³ Others were saying, “We are mortgaging our fields,^(A) our vineyards and our homes to get grain during the famine.”^(B)

³⁵ “‘If any of your fellow Israelites become poor^(A) and are unable to support themselves among you, help them^(B) as you would a foreigner and stranger, so they can continue to live among you. ³⁶ Do not take interest^(C) or any profit from them, but fear your God,^(D) so that they may continue to live among you. ³⁷ You must not lend them money at interest^(E) or sell them food at a profit. ³⁸ I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan^(F) and to be your God.^(G)

³⁹ “‘If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselves to you, do not make them work as slaves.^(H)

⁸ “Will a mere mortal rob^(A) God? Yet you rob me.

“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’

“In tithes^(B) and offerings. ⁹ You are under a curse^(C)—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. ¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe^(D) into the storehouse,^(E) that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates^(F) of heaven and pour out^(G) so much blessing^(H) that there will not be room enough to store it.^{(I) 11} I will prevent pests from devouring^(J) your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,^(K)” says the Lord Almighty.

⁷ If anyone is poor^(A) among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted^(B) toward them.

¹⁵ When the money of the people of Egypt and Canaan was gone,^(A) all Egypt came to Joseph^(B) and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes?^(C) Our money is all gone.”

¹⁶ “Then bring your livestock,^(D)” said Joseph. “I will sell you food in exchange for your livestock, since your money is gone.^(E)” ¹⁷ So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for their horses,^(F) their sheep and goats, their cattle and donkeys.^(G) And he brought them through that year with food in exchange for all their livestock.

¹⁸ When that year was over, they came to him the following year and said, “We cannot hide from our lord the fact that since our money is gone^(H) and our livestock belongs to you,^(I) there is nothing left for our lord except our bodies and our land. ¹⁹ Why should we perish before your eyes^(J)—we and our land as well? Buy us and our land in exchange for food,^(K) and we with our land will be in bondage to Pharaoh.^(L) Give us seed so that we may live and not die,^(M) and that the land may not become desolate.”

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^(N) for them. The land became Pharaoh’s, ²¹ and Joseph reduced the people to servitude,^[a](O) from one end of Egypt to the other. ²² However, he did not buy the land of the priests,^(P) because they received a regular allotment from Pharaoh and had food enough from the allotment^(Q) 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^(R) for you so you can plant the ground.^{(S) 24} But when the crop comes in, give a fifth^(T) 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;^(U) we will be in bondage to Pharaoh.”^(V)