Genesis 47:26

26 So Joseph made a law that still exists today: Pharaoh receives one-fifth from Egypt's farmland. Only the priests' farmland didn't become Pharaoh's.

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 When the crop comes in, you must give one-fifth to Pharaoh. You may keep four-fifths for yourselves, for planting fields, and for feeding yourselves, those in your households, and your children."

25 The people said, "You've saved our lives. If you wish, we will be Pharaoh's slaves."

26 So Joseph made a law that still exists today: Pharaoh receives one-fifth from Egypt's farmland. Only the priests' farmland didn't become Pharaoh's.

27 Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. They settled in it, had many children, and became numerous.

28 After Jacob had lived in the land of Egypt for seventeen years, and after he had lived a total of 147 years,