Genesis 47:18-20

International Standard Version

¹⁸ The following year, they came to him and reminded him, “We won’t hide from you, your Excellency, that we’ve spent all of our money, and that our livestock all belong to you. There’s nothing left to trade with you, your Excellency, except our bodies and our territories. ¹⁹ So why should we and our land die right in front of you? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we and our land will be slaves to Pharaoh. Give us seed, so we can survive and not die, and so the land won’t stay desolate.”

Pharaoh Gains Control of All of Egypt

²⁰ So Joseph purchased all of the Egyptian territory for Pharaoh. Every Egyptian sold his field, because the famine’s effect was so severe. That’s how Pharaoh came to own the land.