Day 21 of 365

¹Joseph was brought down to Egypt. Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the hand of the Ishmaelites that had brought him down there.

²The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man. He was in the house of his master the Egyptian.

³His master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did prosper in his hand.

⁴Joseph found favor in his sight. He ministered to him, and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand.

⁵It happened from the time that he made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in the house and in the field.

⁶He left all that he had in Joseph's hand. He did not concern himself with anything, except for the food which he ate. Joseph was well-built and handsome.

⁷It happened after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph; and she said, "Lie with me."

⁸But he refused, and said to his master's wife, "Behold, my master doesn't know what is with me in the house, and he has put all that he has into my hand.

⁹He isn't greater in this house than I, neither has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?"

¹⁰As she spoke to Joseph day by day, he did not listen to her, to lie by her, or to be with her.

¹¹About this time, he went into the house to do his work, and there were none of the men of the house inside.

¹²She caught him by his garment, saying, "Lie with me!" He left his garment in her hand, and ran outside.

¹³When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and had run outside,

¹⁴she called to the men of her house, and spoke to them, saying, "Behold, he has brought in a Hebrew to us to mock us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice.

¹⁵It happened, when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment by me, and ran outside."

¹⁶She laid up his garment by her, until his master came home.

¹⁷She spoke to him according to these words, saying, "The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought to us, came in to me to mock me,

¹⁸and it happened, as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment by me, and ran outside."

¹⁹It happened, when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him, saying, "This is what your servant did to me," that his wrath was kindled.

²⁰Joseph's master took him, and put him into the prison, the place where the king's prisoners were bound, and he was there in custody.

²¹But the Lord was with Joseph, and showed kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.

²²The keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever they did there, he was responsible for it.

²³The keeper of the prison did not look after anything that was under his hand, because the Lord was with him; and that which he did, the Lord made it prosper.

¹It happened after these things, that the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker offended their lord, the king of Egypt.

²Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker.

³He put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound.

⁴The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he took care of them. They stayed in prison many days.

⁵They both dreamed a dream, each man his dream, in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were bound in the prison.

⁶Joseph came in to them in the morning, and saw them, and saw that they were sad.

⁷He asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in custody in his master's house, saying, "Why do you look so sad today?"

⁸They said to him, "We have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it." Joseph said to them, "Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell it to me."

⁹The chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, "In my dream, behold, a vine was in front of me,

¹⁰and in the vine were three branches. It was as though it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and its clusters brought forth ripe grapes.

¹¹Pharaoh's cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand."

¹²Joseph said to him, "This is its interpretation: the three branches are three days.

¹³Within three more days, Pharaoh will lift up your head, and restore you to your office. You will give Pharaoh's cup into his hand, the way you did when you were his cupbearer.

¹⁴But remember me when it will be well with you, and show kindness, please, to me, and make mention of me to Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house.

¹⁵For indeed, I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon."

¹⁶When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, "I also was in my dream, and behold, three baskets of white bread were on my head.

¹⁷In the uppermost basket there was all kinds of baked food for Pharaoh, and the birds ate them out of the basket on my head."

¹⁸Joseph answered, "This is its interpretation. The three baskets are three days.

¹⁹Within three more days, Pharaoh will lift up your head from off you, and will hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat your flesh from off you."

²⁰It happened the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants, and he lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants.

²¹He restored the chief cupbearer to his position again, and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand;

²²but he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them.

²³Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

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."