Genesis 47

Wycliffe Bible

47 Therefore Joseph entered, and told to Pharaoh, and said, My father and brethren, the sheep and the great beasts of them, and all things that they wield (and all the things that they possess), have come from the land of Canaan; and lo! they stand in the land of Goshen.

² And Joseph ordained five, the least, or meekest, men of his brethren, to come before the king,

³ whom he asked, What work have ye? They answered, We thy servants be keepers of sheep, both we and our fathers; (and Pharaoh asked them, What work do you do? And they answered, We, thy servants, be shepherds, and herdsmen, both we and our fathers;)

⁴ we came into thy land to be pilgrims, that is, to dwell for a time, for no grass is to the flocks of thy servants; for hunger waxeth grievous in the land of Canaan, and we ask that thou command us thy servants to be in the land of Goshen. (we have come to live in thy land, that is, to live here for a time, for there is no grass for the flocks, and herds, of thy servants, for the famine hath spread far and wide in the land of Canaan; and we ask that thou allow us, thy servants, to live in the land of Goshen.)

⁵ And so the king said to Joseph, Thy father and thy brethren have come to thee;

⁶ the land of Egypt is in thy sight; make thou them to dwell in the best place, and give thou to them the land of Goshen; that if thou knowest that witting men be in them, ordain them masters of my beasts. (the land of Egypt is before thee; have them live in the best place, and so give them the land of Goshen; and if thou knowest that knowledgeable men be among them, ordain them to be masters of my beasts.)

⁷ After these things Joseph brought in his father to the king, and set him before the king, and he blessed the king;

⁸ and he was asked of the king (and the king asked him), How many be the days of the years of thy life?

⁹ And he answered, The days of [the] pilgrimage of my life be few and evil, of an hundred and thirty years, and those have not come to the days of my fathers, in which they were pilgrims. (And he answered, The days of my life’s wanderings be but few and far between, yea, only a hundred and thirty years, and they have not even come close to the number of days that my fathers had.)

¹⁰ And when Jacob had blessed the king (again), he went out.

¹¹ Forsooth Joseph gave to his father and [his] brethren (a) possession in Egypt, in Rameses, the best soil of [the] earth (the best soil in the land), as Pharaoh commanded;

¹² and he fed them, and all the house(hold) of his father, and gave meats to them all (and gave food to all of them).

¹³ For bread (had) failed in all the world, and hunger oppressed the land, mostly of Egypt and of Canaan (most of all now in Egypt and Canaan);

¹⁴ of which lands Joseph gathered all the money for the selling of wheat, and brought it into the king’s treasury. (from which lands Joseph gathered all the money from the selling of the corn, or the grain, and put it into the king’s treasury.)

¹⁵ And when price failed to the buyers, all Egypt came to Joseph, and said, Give thou loaves to us; why shall we die before thee, while money faileth? (And when money failed in the lands of Egypt and Canaan, all Egypt came to Joseph, and said, Give thou us bread; why should we die before thine eyes, even though all our money is gone!)

¹⁶ To whom he answered, Bring ye your beasts (to me), and I shall give you meats for those, if ye have not price (and I shall give you food in return, if ye have no more money).

¹⁷ And when they had brought those, he gave them meats for horses, and sheep, and oxen, and asses; and he sustained them in that year for the (ex)change of beasts. (And so when they brought their beasts, Joseph gave them food in return for their horses, and sheep, and oxen, and donkeys; and so he sustained them with food that year in exchange for their beasts.)

¹⁸ And they came in the second year, and said to him, We cover not from our lord, that the while money faileth, also (our) beasts failed altogether, neither it is hid from thee, that without bodies and land, we have nothing; (And they came back to him the following year, and they said to him, We hide it not from our lord, that now our money is all gone, and that all our beasts be thine; nor is it hid from thee, that except for our bodies and our land, we have nothing left;)

¹⁹ why therefore shall we die, while thou seest this? both we and our land shall be thine; buy thou us into the king’s servage, and give thou us seeds to sow, lest while the tiller perisheth, the land be turned into wilderness. (and so why should we die, in front of thine eyes? let both us and our land be thine; yea, buy thou us into slavery to the king, and give us seeds to sow, lest while the worker perisheth, the land be turned into wilderness.)

²⁰ Therefore Joseph bought all the land of Egypt, while all men sold (him) their possessions, for the greatness of hunger (for the greatness of the famine); and (so) he made it and all the peoples thereof subject to Pharaoh,

²¹ from the last terms of Egypt till to the last ends thereof,

²² except the land of priests, that was given of the king to them, to which priests also meats were given of the common barns, and therefore they were not compelled to sell their possessions. (except for the priests’ land, which the king gave them, and to whom food was also given out of the common barns, and so they were not compelled to sell their land.)

²³ Therefore Joseph said to the peoples, Lo! as ye see, Pharaoh wieldeth both you and your land; (now) take ye seeds, and sow ye (the) fields,

²⁴ that ye may have fruits; ye shall give the fifth part to the king; I suffer to you the four residue parts into seed, and into meats, to you, and to your free children. (so that ye shall have increase; ye shall give the fifth part to the king; but I shall grant you the remaining four parts for seed, and for food, for you, and for your children.)

²⁵ Which answered, Our health is in thine hand(s); only our God behold us, and we shall joyfully serve the king. (And they answered, Our salvation is in thy hands; only let our lord continue to care about us, and then we shall gratefully be the king’s slaves.)

²⁶ From that time till to this present day, in all the land of Egypt, the fifth part is paid to the kings, and it is made as into a law, without the land of priests, that was free from this condition. (And so from that time unto this present day, in all the land of Egypt, the fifth part of the harvest is paid to the king, for this was made a law, from all except the priests, whose land did not become Pharaoh’s property.)

²⁷ Therefore Israel dwelled in Egypt, that is, in the land of Goshen, and wielded it; and he was increased, and multiplied full much. (And so Jacob and his family lived in Egypt, that is, in the land of Goshen, and acquired land; and they increased, and were greatly multiplied.)

²⁸ And he lived therein sixteen years (And he lived there seventeen years); and all the days of his life were made an hundred and seven and forty years.

²⁹ And when he saw the day of his death [to] nigh, he called his son Joseph (to his bed), and said to him, If I have found grace in thy sight, put thine hand under mine hip, and (swear that) thou shalt do mercy and truth to me, that thou bury not me in Egypt (that thou shalt not bury me here in Egypt);

³⁰ but I shall sleep with my fathers, and take thou away me from this land (but when I shall sleep with my fathers, thou shalt take me away from this land), and bury me in the sepulchre of my greater(s). To whom Joseph answered, I shall do that that thou commandest.

³¹ And Israel said, Therefore swear thou to me; and when Joseph swore, Israel turned to the head of the bed, and worshipped God. (And Jacob said, And so swear thou to me; and when Joseph swore, Jacob turned to the head of the bed, and worshipped God.)