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Genesis 47

1Joseph came and told Pharaoh, “My father and my brothers have come from the land of Canaan with their flocks, their cattle, and everything they have. They are now in the land of Goshen.” 2He took five men from among his brothers and presented them to Pharaoh. 3Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” They said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, both we and our fathers.” 4They said to Pharaoh, “We have come to live as foreigners in the land, because there is no pasture for your servants' flocks, for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now, please let your servants settle in the land of Goshen.” 5Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. 6The land of Egypt is before you. Settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land. Let them settle in the land of Goshen. If you know any capable men among them, put them in charge of my livestock.” 7Joseph brought his father Jacob and presented him to Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many are the days of the years of your life?” 9Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my sojourning are a hundred and thirty years. Few and hard have been the days of the years of my life. They have not reached the days of the years of my fathers' lives in the days of their sojourning.” 10Jacob blessed Pharaoh and left Pharaoh's presence. 11Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a holding in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. 12Joseph provided bread for his father, his brothers, and all his father's household, according to the number of their little children.

13There was no bread in all the land, because the famine was very severe. The land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine. 14Joseph gathered all the silver found in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan in payment for the grain they were buying. Joseph brought the silver into Pharaoh's house. 15When the silver ran out in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, saying, “Give us bread! Why should we die before you? Our silver is gone.” 16Joseph said, “Give your livestock, and I will give you bread in exchange for your livestock, if your silver is gone.” 17They brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the cattle, and the donkeys. He sustained them with bread that year in exchange for all their livestock. 18When that year ended, they came to him in the following year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our silver is exhausted and the livestock belong to my lord. Nothing remains before my lord except our bodies and our land. 19Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land in exchange for bread, and we and our land will become slaves to Pharaoh. Give us seed, so that we may live and not die and the land may not become desolate.” 20Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, because each Egyptian sold his field, for the famine had overpowered them. The land became Pharaoh's. 21As for the people, he moved them to the cities, from one end of Egypt's border to the other. 22Only the priests' land he did not buy, because the priests had an allowance from Pharaoh. They ate the allowance Pharaoh gave them; that is why they did not sell their land. 23Joseph said to the people, “Look, today I have bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Here is seed for you; sow the land. 24At harvest, give a fifth to Pharaoh. Four parts will be yours, for seed for the field and for food for yourselves, those in your households, and your little children.” 25They said, “You have kept us alive. May we find favor in my lord's eyes, and we will be Pharaoh's slaves.” 26Joseph made it a statute over the land of Egypt, in force to this day, that a fifth belonged to Pharaoh. Only the priests' land did not belong to Pharaoh.

27Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. They acquired holdings in it, were fruitful, and multiplied greatly. 28Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. The days of Jacob, the years of his life, were a hundred and forty-seven years. 29When the days drew near for Israel to die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please put your hand under my thigh and show me steadfast kindness and faithfulness. Please do not bury me in Egypt. 30When I lie down with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.” He said, “I myself will do as you have said.” 31He said, “Swear to me.” He swore to him, and Israel bowed down at the head of the bed.

Translation notes 5

47:7–10 — Blessing Pharaoh. The verb can include a blessing used as greeting or farewell. Its repetition is preserved rather than assigning Jacob and Pharaoh a hierarchy that the wording does not explicitly state.

47:14–26 — The famine policy. The sequence transfers silver, livestock, land, and the people themselves to Pharaoh. The people acknowledge life-preserving provision and accept slavery under famine pressure. The translation retains both the survival language and the sale of persons, without replacing slavery with ordinary employment or adding moral approval.

47:21 — Cities or slavery. The Hebrew used here says that Joseph moved the people to the cities. The Samaritan and Greek traditions instead describe enslaving them. The Hebrew reading is retained provisionally; the surrounding verses explicitly describe the purchase of the people and their status as slaves in either case.

47:29 — Hand under the thigh. This oath gesture also appears in Genesis 24. Its exact symbolism is uncertain; the translation preserves the bodily action without replacing it with a familiar modern oath gesture.

47:31 — Bed or staff. The pointed Hebrew reads “bed.” The same consonants can be read as “staff,” as in the Greek tradition and the later quotation in Hebrews. The Hebrew reading is retained without harmonizing the passage to that quotation.