Genesis 47:26

26 ex eo tempore usque in praesentem diem in universa terra Aegypti regibus quinta pars solvitur et factum est quasi in legem absque terra sacerdotali quae libera ab hac condicione fuit

Genesis 47:26 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 47:26

And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this
day
With the consent of Pharaoh, his nobles, and all the people of the land, who readily came into it; and so it became, a fundamental law of their constitution, and which continued to the times of Moses, the writer of this history:

[that] Pharaoh should have the fifth [part];
that is, of the increase the whole land of Egypt produced:

except the land of the priests only, [which] became not Pharaoh's;
it not being bought by him; so Diodorus Siculus ^F13, as he assigns the first part of the land to the priests, so he says they were free from all taxes and tribute, and next to the king were possessed of honour and authority.

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 Ut supra. (Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 47.)

Genesis 47:26 In-Context

24 ut fruges habere possitis quintam partem regi dabitis quattuor reliquas permitto vobis in sementem et in cibos famulis et liberis vestris

25 qui responderunt salus nostra in manu tua est respiciat nos tantum dominus noster et laeti serviemus regi

26 ex eo tempore usque in praesentem diem in universa terra Aegypti regibus quinta pars solvitur et factum est quasi in legem absque terra sacerdotali quae libera ab hac condicione fuit

27 habitavit ergo Israhel in Aegypto id est in terra Gessen et possedit eam auctusque est et multiplicatus nimis

28 et vixit in ea decem et septem annis factique sunt omnes dies vitae illius centum quadraginta septem annorum