³ There were also some who said, “We have mortgaged our lands and vineyards and houses, that we might buy grain because of the famine.”

Lending to the Poor

³⁵ ‘If one of your brethren becomes poor, and ^[a]falls into poverty among you, then you shall ^(A)help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. ^36 (B)Take no usury or interest from him; but ^(C)fear your God, that your brother may live with you. ³⁷ You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit. ^38 (D)I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

The Law Concerning Slavery

³⁹ ‘And if one of your brethren who dwells by you becomes poor, and sells himself to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a slave.

Do Not Rob God

Generosity to the Poor

⁷ “If there is among you a poor man of your brethren, within any of the ^[a]gates in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, ^(A)you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother,

¹⁵ So when the money failed in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us bread, for ^(A)why should we die in your presence? For the money has failed.”

¹⁶ Then Joseph said, “Give your livestock, and I will give you bread for your livestock, if the money is gone.” ¹⁷ So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the cattle of the herds, and for the donkeys. Thus he ^[a]fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock that year.

¹⁸ When that year had ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is gone; my lord also has our herds of livestock. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our lands. ¹⁹ Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants of Pharaoh; give us seed, that we may ^(B)live and not die, that the land may not be desolate.”

²⁰ Then Joseph ^(C)bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for every man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. So the land became Pharaoh’s. ²¹ And as for the people, he ^[b]moved them into the cities, from one end of the borders of Egypt to the other end. ^22 (D)Only the land of the ^(E)priests he did not buy; for the priests had rations allotted to them by Pharaoh, and they ate their rations which Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their lands.

²³ Then Joseph said to the people, “Indeed I have bought you and your land this day for Pharaoh. Look, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. ²⁴ And it shall come to pass in the harvest that you shall give one-fifth to Pharaoh. Four-fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and for your food, for those of your households and as food for your little ones.”

²⁵ So they said, “You have saved ^(F)our lives; let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.”