6. You can choose any place in Egypt for them to live. Give your father and your brothers the best land. Let them live in the land of Goshen. And if they are skilled shepherds, they can also care for my cattle.”
7. Then Joseph called his father Jacob to come in to meet Pharaoh. Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
8. Then Pharaoh said to him, “How old are you?”
9. Jacob said to Pharaoh, “I have had a short life with many troubles. I am only 130 years old. My father and his ancestors lived to be much older than I am.”
10. Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and left from his meeting with him.
11. Joseph did what Pharaoh said and gave his father and brothers land in Egypt. It was the best land in Egypt, in the eastern part of the country, around Rameses.
12. Joseph also gave his father, his brothers, and all their people the food they needed.
13. The famine got worse; there was no food anywhere in the land. Egypt and Canaan became very poor because of this bad time.
14. People in the land bought more and more grain. Joseph saved the money and brought it to Pharaoh’s house.
15. After some time, the people in Egypt and Canaan had no money left. They had spent all their money to buy grain. So the people of Egypt went to Joseph and said, “Please give us food. Our money is gone. If we don’t eat, we will die while you are watching.”
16. But Joseph answered, “Give me your cattle, and I will give you food.”
17. So the people used their cattle and horses and all their other animals to buy food. And that year, Joseph gave them food and took their animals.
18. But the next year the people had no animals and nothing to buy food with. So they went to Joseph and said, “You know that we have no money left, and all our animals belong to you. So we have nothing left—only what you see—our bodies and our land.
19. Surely we will die while you are watching. But if you give us food, we will give Pharaoh our land, and we will be his slaves. Give us seed so that we can plant. Then we will live and not die, and the land will grow food for us again.”