17. And when they had brought them, he gave them food for their horses, and sheep, and oxen, and donkeys. And he sustained them in that year in exchange for their cattle.
18. Likewise, they came the second year, and they said to him: "We will not conceal from our lord that our money is gone; likewise our cattle are gone. Neither are you unaware that we have nothing left but our bodies and our land.
19. Therefore, why should you watch us die? Both we and our land will be yours. Buy us into royal servitude, but provide seed, lest by the dying off of cultivators the land be reduced to a wilderness."
20. Therefore, Joseph bought all the land of Egypt, each one selling his possessions because of the magnitude of the famine. And he subjected it to Pharaoh,
21. along with all of its people, from the newest borders of Egypt, even to its furthest limits,
22. except the land of the priests, which had been delivered to them by the king. To these also a portion of food was supplied out of the public storehouses, and, for this reason, they were not compelled to sell their possessions.
23. Therefore, Joseph said to the people: "So, as you discern, both you and your lands are possessed by Pharaoh; take seed and sow the fields,
24. so that you may be able to have grain. One fifth part you will give to the king; the remaining four I permit to you, as seed and as food for your families and children.
25. And they responded: "Our health is in your hand; only let our lord look kindly upon us, and we will serve the king with gladness."
26. From that time, even to the present day, in the entire land of Egypt, the fifth part is turned over to the kings, and it has become like a law, except in the land of the priests, which was free from this condition.