Day 21 of 730

¹It happened at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and behold, he stood by the river.

²Behold, there came up out of the river seven cattle, sleek and fat, and they fed in the marsh grass.

³Behold, seven other cattle came up after them out of the river, ugly and thin, and stood by the other cattle on the brink of the river.

⁴The ugly and thin cattle ate up the seven sleek and fat cattle. So Pharaoh awoke.

⁵He slept and dreamed a second time: and behold, seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, healthy and good.

⁶Behold, seven heads of grain, thin and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them.

⁷The thin heads of grain blasted with the east wind swallowed up the seven healthy and full ears. Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream.

⁸It happened in the morning that his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all of Egypt's magicians and wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them to Pharaoh.

⁹Then the chief cupbearer spoke to Pharaoh, saying, "I remember my faults today.

¹⁰Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, me and the chief baker.

¹¹We dreamed a dream in one night, I and he. We dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream.

¹²There was with us there a young man, a Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard, and we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams. To each man according to his dream he interpreted.

¹³It happened, as he interpreted to us, so it was: he restored me to my office, and he hanged him."

¹⁴Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon. He shaved himself, changed his clothing, and came in to Pharaoh.

¹⁵Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you, that when you hear a dream you can interpret it."

¹⁶Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, "Without God an answer of welfare shall not be given to Pharaoh."

¹⁷Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, "In my dream, behold, I stood on the brink of the river:

¹⁸and behold, there came up out of the river seven cattle, fat and sleek. They fed in the marsh grass,

¹⁹and behold, seven other cattle came up after them, poor and very ugly and thin, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for ugliness.

²⁰The thin and ugly cattle ate up the first seven fat cattle,

²¹and when they had eaten them up, it couldn't be known that they had eaten them, but they were still ugly, as at the beginning. So I awoke.

²²I saw in my dream, and behold, seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, full and good:

²³and behold, seven heads of grain, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them.

²⁴The seven thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads of grain. I told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me."

²⁵Joseph said to Pharaoh, "The dream of Pharaoh is one. What God is about to do he has declared to Pharaoh.

²⁶The seven good cattle are seven years; and the seven good heads of grain are seven years. The dream is one.

²⁷The seven thin and ugly cattle that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven empty heads of grain blasted with the east wind; they will be seven years of famine.

²⁸That is the thing which I spoke to Pharaoh. What God is about to do he has shown to Pharaoh.

²⁹Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt.

³⁰There will arise after them seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land,

³¹and the plenty will not be known in the land by reason of that famine which follows; for it will be very grievous.

³²The dream was doubled to Pharaoh, because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.

³³"Now therefore let Pharaoh look for a discreet and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt.

³⁴Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint overseers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt's produce in the seven plenteous years.

³⁵Let them gather all the food of these good years that come, and lay up grain under the hand of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it.

³⁶The food will be for a store to the land against the seven years of famine, which will be in the land of Egypt; that the land not perish through the famine."

³⁷The thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants.

³⁸Pharaoh said to his servants, "Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?"

³⁹Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Because God has shown you all of this, there is none so discreet and wise as you.

⁴⁰You shall be over my house, and according to your word will all my people be ruled. Only in the throne I will be greater than you."

⁴¹Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Behold, I have set you over all the land of Egypt."

⁴²Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand, and put it on Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in robes of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck,

⁴³and he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had. They cried before him, "Bow the knee!" He set him over all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁴Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I am Pharaoh, and without you shall no man lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt."

⁴⁵Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphenath-Paneah; and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On as a wife. Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

⁴⁶Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁷In the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth abundantly.

⁴⁸He gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities: the food of the field, which was around every city, he laid up in the same.

⁴⁹Joseph laid up grain as the sand of the sea, very much, until he stopped counting, for it was without number.

⁵⁰To Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him.

⁵¹Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh, "For," he said, "God has made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house."

⁵²The name of the second, he called Ephraim: "For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction."

⁵³The seven years of plenty, that were in the land of Egypt, came to an end.

⁵⁴The seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.

⁵⁵When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread, and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, "Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do."

⁵⁶The famine was over all the surface of the earth. Joseph opened all the store houses, and sold to the Egyptians. The famine was severe in the land of Egypt.

⁵⁷All countries came into Egypt, to Joseph, to buy grain, because the famine was severe in all the earth.

¹Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, "Why do you look at one another?"

²He said, "Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there, and buy for us from there, so that we may live, and not die."

³Joseph's ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.

⁴But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with his brothers; for he said, "Lest perhaps harm happen to him."

⁵The sons of Israel came to buy among those who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.

⁶Joseph was the governor over the land. It was he who sold to all the people of the land. Joseph's brothers came, and bowed themselves down to him with their faces to the earth.

⁷Joseph saw his brothers, and he recognized them, but acted like a stranger to them, and spoke roughly with them. He said to them, "Where did you come from?" They said, "From the land of Canaan to buy food."

⁸Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him.

⁹Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed about them, and said to them, "You are spies! You have come to see the nakedness of the land."

¹⁰They said to him, "No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food.

¹¹We are all one man's sons; we are honest men. Your servants are not spies."

¹²He said to them, "No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land."

¹³They said, "We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is no more."

¹⁴Joseph said to them, "It is like I told you, saying, 'You are spies.'

¹⁵By this you shall be tested. By the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go forth from here, unless your youngest brother comes here.

¹⁶Send one of you, and let him get your brother, and you shall be bound, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you, or else by the life of Pharaoh surely you are spies."

¹⁷He put them all together into custody for three days.

¹⁸Joseph said to them the third day, "Do this, and live, for I fear God.

¹⁹If you are honest men, then let one of your brothers be bound in your prison; but you go, carry grain for the famine of your houses.

²⁰Bring your youngest brother to me; so will your words be verified, and you won't die." They did so.

²¹They said one to another, "We are certainly guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us, and we wouldn't listen. Therefore this distress has come upon us."

²²Reuben answered them, saying, "Did I not tell you, saying, 'Do not sin against the child,' and you wouldn't listen? Therefore also, behold, his blood is required."

²³They did not know that Joseph understood them; for there was an interpreter between them.

²⁴He turned himself away from them, and wept. Then he returned to them, and spoke to them, and took Simeon from among them, and bound him before their eyes.

²⁵Then Joseph gave a command to fill their bags with grain, and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give them food for the way. So it was done to them.

²⁶They loaded their donkeys with their grain, and departed from there.

²⁷As one of them opened his sack to give his donkey food in the lodging place, he saw his money. Behold, it was in the mouth of his sack.

²⁸He said to his brothers, "My money is restored! Behold, it is in my sack!" Their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling one to another, saying, "What is this that God has done to us?"

²⁹They came to Jacob their father, to the land of Canaan, and told him all that had happened to them, saying,

³⁰"The man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly with us, and took us for spies of the country.

³¹We said to him, 'We are honest men. We are no spies.

³²We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.'

³³The man, the lord of the land, said to us, 'By this I will know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for the famine of your houses, and go your way.

³⁴Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I will know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. So I will deliver your brother to you, and you shall trade in the land.'"

³⁵It happened as they emptied their sacks, that behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack. When they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid.

³⁶Jacob, their father, said to them, "You have bereaved me of my children! Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin away. All these things are against me."

³⁷Reuben spoke to his father, saying, "Kill my two sons, if I do not bring him to you. Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him to you again."

³⁸He said, "My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he only is left. If harm happens to him along the way in which you go, then you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol."

¹The king rejoices in your strength, Lord! How greatly he rejoices in your salvation!

²You have given him his heart's desire, and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah.

³For you meet him with the blessings of goodness. You set a crown of fine gold on his head.

⁴He asked life of you, you gave it to him, even length of days forever and ever.

⁵His glory is great in your salvation. You lay honor and majesty on him.

⁶For you make him most blessed forever. You make him glad with joy in your presence.

⁷For the king trusts in the Lord. Through the loving kindness of the Most High, he shall not be moved.

⁸Your hand will find out all of your enemies. Your right hand will find out those who hate you.

⁹You will make them as a fiery furnace in the time of your anger. The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath. The fire shall devour them.

¹⁰You will destroy their descendants from the earth, their posterity from among the children of men.

¹¹For they intended evil against you. They plotted evil against you which cannot succeed.

¹²For you will make them turn their back, when you aim drawn bows at their face.

¹³Be exalted, Lord, in your strength, so we will sing and praise your power.

¹The king's heart is in the Lord's hand like the watercourses. He turns it wherever he desires.

²Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the hearts.

³To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

⁴A high look, and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, is sin.

⁵The plans of the diligent surely lead to profit; and everyone who is hasty surely rushes to poverty.

⁶Getting treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor for those who seek death.

⁷The violence of the wicked will drive them away, because they refuse to do what is right.

⁸The way of the guilty is devious, but the conduct of the innocent is upright.

⁹It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop, than to share a house with a contentious woman.

¹⁰The soul of the wicked desires evil; his neighbor finds no mercy in his eyes.

¹¹When the mocker is punished, the simple gains wisdom. When the wise is instructed, he receives knowledge.

¹²The Righteous One considers the house of the wicked, and brings the wicked to ruin.

¹³Whoever stops his ears at the cry of the poor, he will also cry out, but shall not be heard.

¹⁴A gift in secret pacifies anger; and a bribe in the cloak, strong wrath.

¹⁵It is joy to the righteous to do justice; but it is a destruction to the workers of iniquity.

¹⁶The man who wanders out of the way of understanding shall rest in the assembly of the dead.

¹⁷He who loves pleasure shall be a poor man. He who loves wine and oil shall not be rich.

¹⁸The wicked is a ransom for the righteous; the treacherous for the upright.

¹⁹It is better to dwell in a desert land, than with a contentious and fretful woman.

²⁰There is precious treasure and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man swallows it up.

²¹He who follows after righteousness and kindness finds life, righteousness, and honor.

²²A wise man scales the city of the mighty, and brings down the strength of its confidence.

²³Whoever guards his mouth and his tongue keeps his soul from troubles.

²⁴The proud and haughty man, "scoffer" is his name; he works in the arrogance of pride.

²⁵The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor.

²⁶There are those who covet greedily all day long; but the righteous give and do not withhold.

²⁷The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination: how much more, when he brings it with a wicked mind!

²⁸A false witness will perish, and a man who listens speaks to eternity.

²⁹A wicked man hardens his face; but as for the upright, he establishes his ways.

³⁰There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord.

³¹The horse is prepared for the day of battle; but victory is with the Lord.