Immerse: Beginnings Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 87
47:8-26
G enesis
75
“How old are you?” Pharaoh asked him.
Jacob replied, “I have traveled this earth for 130 hard years. But my life
has been short compared to the lives of my ancestors.” Then Jacob blessed
Pharaoh again before leaving his court.
So Joseph assigned the best land of E
gypt—the region of R
ameses—to
his father and his brothers, and he settled them there, just as Pharaoh had
commanded. And Joseph provided food for his father and his brothers in
amounts appropriate to the number of their dependents, including the
smallest children.
Meanwhile, the famine became so severe that all the food was used up,
and people were starving throughout the lands of Egypt and Canaan. By
selling grain to the people, Joseph eventually collected all the money in
Egypt and Canaan, and he put the money in Pharaoh’s treasury. When the
people of Egypt and Canaan ran out of money, all the Egyptians came to
Joseph. “Our money is gone!” they cried. “But please give us food, or we
will die before your very eyes!”
Joseph replied, “Since your money is gone, bring me your livestock. I
will give you food in exchange for your livestock.” So they brought their
livestock to Joseph in exchange for food. In exchange for their horses,
flocks of sheep and goats, herds of cattle, and donkeys, Joseph provided
them with food for another year.
But that year ended, and the next year they came again and said, “We
cannot hide the truth from you, my lord. Our money is gone, and all our
livestock and cattle are yours. We have nothing left to give but our bodies
and our land. Why should we die before your very eyes? Buy us and our
land in exchange for food; we offer our land and ourselves as slaves for
Pharaoh. Just give us grain so we may live and not die, and so the land does
not become empty and desolate.”
So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh. All the Egyptians
sold him their fields because the famine was so severe, and soon all the
land belonged to Pharaoh. As for the people, he made them all slaves, from
one end of Egypt to the other. The only land he did not buy was the land
belonging to the priests. They received an allotment of food directly from
Pharaoh, so they didn’t need to sell their land.
Then Joseph said to the people, “Look, today I have bought you and
your land for Pharaoh. I will provide you with seed so you can plant the
fields. Then when you harvest it, o ne-fifth of your crop will belong to
Pharaoh. You may keep the remaining four-fifths as seed for your fields
and as food for you, your households, and your little ones.”
“You have saved our lives!” they exclaimed. “May it please you, my lord,
to let us be Pharaoh’s servants.” Joseph then issued a decree still in effect
