Genesis 47:20

Summary

The verse narrates that Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, explaining that the Egyptians sold their fields because the famine had become severe, with the result that the land belonged to Pharaoh.

Key words

• va.yi.ken ("he bought", H7069) — qal narrative form, continuing the story line established with the vav-narrative prefix; marks a completed, sequential action by Joseph.
• kol- 'ad.mat mitz.ra.yim ("all [the] land of Egypt") — a construct chain: kol ("all", H3605) governs 'admat ("land of", H0127G), which is itself in construct with mitzrayim ("Egypt", H4714G), producing "all the land of Egypt" as a single grammatical unit.
• ki ("for/that", H3588A) — appears twice (lines 10 and 16), each time introducing a subordinate clause that gives the reason for the main action (Joseph's purchase, and then the severity of the famine).
• ma.khe.ru ("they sold", H4376) — qal perfect, third person plural, denoting a completed action by the Egyptians prior to or explaining the main narrative event.
• cha.zak ("it was severe", H2388G) — qal perfect, third person masculine singular, describing the famine's condition as the cause ('al + suffix "on them") of the selling.

What the text says

The verse is built as a main clause followed by two subordinate clauses introduced by ki ("for/that", H3588A), each explaining an aspect of the situation. The main clause states that Yosef ("Joseph", H3130G) va.yi.ken ("bought", H7069) kol 'admat mitzrayim ("all the land of Egypt") le-far'oh ("for Pharaoh", H6547H/H9005). The first ki-clause explains why: mitzrayim ("Egypt", H4713, referring to the people) ma.khe.ru ("sold", H4376) — each 'ish ("man/everyone", H0376I) his sadehu ("field", H7704G + H9023, "his field"). The second ki-clause gives the underlying cause: cha.zak ("it was severe/strong", H2388G) 'alehem ha-ra'av ("upon them the famine", H5921A + H9038 + H7458).

The final clause, joined again by the narrative vav, states the result: va.tehi ha-'aretz le-far'oh ("and the land became/belonged to Pharaoh", H1961), using the same preposition le- ("to/for") that appeared with Joseph's initial purchase, framing the outcome as ownership transferred to Pharaoh. The repetition of le-far'oh at both the start and the end of the verse frames the entire transaction as beginning and ending with Pharaoh's acquisition.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders mitzrayim (line 12, referring to the Egyptian people who sold) as οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι ("the Egyptians"), making explicit what the Hebrew leaves as the place-name doing double duty for the people. The Vulgate similarly shifts to a participial construction ("vendentibus singulis"), which does not preserve the two separate ki-clauses of the Hebrew but merges the selling and the famine into one causal phrase ("præ magnitudine famis").