Study Desk

So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for the horses and the flocks and the herds and the donkeys; and he supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year.

"Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh. And give us seed [to plant], that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate."

So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for every Egyptian sold his field because the famine was severe upon them. So the land became Pharaoh's.

And as for the people, he relocated them [temporarily] to cities from one end of Egypt's border to the other.

Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had an allotment from Pharaoh, and they lived on the amount which Pharaoh gave them, so they did not sell their land.

Then Joseph said to the people, "Look, today I have bought you and your land for Pharaoh; now, here is seed for you, and you shall plant the land.

"At harvest time [when you reap the increase] you shall give one-fifth of it to Pharaoh, and four-fifths will be your own to use for seed for the field and as food for you and those of your households and for your little ones."

And when the time drew near for Israel to die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, "If now I have found favor in your sight, please put your hand under my thigh and [promise to] deal loyally and faithfully with me. Please do not bury me in Egypt,

"Now as for me, when I came from Paddan [in Mesopotamia], Rachel died beside me in the land of Canaan on the journey, when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem)."

Then Jacob (Israel) blessed Joseph, and said, "The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked [in faithful obedience], The God who has been my Shepherd [leading and caring for me] all my life to this day,

Joseph said to his father, "Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn; place your right hand on Manasseh's head."

Then Jacob called for his sons and said, "Assemble yourselves [around me] that I may tell you what will happen to you and your descendants in the days to come.

"O my soul, do not come into their secret council; Let not my glory (honor) be united with their assembly [for I knew nothing of their plot]; Because in their anger they killed men [an honored man, Shechem, and the Shechemites], And in their self-will they lamed oxen.

"Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; And their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide and disperse them in Jacob, And scatter them in [the midst of the land of] Israel.

"Zebulun shall dwell at the seashore; And he shall be a haven (landing place) for ships, And his flank shall be toward Sidon.

"I wait for Your salvation, O LORD.

"As for Gad—a raiding troop shall raid him, But he shall raid at their heels and assault them [victoriously].

"But his bow remained firm and steady [in the Strength that does not fail], For his arms were made strong and agile By the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, (By the name of the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel),

Now forty days were required for this, for that is the customary number of days [of preparation] required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept and grieved for him [in public mourning as they would for royalty] for seventy days.

When the days of weeping and public mourning for him were past, Joseph spoke to [the nobles of] the house of Pharaoh, saying, "If now I have found favor in your sight, please speak to Pharaoh, saying,