not die, and that the land may not become desolate.”
20 So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. Every Egyptian sold his field, because the famine was too severe for them. So the land became Pharaoh’s, 21 and he moved the people to the cities from one end of Egypt to the other. 22 The only land he didn’t buy was that of the priests, because they received a regular allotment from Pharaoh, and they lived on the allotment Pharaoh gave them. That is why they didn’t sell their land.
23 Joseph said to the people, “Understand today that I have bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Here is seed for you, so you can sow the ground. 24 But when the crop comes in, you must give a fifth to Pharaoh. The other four-fifths you may keep, as seed for the field and as food for yourselves, your households, and your children.”
25 They said, “You have saved our lives. We have found favour in the eyes of our lord; we will be slaves to Pharaoh.”
26 So Joseph established it as a law over the land of Egypt, and it stands to this day, that a fifth of the produce belongs to Pharaoh. It was only the land of the priests that did not become Pharaoh’s.
27 Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and became fruitful and very numerous.
28 Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years, and the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven years. 29 When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called for his son Joseph and said to him, “If now I have found favour in your eyes, please put your hand under my thigh and promise to deal kindly and faithfully with me. Do not bury me in Egypt, 30 but when I rest with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.”
Joseph answered, “I will do as you have asked.”
31 “Swear to me,” he said. So Joseph swore to him. Then Israel bowed himself in worship at the head of his bed.