19. Why should we and our land perish before your very eyes? Take us and our land in exchange for food, and we will become Pharaoh’s slaves and our land his property; only give us seed, that we may survive and not perish, and that our land may not turn into a waste.”
20. So Joseph acquired all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh. Each of the Egyptians sold his field, since the famine weighed heavily upon them. Thus the land passed over to Pharaoh,
21. and the people were reduced to slavery, from one end of Egypt’s territory to the other.
22. Only the priests’ lands Joseph did not acquire. Since the priests had a fixed allowance from Pharaoh and lived off the allowance Pharaoh had granted them, they did not have to sell their land.
23. Joseph told the people: “Now that I have acquired you and your land for Pharaoh, here is your seed for sowing the land.
24. But when the harvest is in, you must give a fifth of it to Pharaoh, while you keep four-fifths as seed for your fields and as food for yourselves and your households and as food for your children.”
25. “You have saved our lives!” they answered. “We have found favor with my lord; now we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.”