Genesis 47:24

24 Every time you harvest, give one-fifth of the produce to Pharaoh. Four-fifths will be yours to use as seed for your fields and as food for your households."

Genesis 47:24 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 47:24

And it shall come to pass, in the increase
When the land shall produce an increase, and it shall be gathered in:

that you shall give the fifth [part] unto Pharaoh;
a fifth part of the increase:

and four parts shall be your own;
for the following uses, one part

for seed of the field:
to sow again with for the next year: a second part

for your food;
for food for themselves: a third part

for them of your household;
their servants and maids: and the fourth part

for food for your little ones;
for their children, be they young or old; or however four parts of five he proposed they should have for their own use, and for the maintenance of their families, which was a kind and generous proposal, when all might have been demanded, and they and theirs treated as slaves.

Genesis 47:24 In-Context

22 But he didn't buy the priests' land because the priests received an income from Pharaoh, and they lived on that income. That's why they didn't sell their land.

23 Joseph said to the people, "Now that I have bought you and your land for Pharaoh, here is seed for you. Plant crops in the land.

24 Every time you harvest, give one-fifth of the produce to Pharaoh. Four-fifths will be yours to use as seed for your fields and as food for your households."

25 "You have saved our lives," they said. "Please, sir, we are willing to be Pharaoh's slaves."

26 Joseph made a law concerning the land in Egypt which is still in force today: One-fifth [of the produce] belongs to Pharaoh. Only the land of the priests didn't belong to Pharaoh.