Now there was no bread in all the land, for the famine was very severe; both the land of

Egypt and all the land of Canaan languished because of the famine.

Joseph gathered in all the money that was to be found in the land of Egypt and in the land of

Canaan, as payment for the grain which they were buying and Joseph brought the money

into Pharaoh’s palace. And when the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the

land of Canaan, all of Egypt came to Joseph, and said, “Give us bread: for why should we

die in your presence, for the money is gone!” And Joseph said, “Bring your livestock, and I

will sell to you against your livestock, if the money is gone.” So they brought their livestock to

Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses, and for the stocks of sheep

and cattle, and the asses; thus he provided them with bread in exchange for all their

livestock during that year. And when that year was ended, they came to him the next year

and said to him, “We cannot hide it from my lord that our money is spent; my lord also has

our herds of cattle; there is nothing left at my lord’s disposal, but our bodies and our lands.

Why shall we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Take us and our land in exchange

for bread, and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh; give us grain, that we may live

and not die, and that the land will not become desolate. So Joseph bought all the land of

Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine was too

much for them; thus the land became Pharaoh’s. And as for the people, he removed them to

the cities, from one end of the borders of Egypt to the other.