Genesis 47:11-27

11 So Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in ¹the best of the land, in the land of ²Rameses, as Pharaoh had ordered.

12 Joseph ³provided his father and his brothers and all his father's household with food, according to their little ones.

13 Now there was no food in all the land, because the famine was very severe, so that ⁴the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because * of the famine.

14 ⁵Joseph 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.

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, for ⁶why should we die in your presence? For our money is gone."

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

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

18 When that year was ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, "We will not hide from my lord that our money is all spent, and the cattle * are my lord's. There is nothing left for my lord except * our bodies and our lands.

19 "Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, 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."

Result of the Famine

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

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

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

23 Then 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 "At the harvest you shall give a ⁷fifth to Pharaoh, and four-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."

25 So they said, "You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's slaves."

26 Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt valid to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; ⁸only the land of the priests did not become Pharaoh's.

27 Now Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in Goshen, and they ⁹acquired property in it and ¹⁰were fruitful and became very numerous.

Genesis 47:11-27 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 47

This chapter gives an account of the presentation of five of Joseph's brethren, and then of his father, to Pharaoh, and of what passed between them, Ge 47:1-10; of Joseph's settlement of them, according to the direction of Pharaoh, in the land of Rameses in Goshen, and of his provision for them there, Ge 47:11,12; of his getting into his hands, for Pharaoh, the money, cattle, and lands, of the Egyptians, excepting the lands belonging to the priests, for corn he had supplied them with, Ge 47:13-22; of his giving them seed to sow with, on condition of Pharaoh's having a fifth part of the produce, Ge 47:23-26, of the increase of Jacob's substance in Egypt, and that of his children; of the time of his living there, and his approaching death, when he called Joseph to him, and obliged him by an oath to bury him in the burying place of his fathers, Ge 47:27-31.

Cross References

• 1. Genesis 47:6, 27
• 2. Exodus 1:11; Exodus 12:37
• 3. Genesis 45:11
• 4. Genesis 41:30; Acts 7:11
• 5. Genesis 41:56
• 6. Genesis 47:19
• 7. Genesis 41:34
• 8. Genesis 47:22
• 9. Genesis 47:11
• 10. Genesis 17:6; Genesis 26:4; Genesis 35:11; Exodus 1:7; Deuteronomy 26:5; Acts 7:17

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "caused to dwell"
• [b]. Or "bread"
• [c]. Or "bread"
• [d]. Lit "saying"
• [e]. Or "bread"
• [f]. Lit "ceases"
• [g]. Lit "ceases"
• [h]. Or "bread"
• [i]. Lit "livestock of the flocks and livestock of the herds"
• [j]. Lit "led them as a shepherd"
• [k]. Or "bread"
• [l]. Lit "in that year"
• [m]. Lit "second"
• [n]. Lit "livestock of the cattle"
• [o]. Lit "in the presence of"
• [p]. Or "bread"
• [q]. Lit "Egypt, every man"
• [r]. Lit "ate their allotment"
• [s]. Lit "It shall come about...that you shall"
• [t]. Lit "four parts"
• [u]. Lit "alone did"
• [v]. Lit "dwelt"
• [w]. Lit "in the land of Goshen"