THE WORD OF ELOHIM
GENESIS
Chapter 47
Then Yehoseph came and reported to Paroh, saying, “My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all that is theirs, have come from the land of Kenaan, and are now in the region of Goshen.” And selecting a few of his brothers, he presented them to Paroh. Paroh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” They answered Paroh, “We, your servants are shepherds, as were also our fathers. We have come,” they told Paroh, “to sojourn in this land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks, the famine being severe in the land of Kenaan. Pray, then, let your servants stay in the region of Goshen.” Then Paroh said to Yehoseph, “As regards your father and your brothers, who have come to you, the land of Mitzramah is open before you: Settle your father and your brothers in the best part of the land; let them stay in the region of Goshen. And if you know any capable men among them, put them in charge of my livestock.”
Yehoseph then brought his father Ya’akov, and presented him to Paroh, and Ya’akov greeted Paroh. Paroh asked Ya’akov, “How many are the years of your life?” And Ya’akov answered Paroh, “The years of my sojourn [on earth] are one hundred and thirty. Few and hard have been the years of my life, nor do they come up to the life spans of my father’s during their sojourns.” Then Ya’akov bade Paroh farewell, and left Paroh’s presence.
So Yehoseph settled his father and his brothers, giving them holdings in the choicest part of the land of Mitzramah, in the region of Rameses, as Paroh had commanded. Yehoseph sustained his father and his brothers, and all his father’s household with bread, down to the little ones.
Now there was no bread in all the world, for the famine was very severe; both the land of Mitzramah and the land of Kenaan languished because of the famine. Yehoseph gathered in all the money that was to be found in the land of Mitzramah and in the land of Kenaan, as payment for the rations that were being procured, and Yehoseph brought the money into Paroh’s palace. And when the money gave out in the land of Mitzramah and in the land of Kenaan, all the Mitzrayim came to Yehoseph and said, “Give us bread, lest we die before your very eyes, for the money is gone!” And Yehoseph said, “Bring your livestock, and I will sell to you against your livestock, if the money is gone.” So they brought their livestock to Yehoseph, and Yehoseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, for the stocks of sheep and cattle, and the asses; thus he provided them with bread that year in exchange for all their livestock. And when that year was ended, they came to him the next year, and said to him, “We cannot hide from my lord that, with all the money and animal stocks consigned to my lord, nothing is left at my lord’s disposal save our persons and our farmland. Let us not perish before your eyes, both we and our land. Take us and our land in exchange for bread, and we, with our land will be serfs to Paroh; provide the seed, that we may live and not die, and that the land may not become a waste.”
So Yehoseph gained possession of all the farm land of Mitzramah, for Paroh; every Mitzrayim having sold his field, because the famine was too much for them; thus the land passed over to Paroh. And he removed the population town by town, from one end of Mitzramah’s border to the other. Only the land of the priests, he did not take over, for the priests had an allotment from Paroh, and they lived off the allotment which Paroh had made to them; therefore, they did not sell their land.
Then Yehoseph said to the people, “Whereas I have this day, acquired you and your land for Paroh, here is seed for you to sow the land. And when harvest comes, you shall give one-
Thus Israel settled in the country of Mitzramah, in the region of Goshen; they acquired holdings in it, and were fertile and increased greatly.
Ya’akov lived seventeen years in the land of Mitzramah, so that the span of Ya’akov’s life came to one hundred and forty seven years. And when the time approached for Yisrael to die, he summoned his son Yehoseph and said to him, “Do me this favor, place your hand under my thigh as a pledge of your steadfast loyalty: Please do not bury me in Mitzramah. When I lie down with my fathers, take me up from Mitzramah and bury me in their burial place.” He replied, “I will do as you have spoken.” And he said, “Swear to me.” And he swore to him. Then Yisrael bowed at the head of the bed.