Genesis 47:17-27

17 And they brought their livestock unto Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses and for the sheep and for the bovine livestock and for the asses, and he fed them with bread for all their livestock that year.

18 When that year was ended, they came unto him the second year and said unto him, We will not hide it from my lord how that the money is gone; my lord also has our herds of cattle; there is not nothing left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies and our lands.

19 Why shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be slaves unto Pharaoh, and give us seed that we may live, and not die, that the land not be desolate.

20 Then Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for each one of the Egyptians sold his field because the famine prevailed over them; so the land became Pharaoh’s.

21 And as for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt even to the other end thereof.

22 Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh and ate their portion which Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their lands.

23 Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh; behold, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land.

24 And it shall come to pass in the increase that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own for seed of the field and for your food and for those of your households and for food for your little ones.

25 And they said, Thou hast saved our lives; let us find grace in the sight of my lord that we might be Pharaoh’s slaves.

26 And Joseph made it a statute over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part; except the land of the priests only, which did not become Pharaoh’s.

27 Thus Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen; and they had possessions therein and grew and multiplied exceedingly.

Genesis 47:17-27 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.