²⁰ So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. The Egyptians, one and all, sold their fields, because the famine was too severe^(A) for them. The land became Pharaoh’s, ²¹ and Joseph reduced the people to servitude,^[a](B) from one end of Egypt to the other. ²² However, he did not buy the land of the priests,^(C) because they received a regular allotment from Pharaoh and had food enough from the allotment^(D) Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their land.

²³ Joseph said to the people, “Now that I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh, here is seed^(E) for you so you can plant the ground.^{(F) 24} But when the crop comes in, give a fifth^(G) of it to Pharaoh. The other four-fifths you may keep as seed for the fields and as food for yourselves and your households and your children.”

²⁵ “You have saved our lives,” they said. “May we find favor in the eyes of our lord;^(H) we will be in bondage to Pharaoh.”^(I)

²⁶ So Joseph established it as a law concerning land in Egypt—still in force today—that a fifth^(J) of the produce belongs to Pharaoh. It was only the land of the priests that did not become Pharaoh’s.^(K)