The Famine

¹³ There was no food in all the land because the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan grew weak because of the famine. ¹⁴ Joseph collected all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan as payment for the grain that they purchased, and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s palace. ¹⁵ When all the money in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan had been spent, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us bread, for why should we die right in front of your eyes? Look, our money is running out.”

¹⁶ So Joseph said, “Give me your livestock, and I will give you food for your livestock if your money is gone.”

¹⁷ They brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses, and for the flocks, and for the herds, and for the donkeys. He supplied them with food for that year in exchange for all their livestock. ¹⁸ When that year was ended, they came to him during the second year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord the fact that our money is all spent, and the herds of livestock belong to my lord. My lord can see that we have nothing left but our bodies and our lands. ¹⁹ Why should we die right in front of your eyes, both we and our land? Purchase us and our land in exchange for bread, and we along with our land will serve Pharaoh. Give us seed, so that we may live and not die, so that the land will not be desolate.”

²⁰ So Joseph purchased all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh, because every man among the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine had them in its grip, and the land became Pharaoh’s. ²¹ As for the people, he made them all servants from one end of the territory of Egypt all the way to the other end of it.^{[a] 22} The land that belonged to the priests was the only land that he did not purchase, because the priests had a regular allotment from Pharaoh and ate from the allotment that Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their land. ²³ Then Joseph said to the people, “Since I have purchased you and your land today for Pharaoh, here is seed for you to sow the land. ²⁴ This is what you shall do at the harvests: Give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four fifths will be your own share, which you can use as seed to sow the field and as food for yourselves, for everyone in your household, and for your little ones.”

²⁵ They said, “You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.”

²⁶ Joseph made it a regulation concerning the farmland in Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should receive a fifth of the produce. Only the land of the priests did not become Pharaoh’s.