1 Joseph came in and gave Pharaoh this report: “My father and my brothers, with their flocks and their herds, and everything that belongs to them, have arrived from the land of Canaan {kena'an: promised land region}; and look, they are staying in the land of Goshen {goshen: Nile pasture region}.”
2 From among a part {miktseh: selected group} of his brothers he selected five men and brought them forward before Pharaoh {paroh: Egyptian monarch}.
3 Pharaoh {paroh: Egyptian monarch} asked his brothers, “What work {maaseh: regular work} do you do?” They answered Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds; both we and our fathers.”
4 They said to Pharaoh, “We have come to sojourn {lāgûr: reside as temporary guests} in the land, because your servants have no pasture for their flocks and the famine is severe in Canaan. Now therefore, please let your servants dwell in Goshen {Gōšen: regional district in Egypt}.”
5 Then Pharaoh {Paroh: supreme ruler} spoke to Joseph and said, “Your father {avikha: direct ancestor} and your brothers have come to you.”
6 Egypt is at your disposal. Settle your father and your brothers in the choicest part of the land and let them live in the land of Goshen. And if you know there are men of strength {chayil: proven capability} among them, appoint them as overseers of my livestock {mikneh: herds and possessions}.
7 Joseph brought Jacob his father and had him stand before Pharaoh {paroh: Egyptian sovereign}; and Jacob blessed {barakh: invoked divine favor} Pharaoh.
8 Then Pharaoh {paroh: Egyptian king} said to Jacob, “How many are the days {yemei: measured spans} in the years of your life?”
9 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days comprising the years I have sojourned total one hundred and thirty. My days have been few {me'at: limited in number} and distressing {ra'im: marked by hardship}, and they have not reached the span of years that my fathers experienced in their days of sojourning.”
10 Then Jacob {yaakov: covenant patriarch} blessed Pharaoh {paroh: supreme ruler}, and he departed from Pharaoh’s presence.
11 Joseph settled his father and his brothers {echav: paternal siblings}, granting them a holding in Egypt in the choicest portion {meitav: choicest portion} of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh commanded.
12 Joseph {Yosef: Faithful Provider} provided food for his father, his brothers, and the whole household of his father, apportioning bread according to the number of the dependents {taf: dependent offspring}.
13 There was no bread {lechem: staple food} throughout the land, because the famine was extremely severe; and the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished {vatelah: grew utterly weak} under the famine.
14 Joseph gathered all the money {kesef: silver trade currency} found in Egypt and in Canaan, as payment for the grain they kept buying {shovrim: ongoing grain purchases}, and Joseph deposited the money in Pharaoh’s house.
15 When the money {kesef: silver currency} was gone from Egypt and from Canaan, all Egypt came to Joseph and said, “Give us bread; why should we die {namut: perish from famine} before you? Our money is finished.”
16 Joseph {Yosef: Appointed Administrator} said, “Bring your livestock {mikneichem: herds you own}, and I will give you bread in exchange for your livestock, if your money has run out.”
17 They brought their livestock {mikneihem: barter possessions} to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange—for the horses, for the flocks, for the cattle, and for the donkeys. In this way he sustained them {vayenahalem: kept them alive} with bread for all their livestock through that year.
18 When that year ended, they came to him in the second year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that the money is finished and that the livestock has passed into my lord’s possession. Nothing remains before my lord except our bodies {geviyyah: physical selves} and our land {adamah: ancestral inheritance}.”
19 Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Purchase us and our land for bread, and we and our land will become servants {avadim: bound laborers} to Pharaoh. Give seed {zera: grain for planting} so that we may live and not die, and the land will not become desolate.
20 Joseph acquired {wayyiqen: legal property transfer} all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, because the Egyptians, each man, sold his field, for the famine {raav: devastating scarcity} pressed hard upon them; thus the land became Pharaoh’s.
21 The people {haam: whole population} were moved by Joseph {Yosef: Royal Steward} into the cities, from one edge of Egypt’s border to the other.
22 Only the land of the priests was not bought, because a fixed portion {chok: established legal allotment} for the priests {kohen: consecrated officials} came from Pharaoh, and they ate the portion he gave them. Therefore, they did not sell their land.
23 Joseph said to the people, “Behold {hen: urgent announcement}, today I have acquired you and your land for Pharaoh. Look, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land {adamah: cultivated ground}.”
24 At the harvests you shall give one fifth to Pharaoh, and the other four parts {yadot: allotted shares} shall be for you—for seed of the field, for your food {okhlekhem: ongoing sustenance}, for those in your households, and for food for your little ones.
25 And they said, "You have kept us alive {hechiyitanu: preserved from death}. Let us find favor {chen: gracious acceptance} in the eyes of my lord, and we will be servants to Pharaoh."
26 And Joseph {Yosef: royal administrator} established it as a law {khok: binding statute} in Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh would receive one fifth; only the land of the priests by themselves did not become Pharaoh’s.
27 Israel settled {vayeshev: stable residence} in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. They took possession of it and were fruitful and multiplied exceedingly {meod: great abundance}.
28 Jacob lived {vayechi: settled residence} in the land of Egypt for seventeen years; then the days {yemei: measured lifespan} of Jacob—his years—amounted to 147 years.
29 When the days of Israel {Yisrael: covenant patriarch} drew near for him to die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please put your hand under my thigh {yarekh: solemn oath custom} and deal with me in kindness and truth. Do not, please, bury me in Egypt.”
30 When I lie down {veshakhavti: Rest in Death} with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place {bikvuratam: Family Tomb}. And he said, “I will do according to your word.”
31 And he said, “Swear to me.” So he swore to him. Then Israel {Yisrael: covenant bearer} bowed down {vayishtachu: reverent prostration} at the head of the bed.