Then Joseph went in and told Pharao, saying: My father and brethren, their sheep and their herds, and all that they possess, are come out of the land of Chanaan: and behold they stay in the land of Gessen.

Ingressus ergo Joseph nuntiavit Pharaoni, dicens: Pater meus et fratres, oves eorum et armenta, et cuncta quæ possident, venerunt de terra Chanaan: et ecce consistunt in terra Gessen.

So Joseph approached Pharao with the news that his father and his brethren had brought their sheep and cattle and all they possessed away from Chanaan, and were there in the land of Gessen.

Five men also the last of his brethren, he presented before the king:

Extremos quoque fratrum suorum quinque viros constituit coram rege:

He also presented his five youngest brethren to the king,

And he asked them: What is your occupation? They answered: We thy servants are shepherds, both we, and our fathers.

quos ille interrogavit: Quid habetis operis? Responderunt: Pastores ovium sumus servi tui, et nos et patres nostri.

and these, when the king asked what their employment was, answered, Thy servants are shepherds, as their fathers were before them.

We are come to sojourn in thy land, because there is no grass for the flocks of thy servants, the famine being very grievous in the land of Chanaan: and we pray thee to give orders that we thy servants may be in the land of Gessen.

Ad peregrinandum in terra tua venimus: quoniam non est herba gregibus servorum tuorum, ingravescente fame in terra Chanaan: petimusque ut esse nos jubeas servos tuos in terra Gessen.

We have come to seek hospitality in this land of thine, my lord, because the drought lies heavy on Chanaan, and there is no pasture for our flocks; our plea is, that thou wouldst grant thy servants a home in the country of Gessen.

The king therefore said to Joseph: Thy father and thy brethren are come to thee.

Dixit itaque rex ad Joseph: Pater tuus et fratres tui venerunt ad te.

So the king told Joseph, Now that thy father and thy brethren have come here to bear thee company,

The land of Egypt is before thee: and make them dwell in the best place, and give them the land of Gessen. And if thou knowest that there are industrious men among them, make them rulers over my cattle.

Terra Ægypti in conspectu tuo est: in optimo loco fac eos habitare, et trade eis terram Gessen. Quod si nosti in eis esse viros industrios, constitue illos magistros pecorum meorum.

the whole land of Egypt is at thy disposal; bid them dwell where they are best able to dwell, occupying the country of Gessen. And if thou knowest any of their number to be skilful at their craft, give them charge of my own herds.

After this Joseph brought in his father to the king, and presented him before him: and he blessed him.

Post hæc introduxit Joseph patrem suum ad regem, et statuit eum coram eo: qui benedicens illi,

Afterwards, Joseph brought his father in, and presented him to the king, to whom he gave his blessing.

And being asked by him: How many are the days of the years of thy life?

et interrogatus ab eo: Quot sunt dies annorum vitæ tuæ?

And when the king asked him, what was his age?

He answered: The days of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years, few, and evil, and they are not come up to the days of the pilgrimage of my fathers.

respondit: Dies peregrinationis meæ centum triginta annorum sunt, parvi et mali, et non pervenerunt usque ad dies patrum meorum quibus peregrinati sunt.

I have lived a wanderer’s life, said he, these hundred and thirty years; no long life, and no happy one, compared with the years my fathers spent, roaming the world before me.

And blessing the king, he went out.

Et benedicto rege, egressus est foras.

So he gave the king his blessing, and left him.

But Joseph gave a possession to his father and his brethren in Egypt, in the best place of the land, in Ramesses, as Pharao had commanded.

Joseph vero patri et fratribus suis dedit possessionem in Ægypto in optimo terræ loco, Ramesses, ut præceperat Pharao.

Joseph obeyed Pharao’s bidding, and gave his father and his brethren lands in the most favoured part of Egypt, at Ramesses;

And he nourished them, and all his father’s house, allowing food to every one.

Et alebat eos, omnemque domum patris sui, præbens cibaria singulis.

and there he maintained them, with all his father’s kindred, giving an allowance of food to each.

For in the whole world there was want of bread, and a famine had oppressed the land: more especially of Egypt and Chanaan.

In toto enim orbe panis deerat, et oppresserat fames terram, maxime Ægypti et Chanaan.

All the world over, bread was still scarce, and the drought bore hardest on Egypt and on Chanaan,

Out of which he gathered up all the money for the corn which they bought, and brought it into the king’s treasure.

E quibus omnem pecuniam congregavit pro venditione frumenti, et intulit eam in ærarium regis.

till at last Joseph had amassed all the money either land possessed in the royal treasury, through his sales of wheat.

And when the buyers wanted money, all Egypt came to Joseph, saying: Give us bread: why should we die in thy presence, having now no money.

Cumque defecisset emptoribus pretium, venit cuncta Ægyptus ad Joseph, dicens: Da nobis panes: quare morimur coram te, deficiente pecunia?

So, when they had nothing left to buy with, the Egyptians all came to Joseph asking to have bread given them for nothing; Wilt thou watch us starve, they asked, now that we have no more money left?

And he answered them: Bring me your cattle, and for them I will give you food, if you have no money.

Quibus ille respondit: Adducite pecora vestra, et dabo vobis pro eis cibos, si pretium non habetis.

If you cannot pay, he answered, bring your cattle here, and you shall have food in return for these.

And when they had brought them, he gave them food in exchange for their horses, and sheep, and oxen, and asses: and he maintained them that year for the exchange of their cattle.

Quæ cum adduxissent, dedit eis alimenta pro equis, et ovibus, et bobus, et asinis: sustentavitque eos illo anno pro commutatione pecorum.

So they brought them and he bartered corn for horses and sheep and cattle and asses, feeding them the whole of that year and taking their beasts as the price.

And they came the second year, and said to him: We will not hide from our lord, how that our money is spent, and our cattle also are gone: neither art thou ignorant that we have nothing now left but our bodies and our lands.

Venerunt quoque anno secundo, et dixerunt ei: Non celabimus dominum nostrum quod deficiente pecunia, pecora simul defecerunt: nec clam te est, quod absque corporibus et terra nihil habeamus.

By the next year, they came to him and said, My lord, we must needs be open with thee; we have come to the end of our cattle, as well as our money; thou canst see for thyself that nothing is left us except our lives and our lands.

Why therefore shall we die before thy eyes? we will be thine, both we and our lands: buy us to be the king’s servants, and give us seed, lest for want of tillers the land be turned into a wilderness.

Cur ergo moriemur te vidente? et nos et terra nostra tui erimus: eme nos in servitutem regiam, et præbe semina, ne pereunte cultore redigatur terra in solitudinem.

Do not watch us starve; thou shalt have the disposal of our lands and of ourselves, making both of these the king’s property, and giving us seed-corn in return; if not, the land will become a wilderness for want of tillage.

So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt, every man selling his possessions, because of the greatness of the famine. And he brought it into Pharao’s hands:

Emit igitur Joseph omnem terram Ægypti, vendentibus singulis possessiones suas præ magnitudine famis. Subjecitque eam Pharaoni,

So Joseph bought the whole land of Egypt, one and all selling their possessions to him because the famine was so grievous; and he made it Pharao’s property,

And all its people from one end of the borders of Egypt, even to the other end thereof,

et cunctos populos ejus a novissimis terminis Ægypti usque ad extremos fines ejus,

with all the inhabitants of it from one end of Egypt to the other;

Except the land of the priests, which had been given them by the king: to whom also a certain allowance of food was given out of the public stores, and therefore they were not forced to sell their possessions.

præter terram sacerdotum, quæ a rege tradita fuerat eis: quibus et statuta cibaria ex horreis publicis præbebantur, et idcirco non sunt compulsi vendere possessiones suas.

except the land which the king had assigned to the priests. These had a fixed allowance of food made to them from the royal store-houses, and there was no occasion for them to sell their lands.

Then Joseph said to the people: Behold as you see, both you and your lands belong to Pharao: take seed and sow the fields,

Dixit ergo Joseph ad populos: En ut cernitis, et vos et terram vestram Pharao possidet: accipite semina, et serite agros,

Joseph said to the people, You can see for yourselves now that Pharao is lord of your lives and lands; you shall have seed-corn to sow your fields with,

That you may have corn. The fifth part you shall give to the king: the other four you shall have for seed, and for food for your families and children.

ut fruges habere possitis. Quintam partem regi dabitis: quatuor reliquas permitto vobis in sementem, et in cibum familiis et liberis vestris.

and when harvest-time comes you shall give up a fifth of your crops to the king; the other four-fifths I will grant you for the next sowing, and to feed your households and your children.

And they answered: Our life is in thy hand: only let my lord look favourably upon us, and we will gladly serve the king.

Qui responderunt: Salus nostra in manu tua est: respiciat nos tantum dominus noster, et læti serviemus regi.

Our lives are in thy hand, they said; as long as we enjoy my lord’s favour, we will gladly be the king’s servants.

From that time unto this day, in the whole land of Egypt, the fifth part is paid to the king, and it is become as a law, except the land of the priests, which was free from this covenant.

Ex eo tempore usque in præsentem diem, in universa terra Ægypti regibus quinta pars solvitur, et factum est quasi in legem, absque terra sacerdotali, quæ libera ab hac conditione fuit.

All over Egypt, from that day to this, the payment of the fifth is a custom which has the force of law, except in the priests’ lands, which are bound by no such conditions.

So Israel dwelt in Egypt, that is, in the land of Gessen, and possessed it: and grew, and was multiplied exceedingly.

Habitavit ergo Israël in Ægypto, id est, in terra Gessen, et possedit eam: auctusque est, et multiplicatus nimis.

Thus Israel began to find a home in Egypt, that is, in the land of Gessen, took possession of it, and flourished, and grew great.

And he lived in it seventeen years: and all the days of his life came to a hundred and forty-seven years.

Et vixit in ea decem et septem annis: factique sunt omnes dies vitæ illius, centum quadraginta septem annorum.

Jacob himself lived on seventeen years there, so that he reached altogether the age of a hundred and forty-seven.

And when he saw that the day of his death drew nigh, he called his son Joseph, and said to him: If I have found favour in thy sight, put thy hand under my thigh; and thou shalt shew me this kindness and truth, not to bury me in Egypt:

Cumque appropinquare cerneret diem mortis suæ, vocavit filium suum Joseph, et dixit ad eum: Si inveni gratiam in conspectu tuo, pone manum tuam sub femore meo: et facies mihi misericordiam et veritatem, ut non sepelias me in Ægypto:

And when he saw the day of his death approaching, he sent for his son Joseph; Do me this favour, he said, put thy hand under my thigh, and swear, in love and loyalty, that thou wilt not bury me here in Egypt.

But I will sleep with my fathers, and thou shalt take me away out of this land, and bury me in the buryingplace of my ancestors. And Joseph answered him: I will do what thou hast commanded.

sed dormiam cum patribus meis, et auferas me de terra hac, condasque in sepulchro majorum meorum. Cui respondit Joseph: Ego faciam quod jussisti.

I would sleep where my fathers sleep; take me far away from this land and bury me in the burial-place of my kindred. I will do thy bidding, answered Joseph;

And he said: Swear then to me. And as he was swearing, Israel adored God, turning to the bed’s head.

Et ille: Jura ergo, inquit, mihi. Quo jurante, adoravit Israël Deum, conversus ad lectuli caput.

but Jacob would have him bind himself by an oath. So he gave his oath; and then Israel turned his eyes towards the top of his bed, and gave praise to God.