17. So people brought their farm animals to Joseph. And he gave them food in exchange for their horses, sheep, cattle and donkeys. So he kept them alive by trading food for their farm animals that year.
18. The next year the people came to Joseph and said, “You know we have no money left. And all our animals belong to you. We have nothing left except our bodies and our land.
19. Surely both we and our land will die here in front of you. Buy us and our land in exchange for food. And we will be slaves to the king, together with our land. Give us seed to plant. Then we will live and not die. And the land will not become a desert.”
20. So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for the king. Every Egyptian sold Joseph his field, because the hunger was very great. So the land became the king’s.
21. And Joseph made the people slaves from one end of Egypt to the other.