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Genesis 47

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1 Then Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, and said, "My father and my brothers, with their flocks, their herds, and all that they own, have come out of the land of Canaan; and behold, they are in the land of Goshen."

2 From among his brothers he took five men, and presented them to Pharaoh.

3 Pharaoh said to his brothers, "What is your occupation?" They said to Pharaoh, "Your servants are shepherds, both we, and our fathers."

4 They said to Pharaoh, "We have come to live as foreigners in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants' flocks. For the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen."

5 Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, "Your father and your brothers have come to you.

6 The land of Egypt is before you. Make your father and your brothers dwell in the best of the land. Let them dwell in the land of Goshen. If you know any able men among them, then put them in charge of my livestock."

7 Joseph brought in Jacob, his father, and set him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

8 Pharaoh said to Jacob, "How many are the days of the years of your life?"

9 Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred thirty years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage."

10 Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from the presence of Pharaoh.

11 Joseph placed his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

12 Joseph nourished his father, his brothers, and all of his father's household, with bread, according to their families.

13 There was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine.

14 Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house.

15 When the money was all spent in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, and said, "Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? For our money fails."

16 Joseph said, "Give me your livestock; and I will Give you food for your livestock, if your money is gone."

17 They brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, and for the flocks, and for the herds, and for the donkeys: and he fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock for that year.

18 When that year was ended, they came to him the second year, and said to him, "We will not hide from my lord how our money is all spent, and the herds of livestock are my lord's. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands.

19 Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh. Give us seed, that we may live, and not die, and that the land won't be desolate."

20 So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for every man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was severe on them, and the land became Pharaoh's.

21 As for the people, he moved them to the cities from one end of the border of Egypt even to the other end of it.

22 Only he didn't buy the land of the priests, for the priests had a portion from Pharaoh, and ate their portion which Pharaoh gave them. That is why they didn't sell their land.

23 Then Joseph said to the people, "Behold, I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh. Behold, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land.

24 It will happen at the harvests, that you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four parts will be your own, for seed of the field, for your food, for them of your households, and for food for your little ones."

25 They said, "You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants."

26 Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth. Only the land of the priests alone didn't become Pharaoh's.

27 Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen; and they got themselves possessions therein, and were fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly.

28 Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were one hundred forty-seven years.

29 The time drew near that Israel must die, and he called his son Joseph, and said to him, "If now I have found favor in your sight, please put your hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me. Please don't bury me in Egypt,

30 but when I sleep with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying place." He said, "I will do as you have said."

31 He said, "Swear to me," and he swore to him. Israel bowed himself on the bed's head.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 6068

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6068. 'And behold, they are in the land of Goshen' means that they are in the middle of the natural where factual knowledge resides. This is clear from the meaning of 'Goshen' as the middle or inmost part of the natural, dealt with in 5910, 6028, 6031. What is meant by their being in the middle of the natural is this: Once the Church's forms of good and its truths - that is, those which it has received from the Lord's Word - have been acknowledged and with faith accepted in the natural, they occupy the middle there. For things that are immediate objects of attention are in the middle, and those that are not immediate objects of attention are to the sides; consequently the ones in the middle are seen clearly, those to the sides vaguely.

[2] It is the same as it is with the sight of the eye. The objects on which the eye is directly focused are in the middle, that is, in the centre and are seen clearly; but those on which it is not directly focused are to the sides, away from the middle, and are seen vaguely. For the inner eye, which is the intellectual power of the mind and which depends for its vision on the light of heaven, sees things outside itself in the natural, which are known facts, just as the physical eye sees objects or a whole range of objects outside itself. Inward sight is directed towards the things that give the greatest delight and are close to the heart, and it fixes its attention directly on them, in the same way as outward sight focuses on things similarly delightful in whole ranges of objects. Inward sight accordingly focuses on those known facts that are in close agreement with the truth and good that govern a person. These facts are then, for that person, in the middle. The reason why inward sight sees factual knowledge is that such sight is spiritual and therefore directs its attention towards spiritual matters, thus towards known facts, for these are the appropriate objects of spiritual attention.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.