Genesis 47:15-26

15When the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph saying, “Give us 1food, for 2why should we die in your presence? For our money is 3gone.” 16Then Joseph said, “Give up your livestock, and I will give you food for your livestock, since your money is 4gone.” 17So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them 5food in exchange for the horses and the 6flocks and the herds and the donkeys; and he 7fed them with 8food in exchange for all their livestock 9that year. 18But when that year ended, they came to him the 10next year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord the fact that our money is all spent, and the 11livestock are my lord’s. There is nothing left 12for my lord except our bodies and our lands. 19Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for 13food, and we and our land will be slaves to Pharaoh. So give us seed, so that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.”

20So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for 14every Egyptian sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. So the land became Pharaoh’s. 21As for the people, he relocated them to the cities from one end of Egypt’s border to the other. 22Only the land of the priests he did not buy, because the priests had an allotment from Pharaoh, and they 15lived off the allotment which Pharaoh gave them. Therefore, they did not sell their land. 23Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, today I have purchased you and your land for Pharaoh; now, here is seed for you, and you may sow the land. 2416At the harvest you shall give a 17fifth to Pharaoh, and 18four-fifths shall be your own for seed of the field and for your food, and for those of your households and as food for your little ones.” 25So they said, “You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.” 26Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt, valid to this day, that Pharaoh was to have the fifth; 19only the land of the priests 20did not become Pharaoh’s.