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.” 2He chose five of his brothers and presented them before Pharaoh.
3Pharaoh asked the brothers, “What is your occupation?”
“Your servants are shepherds,” they replied to Pharaoh, “just as our fathers were.” 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.”
5Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you, 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.”
7Then Joseph brought his father Jacob in and presented him before Pharaoh. After Jacob blessed47:7 Or greeted Pharaoh, 8Pharaoh asked him, “How old are you?”
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.” 10Then Jacob blessed47:10 Or said farewell to Pharaoh and went out from his presence.
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. 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
13There was no food, however, in the whole region because the famine was severe; both Egypt and Canaan wasted away because of the famine. 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. 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.”
16“Then bring your livestock,” said Joseph. “I will sell you food in exchange for your livestock, since your money is gone.” 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.
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. 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.”
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, 21and Joseph reduced the people to servitude,47:21 Samaritan Pentateuch and Septuagint (see also Vulgate); Masoretic Text and he moved the people into the cities from one end of Egypt to the other. 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.
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. 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.”
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.”
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.
27Now the Israelites settled in Egypt in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and were fruitful and increased greatly in number.
28Jacob lived in Egypt seventeen years, and the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven. 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, 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.
31“Swear to me,” he said. Then Joseph swore to him, and Israel worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.47:31 Or Israel bowed down at the head of his bed
1Yosefe anapita kukamuwuza Farao kuti, “Abambo anga, abale anga pamodzi ndi nkhosa, ngʼombe zawo, ndi antchito awo abwera kuchokera ku dziko la Kanaani ndipo tsopano ali ku Goseni.” 2Iye anapita kwa Farao kuja ndi abale ake asanu, kukawaonetsa.
3Farao anafunsa abale akewo kuti, “Mumagwira ntchito yanji?”
Iwo anamuyankha kuti, “Ife, bwana ndife oweta ziweto, monga ankachitira makolo athu. 4Ife tabwera kudzakhala kuno kwa kanthawi chifukwa njala yafika poopsa ku Kanaani motero kuti kulibe msipu wodyetsera ziweto. Ndiye bwana tiloleni kuti tikhale ku Goseni.”
5Farao anati kwa Yosefe, “Abambo ako ndi abale ako abwera kwa iwe. 6Dziko lonse la Igupto lili mʼdzanja lako. Uwakhazike abambo ako ndi abale ako mʼmalo achonde kwambiri. Akhale ku Goseni. Ndipo ngati ukudziwapo ena mwa iwo amene ali akatswiri pa kuweta ziweto, uwapatse udindo woyangʼanira ziweto zanga.”
7Kenaka Yosefe anapita ndi abambo ake kwa Farao kukawaonetsa, ndipo Yakobo anadalitsa Faraoyo. 8Atatero, Farao anafunsa Yakobo kuti, “Muli ndi zaka zingati?”
9Yakobo anayankha kuti, “Zaka za maulendo anga zakwana 130. Zaka za moyo wanga ndi zowerengeka, komanso zakhala zaka za masautso. Zaka za moyo wanga sizingafanane ndi zaka za moyo wa makolo anga.” 10Atatha kumudalitsa Farao uja, Yakobo anatsanzika nʼkunyamuka.
11Choncho Yosefe anakhazika abambo ake aja ndi abale ake mʼdziko la Igupto. Iye anawapatsa dera la Ramesesi limene linali dziko lachonde kwambiri monga analamulira Farao. 12Yosefe anaperekanso chakudya kwa abambo ake, kwa abale ake ndi kwa onse a mʼnyumba ya abambo ake monga mwa chiwerengero cha ana awo.
Yosefe pa Nthawi ya Njala
13Njala inakula kwambiri motero kuti chakudya chinasowa mʼdziko lonse. Anthu a ku Igupto ndi ku Kanaani analefuka nayo njalayo. 14Yosefe anasonkhanitsa ndalama zonse zimene anthu a mu Igupto ndi Kanaani ankapereka pogula tirigu, ndipo anabwera nazo ku nyumba kwa Farao. 15Anthu a ku Igupto ndi Kanaani ndalama zitawathera, Aigupto onse anabwera kwa Yosefe nati, “Tipatseni chakudya. Nanga tiferenji pamaso panu? Ndalama zathu zatha.”
16Ndipo Yosefe anawayankha kuti, “Bwerani ndi ziweto zanu ndipo tidzasinthana ndi chakudya poti mukuti ndalama zanu zatha.” 17Choncho anthu anabwera ndi ziweto zawo monga akavalo, nkhosa, mbuzi, ngʼombe ndi abulu ndipo Yosefe anawapatsa zakudya.
18Chitatha chaka chimenecho, anthu anapitanso kwa Yosefe chaka chinacho nati, “Ife sitingakubisireni mbuye wathu kuti ndalama zathu zatithera ndipo ziweto zathu zili ndi inu, palibenso choti nʼkukupatsani mbuye wathu kupatula matupi athu ndi dziko lathu. 19Tiferenji ife ndi dziko lathu inu mukuona? Mutipatse chakudya ndipo tidzigulitsa ife ndi minda yathu yomwe. Ife tidzakhala akapolo a Farao. Tipatseni mbewuzo kuti tikhale ndi moyo tisafe ndipo dziko lisachite bwinja.”
20Choncho Yosefe anamugulira Farao dziko lonse la Igupto. Aliyense mu Igupto anagulitsa munda wake chifukwa njala inakula kwambiri. Dziko lonse linasanduka la Farao, 21ndipo Yosefe anawasandutsa anthu onse kukhala akapolo a Farao, kuchokera ku malire a mbali ina ya Igupto kukafika ku malire a mbali ina ya dzikolo. 22Komabe, sanagule minda ya ansembe chifukwa Farao ankawapatsa thandizo lokwanira. Nʼchifukwa chake sanagulitse minda yawo.
23Yosefe anati kwa anthuwo, “Tsono poti ndakugulani inu ndi minda yanu, kugulira Farao. Nayi mbewu kuti mudzale mʼminda yanu. 24Koma podzakolola, mudzapereka gawo limodzi la magawo asanu aliwonse kwa Farao. Magawo anayi enawo adzakhala anu. Zina mudzasunge mbewu ndi zina mudzadye inuyo, mabanja anu ndi ana anu.”
25Iwo anati, “Mwatipulumutsa potichitira zabwinozi, mbuye wathu, tsono tidzakhala akapolo a Farao.”
26Choncho Yosefe anakhazikitsa lamulo limene lilipobe mpaka lero mʼdziko lonse la Igupto kuti limodzi la magawo asanu a zokolola ndi la Farao. Ndi minda ya ansembe yokha imene sinatengedwe kukhala ya Farao.
27Tsono Aisraeli anakhazikika mʼdziko la Igupto ku chigawo cha Goseni. Kumeneko anapeza chuma ndipo anaberekana nachuluka kwambiri.
28Yakobo anakhala ku Igupto zaka 17 ndipo zaka za moyo wake zinali 147. 29Nthawi itayandikira yoti Israeli amwalire, anayitanitsa mwana wake Yosefe nati kwa iye, “Ngati ukundikondadi monga abambo ako, ika dzanja lako pansi pa ntchafu yanga ndipo ulonjeze kuti udzaonetsa kukoma mtima ndi kukhulupirika kwako kwa ine kuti sudzayika mtembo wanga kuno ku Igupto. 30Ine ndikagona pamodzi ndi makolo anga. Choncho ndikadzamwalira udzanditulutse mu Igupto muno ndipo ukayike mtembo wanga kumene anayikidwa makolo anga.”
Yosefe anati, “Ndidzachita monga mwanenera.”
31Yakobo anati, “Lumbira kwa ine.” Yosefe analumbira kwa iye, ndipo Israeli anapembedza Mulungu atatsamira ndodo yake.
