Genesis 47:16

16 Yosef replied, "Give me your livestock. If you don't have money, I will give you food in exchange for your livestock."

Genesis 47:16 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 47:16

And Joseph said, give your cattle
Oxen, sheep, horses, asses, as follows: and I will give you for your cattle, if money fail;
that is, corn for cattle, if they had no money to give.

Genesis 47:16 In-Context

14 Yosef collected all the money there was in Egypt and Kena'an in exchange for the grain they bought, and put the money in Pharaoh's treasury.

15 When all the money in Egypt had been spent, and likewise in Kena'an, all the Egyptians approached Yosef and said, "Give us something to eat, even though we have no money; why should we die before your eyes?"

16 Yosef replied, "Give me your livestock. If you don't have money, I will give you food in exchange for your livestock."

17 So they brought Yosef their livestock; and Yosef gave them food in exchange for the horses, flocks, cattle and donkeys -all that year he provided them with food in exchange for all their livestock.

18 When that year was over, they approached Yosef again and said to him, "We won't hide from my lord that all our money is spent, and the herds of livestock belong to my lord. We have nothing left, as my lord can see, but our bodies and our land.