Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years. Let him appoint officers - פקדים pekidim, visitors, overseers: translated by Ainsworth, bishops; see Genesis 39:1.
Take up the fifth part of the land - What is still called the meery, or that part of the produce which is claimed by the king by way of tax. It is probable that in Joseph's time it was not so much as a fifth part, most likely a tenth: but as this was an extraordinary occasion, and the earth brought forth by handfuls, Genesis 41:47, the king would be justified in requiring a fifth; and from the great abundance, the people could pay this increased tax without feeling it to be oppressive.