Genesis 47:19

Plain English Version

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.”

Cross References

Genesis 41:36

At the end of those 7 good years, there will be 7 dry years. There will be no rain, and no food plants will grow in Egypt country. But all the people in Egypt country, they can eat the food that is in those sheds, and they can keep on doing that for those 7 dry years, so that they will not die.”

Genesis 47:15

But after a while, the people in Egypt and Canaan country had no more money left. So all the Egypt people went to Joseph, and they said to him, “We’ve got no more money to buy food. You have to help us. Give us food, or we will die.”

Genesis 47:18

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.

Genesis 47:20

So Joseph did what the people asked. You see, there was no rain and no food plants growing in Egypt country. It was really bad, and the people needed food. So everyone in Egypt country gave all their land to Joseph, and he gave their land to Pharaoh. Then that land didn’t belong to the people any more, it belonged to Pharaoh.