Genesis 47 :: New International Version (NIV)

Gen 47:1

Gen 47:1Joseph went and told Pharaoh, “My father and brothers, with their flocks and herds and everything they own, have come from the land of Canaan and are now in Goshen.”

Gen 47:2

Gen 47:2He chose five of his brothers and presented them before Pharaoh.

Gen 47:3

Gen 47:3Pharaoh asked the brothers, “What is your occupation?” “Your servants are shepherds,” they replied to Pharaoh, “just as our fathers were.”

Gen 47:4

Gen 47:4They also said to him, “We have come to live here for a while, because the famine is severe in Canaan and your servants’ flocks have no pasture. So now, please let your servants settle in Goshen.”

Gen 47:5

Gen 47:5Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you,

Gen 47:6

Gen 47:6and the land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and your brothers in the best part of the land. Let them live in Goshen. And if you know of any among them with special ability, put them in charge of my own livestock.”

Gen 47:7

Gen 47:7Then Joseph brought his father Jacob in and presented him before Pharaoh. After Jacob blessed[fn] Pharaoh,

Gen 47:8

Gen 47:8Pharaoh asked him, “How old are you?”

Gen 47:9

Gen 47:9And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers.”

Gen 47:10

Gen 47:10Then Jacob blessed[fn] Pharaoh and went out from his presence.

Gen 47:11

Gen 47:11So Joseph settled his father and his brothers in Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh directed.

Gen 47:12

Gen 47:12Joseph also provided his father and his brothers and all his father’s household with food, according to the number of their children.

Joseph and the Famine

Gen 47:13

Gen 47:13There was no food, however, in the whole region because the famine was severe; both Egypt and Canaan wasted away because of the famine.

Gen 47:14

Gen 47:14Joseph collected all the money that was to be found in Egypt and Canaan in payment for the grain they were buying, and he brought it to Pharaoh’s palace.

Gen 47:15

Gen 47:15When the money of the people of Egypt and Canaan was gone, all Egypt came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? Our money is all gone.”

Gen 47:16

Gen 47:16“Then bring your livestock,” said Joseph. “I will sell you food in exchange for your livestock, since your money is gone.”

Gen 47:17

Gen 47:17So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for their horses, their sheep and goats, their cattle and donkeys. And he brought them through that year with food in exchange for all their livestock.

Gen 47:18

Gen 47:18When 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.

Gen 47:19

Gen 47:19Why 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.”

Gen 47:20

Gen 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,

Gen 47:21

Gen 47:21and Joseph reduced the people to servitude,[fn] from one end of Egypt to the other.

Gen 47:22

Gen 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.

Gen 47:23

Gen 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.

Gen 47:24

Gen 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.”

Gen 47:25

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

Gen 47:26

Gen 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.

Gen 47:27

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

Gen 47:28

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

Gen 47:29

Gen 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,

Gen 47:30

Gen 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.

Gen 47:31

Gen 47:31“Swear to me,” he said. Then Joseph swore to him, and Israel worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.[fn]

See the NIV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NIV Footnotes

(47:7)

Or greeted

(47:10)

Or said farewell to

(47:21)

Samaritan Pentateuch and Septuagint (see also Vulgate); Masoretic Text and he moved the people into the cities

(47:31)

Or Israel bowed down at the head of his bed

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.

See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the NIV Preface.