Genesis 47:13–26, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Genesis 47:13–26
Joseph Restructures Egypt During the Famine
Alive, and the land now Pharaoh's
Money for grain goes into Pharaoh's house. When money fails, livestock is exchanged. Then bodies and land are offered. Joseph acquires the land for Pharaoh, supplies seed, and assigns one-fifth to the crown and four-fifths to households. Priests keep exempt land.
People acknowledge that Joseph has saved their lives. The received Hebrew says he moved them to cities; another ancient tradition says he made them servants. Preservation and centralization are both in the story. Genesis does not hand readers a timeless tax program or a simple verdict.
How this should shape us
In a crisis, keep relief as free from coercive surrender as possible. Evaluate a policy by what it preserves and what it transfers, and build protections for people without institutional privilege.
Teach it back
Explain how Genesis 47:13–26 holds life preservation and royal centralization together. Include the sequence from money to livestock to land and labor, the people's survival pressure, Joseph's and Pharaoh's roles, the verse 21 textual difference, the priestly exception, seed and the one-fifth arrangement, the people's response, and why the unit cannot be turned into a simple modern policy command or a claim that every action is morally approved.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Best judgment:
How certain? very strongBest judgment:
How certain? very strongBest judgment:
How certain? uncertainBest judgment:
How certain? uncertainBest judgment:
How certain? uncertainResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Displayed text, famine sequence, prior storage and family provision, following contrast, later royal oppression, and canonical resource-justice comparisons.
Genesis 47:13–26 with 41:25–57; 47:1–12, 27–31; Exodus 1:1–14; Leviticus 25; 1 Samuel 8; and Nehemiah 5 in the pinned standardized 1769 KJV
Supports: Exact Hebrew crisis, depletion, livestock, sustenance, person, land, service, acquisition, relocation, allowance, fifth, and statute language.
WLC Genesis 47:13–26, especially vattelah in verse 13; vayyittom, mikne, and vaynahalem in 15–17; geviyyatenu, admatenu, avadim, and qanah in 18–23; he'evir oto le'arim in verse 21; hoq in 22 and 26; and hamishit/homesh in 24 and 26
Supports: Translation, syntax, KJV-language, and material textual-variant cross-checks.
NET Genesis 47:13–26 translator and textual notes, especially languishing, exchange, deliberative speech, service, verse 21's Masoretic/Samaritan/Septuagint difference, one-fifth, favor, and statute
Supports: Final-form unit boundary, escalation, preservation, royal consolidation, and transition back to Israel.
Genesis commentary, Genesis 47:13–26 and transition into 47:27–31
Supports: Modern literary-critical counterpoint for preservation, power, and the Joseph story's national-history transition.
Genesis 37–50 Joseph study guide, especially famine administration, Israel in Egypt, and the bridge toward Exodus
Supports: Modern Egyptological historical-comparative restraint.
The Joseph Story between Egypt and Israel, pages 139–163, especially Egyptological discussion of royal land theory, priestly exemption, and why Egyptian details do not securely date the narrative
Supports: A full modern defense-oriented alternative and its explicit inferential limits.
Jewish Bible Quarterly 47.1, pages 39–44, especially the transition from Genesis 41 to 47, Pharaoh-agency proposal, city-relocation reading, service interpretation, and one-fifth policy
Supports: Documented ethical dispute, canonical debt-servitude method, and abstract-level conclusion that resource distribution remains ethically problematic.
Biblical Theology Bulletin 46.4, pages 177–185, official abstract and bibliographic record
Supports: The focused discourse study's abstract-level conclusion that the dialogue traces gradual Egyptian capitulation to Joseph's supremacy.
Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament 32.2, pages 247–270, official abstract and bibliographic record
Supports: Egyptological continuity, later-date and diaspora proposals, crown land, temple privilege, agrarian share, and compositional uncertainty.
TheTorah.com, sections 'Customs from a Saite Egyptian Context' and 'Joseph's Land Deal,' especially Genesis 47:20–24 and notes
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Displayed text, famine sequence, prior storage and family provision, following contrast, later royal oppression, and canonical resource-justice comparisons.
Exact location: Genesis 47:13–26 with 41:25–57; 47:1–12, 27–31; Exodus 1:1–14; Leviticus 25; 1 Samuel 8; and Nehemiah 5 in the pinned standardized 1769 KJV
Open source ↗hebrew text morphology and lemma data
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible — Genesis
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project
Open Scriptures, Version 2.2 released 2021; repository inspected 2026
Supports: Exact Hebrew crisis, depletion, livestock, sustenance, person, land, service, acquisition, relocation, allowance, fifth, and statute language.
Exact location: WLC Genesis 47:13–26, especially vattelah in verse 13; vayyittom, mikne, and vaynahalem in 15–17; geviyyatenu, admatenu, avadim, and qanah in 18–23; he'evir oto le'arim in verse 21; hoq in 22 and 26; and hamishit/homesh in 24 and 26
Open source ↗Translation and textual notes
NET Bible — Genesis with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, Digital edition accessed 2026
Supports: Translation, syntax, KJV-language, and material textual-variant cross-checks.
Exact location: NET Genesis 47:13–26 translator and textual notes, especially languishing, exchange, deliberative speech, service, verse 21's Masoretic/Samaritan/Septuagint difference, one-fifth, favor, and statute
Open NET Genesis 47 ↗modern open whole book commentary
Genesis
T. Desmond Alexander
The Gospel Coalition Bible Commentary, 2023
Supports: Final-form unit boundary, escalation, preservation, royal consolidation, and transition back to Israel.
Exact location: Genesis commentary, Genesis 47:13–26 and transition into 47:27–31
Open source ↗modern critical open study guide
Genesis 37–50: Joseph — Study Guide
Joel S. Baden and Yale Bible Study
Yale Divinity School, 2021 course; page inspected 2026
Supports: Modern literary-critical counterpoint for preservation, power, and the Joseph story's national-history transition.
Exact location: Genesis 37–50 Joseph study guide, especially famine administration, Israel in Egypt, and the bridge toward Exodus
Open source ↗peer reviewed open egyptological and historical critical study
Joseph in Egypt: A Critical Evaluation of the Classical Parallels and a New Interpretation
Bernd U. Schipper
In The Joseph Story between Egypt and Israel, edited by Thomas Römer, Konrad Schmid, and Axel Bühler, pages 139–163, Mohr Siebeck, 2021
Supports: Modern Egyptological historical-comparative restraint.
Exact location: The Joseph Story between Egypt and Israel, pages 139–163, especially Egyptological discussion of royal land theory, priestly exemption, and why Egyptian details do not securely date the narrative
Open source ↗modern open ethical and lexical interpretive study
Joseph and the Enslavement of the Egyptians
Moshe Soller
Jewish Bible Quarterly 47.1, pages 39–44, 2019
Supports: A full modern defense-oriented alternative and its explicit inferential limits.
Exact location: Jewish Bible Quarterly 47.1, pages 39–44, especially the transition from Genesis 41 to 47, Pharaoh-agency proposal, city-relocation reading, service interpretation, and one-fifth policy
Open source ↗peer reviewed canonical and ethical study with official abstract
Debt-Slavery Passages in the Tanakh as a Lens for Reading Joseph's Enslavement of the Egyptians in Genesis 47:13–26: Explorations in Canonical Hermeneutics
David J. Fuller
Biblical Theology Bulletin 46.4, pages 177–185, 2016
Supports: Documented ethical dispute, canonical debt-servitude method, and abstract-level conclusion that resource distribution remains ethically problematic.
Exact location: Biblical Theology Bulletin 46.4, pages 177–185, official abstract and bibliographic record
Open source ↗peer reviewed discourse and social dynamics study with official abstract
Joseph's Dialogue with the Egyptians in Genesis 47,13–26: From Grammar to Social Dynamics
David J. Fuller
Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament 32.2, pages 247–270, 2018
Supports: The focused discourse study's abstract-level conclusion that the dialogue traces gradual Egyptian capitulation to Joseph's supremacy.
Exact location: Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament 32.2, pages 247–270, official abstract and bibliographic record
Open source ↗public modern Egyptological and compositional study
Was the Joseph Story Written in Egypt During the Persian Period?
Shirly Ben-Dor Evian
TheTorah.com, 2017; updated 2026
Supports: Egyptological continuity, later-date and diaspora proposals, crown land, temple privilege, agrarian share, and compositional uncertainty.
Exact location: TheTorah.com, sections 'Customs from a Saite Egyptian Context' and 'Joseph's Land Deal,' especially Genesis 47:20–24 and notes
Open source ↗