创47:20So 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,

创47:21and Joseph reduced the people to servitude, from one end of Egypt to the other.

创47:22However, 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.

创47:23Joseph 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.

创47:24But 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."

创47:25You have saved our lives, they said. "May we find favor in the eyes of our lord; we will be in bondage to Pharaoh."

创47:26So 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.

创47:27Now the Israelites settled in Egypt in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and were fruitful and increased greatly in number.

创47:28Jacob lived in Egypt seventeen years, and the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven.

创47:29When 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,

创47:30but 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.

创47:31Swear to me, he said. Then Joseph swore to him, and Israel worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

创48:1Some time later Joseph was told, "Your father is ill." So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim along with him.

创48:2When Jacob was told, "Your son Joseph has come to you," Israel rallied his strength and sat up on the bed.

创48:3Jacob said to Joseph, "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there he blessed me

创48:4and said to me, 'I am going to make you fruitful and will 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.'

创48:5Now 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.

创48:6Any children born to you after them will be yours; in the territory they inherit they will be reckoned under the names of their brothers.

创48:7As 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).

创48:8When Israel saw the sons of Joseph, he asked, "Who are these?"