Genesis 47:18   (Read all of Genesis 47)

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 and our livestock belongs to you, there is nothing left for our lord except our bodies and our land.

Genesis 47:19   (Read all of Genesis 47)

Why should we perish before your eyes-we and our land as well? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we with our land will be in bondage to Pharaoh. Give us seed so that we may live and not die, and that the land may not become desolate."

Genesis 47:20   (Read all of Genesis 47)

So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. The Egyptians, one and all, sold their fields, because the famine was too severe for them. The land became Pharaoh's,

Genesis 47:21   (Read all of Genesis 47)

and Joseph reduced the people to servitude, from one end of Egypt to the other.

Genesis 47:22   (Read all of Genesis 47)

However, he did not buy the land of the priests, because they received a regular allotment from Pharaoh and had food enough from the allotment Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their land.

Genesis 47:23   (Read all of Genesis 47)

Joseph said to the people, "Now that I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh, here is seed for you so you can plant the ground.

Genesis 47:24   (Read all of Genesis 47)

But when the crop comes in, give a fifth 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."

Genesis 47:25   (Read all of Genesis 47)

"You have saved our lives," they said. "May we find favor in the eyes of our lord; we will be in bondage to Pharaoh."

Genesis 47:26   (Read all of Genesis 47)

So Joseph established it as a law concerning land in Egypt-still in force today-that a fifth of the produce belongs to Pharaoh. It was only the land of the priests that did not become Pharaoh's.

Genesis 47:27   (Read all of Genesis 47)

Now the Israelites settled in Egypt in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and were fruitful and increased greatly in number.

Genesis 47:28   (Read all of Genesis 47)

Jacob lived in Egypt seventeen years, and the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven.

Genesis 47:29   (Read all of Genesis 47)

When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called for his son Joseph and said to him, "If I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise that you will show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt,

Genesis 47:30   (Read all of Genesis 47)

but when I rest with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me where they are buried." "I will do as you say," he said.

Genesis 47:31   (Read all of Genesis 47)

"Swear to me," he said. Then Joseph swore to him, and Israel worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

Genesis 48:1   (Read all of Genesis 48)

Some time later Joseph was told, "Your father is ill." So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim along with him.

Genesis 48:2   (Read all of Genesis 48)

When Jacob was told, "Your son Joseph has come to you," Israel rallied his strength and sat up on the bed.

Genesis 48:3   (Read all of Genesis 48)

Jacob said to Joseph, "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there he blessed me

Genesis 48:4   (Read all of Genesis 48)

and said to me, 'I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you.'

Genesis 48:5   (Read all of Genesis 48)

"Now then, your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine.

Genesis 48:7   (Read all of Genesis 48)

As I was returning from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died in the land of Canaan while we were still on the way, a little distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath" (that is, Bethlehem).

Genesis 48:8   (Read all of Genesis 48)

When Israel saw the sons of Joseph, he asked, "Who are these?"

Genesis 48:9   (Read all of Genesis 48)

"They are the sons God has given me here," Joseph said to his father. Then Israel said, "Bring them to me so I may bless them."

Genesis 48:10   (Read all of Genesis 48)

Now Israel's eyes were failing because of old age, and he could hardly see. So Joseph brought his sons close to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them.

Genesis 48:11   (Read all of Genesis 48)

Israel said to Joseph, "I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children too."