1 Then Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, and said: 'My father
and my brethren, and their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have, are
come out of the land of Canaan; and, behold, they are in the land of Goshen.'
2 And from among his brethren he took five men, and presented
them unto Pharaoh.
3 And Pharaoh said unto his brethren: 'What is your
occupation?' And they said unto Pharaoh: 'Thy servants are shepherds, both we,
and our fathers.'
4 And they said unto Pharaoh: 'To sojourn in the land are we
come; for there is no pasture for thy servants' flocks; for the famine is sore
in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in
the land of Goshen.'
5 And Pharaoh spoke unto Joseph, saying: 'Thy father and thy
brethren are come unto thee;
6 the land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land
make thy father and thy brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell.
And if thou knowest any able men among them, then make them rulers over my
cattle.'
7 And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before
Pharaoh. And Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
8 And Pharaoh said unto Jacob: 'How many are the days of the
years of thy life?'
9 And Jacob said unto Pharaoh: 'The days of the years of my
sojournings are a hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of
the years of my life, and they have not attained unto the days of the years of
the life of my fathers in the days of their sojournings.'
10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from the presence
of Pharaoh.
11 And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave
them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of
Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.
12 And Joseph sustained his father, and his brethren, and all
his father's household, with bread, according to the want of their little ones.
13 And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was
very sore, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished by reason
of the famine.
14 And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the
land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which they bought; and
Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house.
15 And when the money was all spent in the land of Egypt, and
in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said: 'Give us
bread; for why should we die in thy presence? for our money faileth.'
16 And Joseph said: 'Give your cattle, and I will give you
bread for your cattle, if money fail.'
17 And they brought their cattle unto Joseph. And Joseph gave
them bread in exchange for the horses, and for the flocks, and for the herds,
and for the asses; and he fed them with bread in exchange for all their cattle
for that year.
18 And when that year was ended, they came unto him the
second year, and said unto him: 'We will not hide from my lord, how that our
money is all spent; and the herds of cattle are my lord's; there is nought left
in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands.
19 Wherefore should we die before thine eyes, both we and our
land? buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be bondmen unto
Pharaoh; and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, and that the land be
not desolate.'
20 So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for
the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine was sore upon them;
and the land became Pharaoh's.
21 And as for the people, he removed them city by city, from
one end of the border of Egypt even to the other end thereof.
22 Only the land of the priests bought he not, for the
priests had a portion from Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave
them; wherefore they sold not their land.
23 Then Joseph said unto the people: 'Behold, I have bought
you this day and your land for Pharaoh. Lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall
sow the land.
24 And it shall come to pass at the ingatherings, that ye
shall give a fifth unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of
the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for
your little ones.'
25 And they said: 'Thou hast saved our lives. Let us find
favour in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's bondmen.'
26 And Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt
unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; only the land of the priests
alone became not Pharaoh's.
27 And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the land of
Goshen; and they got them possessions therein, and were fruitful, and multiplied
exceedingly.
28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; so
the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were a hundred forty and seven years.
29 And the time drew near that Israel must die; and he called
his son Joseph, and said unto him: 'If now I have found favour in thy sight,
put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me;
bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt.
30 But when I sleep with my fathers, thou shalt carry me out
of Egypt, and bury me in their burying-place.' And he said: 'I will do as thou
hast said.'
31 And he said: 'Swear unto me.' And he swore unto him. And
Israel bowed down upon the bed's head.
Sources: Portions copyright © 1997 by Benyamin Pilant, All Rights Reserved
JPS Electronic Edition, based on the 1917 JPS translation, Copyright © 1998 by Larry Nelson, All Rights Reserved
Jewish
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