Genesis 47:18

Plain English Version

The next year, the people went to Joseph again, and they said, “Sir, you know that we’ve got no money, and we gave you all our animals. The only things we have left are our own bodies and our land. There’s nothing else we can give you.

Cross References

Genesis 47:17

So the people brought their animals to Joseph. They brought horses, and sheep, and cows, and donkeys. Every time somebody gave an animal to Joseph, he gave them some food, so they had enough food to eat. They kept on doing that for one year. Then after that, they had no more animals left.

Genesis 47:19

We need food, and we need seeds to plant in the ground. We know we can plant seeds now, and those food plants will grow, but we don’t have any seeds to plant. You have to help us, or we will die, and our land will be useless.” Then the people said, “This is what we want to do. We will give you our land and ourselves. Then all the land that belongs to us will belong to Pharaoh. And we will belong to Pharaoh too, we will become his workers. Then you give us food to eat and seeds to plant, so that we can grow food plants on the land again. It will be like we are paying for that food and those seeds with ourselves and our land. That way, we will have food to eat, and we will stay alive. But if you don’t do that, we will die, and our land will be useless.”