for them, that they should not be separated, but live in the same place,
and take care of their father; as also hereby he provided, that they
might be acceptable to the Egyptians, by doing nothing that would be
common to them with the Egyptians; for the Egyptians are prohibited to
meddle with feeding of sheep. [12]

6. When Jacob was come to the king, and saluted him, and wished all
prosperity to his government, Pharaoh asked him how old he now was; upon
whose answer, that he was a hundred and thirty years old, he admired
Jacob on account of the length of his life. And when he had added, that
still he had not lived so long as his forefathers, he gave him leave
to live with his children in Heliopolis; for in that city the king's
shepherds had their pasturage.

7. However, the famine increased among the Egyptians, and this heavy
judgment grew more oppressive to them, because neither did the river
overflow the ground, for it did not rise to its former height, nor did
God send rain upon it; [13] nor did they indeed make the least provision
for themselves, so ignorant were they what was to be done; but Joseph
sold them corn for their money. But when their money failed them, they
bought corn with their cattle and their slaves; and if any of them had
a small piece of land, they gave up that to purchase them food, by which
means the king became the owner of all their substance; and they were
removed, some to one place, and some to another, that so the possession
of their country might be firmly assured to the king, excepting the
lands of the priests, for their country continued still in their own
possession. And indeed this sore famine made their minds, as well
as their bodies, slaves; and at length compelled them to procure a
sufficiency of food by such dishonorable means. But when this misery
ceased, and the river overflowed the ground, and the ground brought
forth its fruits plentifully, Joseph came to every city, and gathered
the people thereto belonging together, and gave them back entirely the
land which, by their own consent, the king might have possessed alone,
and alone enjoyed the fruits of it. He also exhorted them to look on
it as every one's own possession, and to fall to their husbandry with
cheerfulness, and to pay as a tribute to the king, the fifth part [14]
of the fruits for the land which the king, when it was his own, restored
to them. These men rejoiced upon their becoming unexpectedly owners of
their la