Day 101 of 365

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 famine was severe in the land.

²It happened, when they had eaten up the grain which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said to them, "Go again, buy us a little more food."

³Judah spoke to him, saying, "The man solemnly warned us, saying, 'You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.'

⁴If you'll send our brother with us, we'll go down and buy you food,

⁵but if you'll not send him, we'll not go down, for the man said to us, 'You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.'"

⁶Israel said, "Why did you treat me so badly, telling the man that you had another brother?"

⁷They said, "The man asked directly concerning ourselves, and concerning our relatives, saying, 'Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?' We just answered his questions. Is there any way we could know that he would say, 'Bring your brother down?'"

⁸Judah said to Israel, his father, "Send the boy with me, and we'll get up and go, so that we may live, and not die, both we, and you, and also our little ones.

⁹I'll be collateral for him. From my hand will you require him. If I do not bring him to you, and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever,

¹⁰for if we hadn't delayed, surely we would have returned a second time by now."

¹¹Their father, Israel, said to them, "If it must be so, then do this. Take from the choice fruits of the land in your bags, and carry down a present for the man, a little balm, a little honey, spices and myrrh, nuts, and almonds;

¹²and take double money in your hand, and take back the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was an oversight.

¹³Take your brother also, get up, and return to the man.

¹⁴May God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release to you your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved."

¹⁵The men took that present, and they took double money in their hand, and Benjamin; and got up, went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph.

¹⁶When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, "Bring the men into the house, and butcher an animal, and make ready; for the men will dine with me at noon."

¹⁷The man did as Joseph commanded, and the man brought the men to Joseph's house.

¹⁸The men were afraid, because they were brought to Joseph's house; and they said, "Because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time, we're brought in; that he may seek occasion against us, attack us, and seize us as slaves, along with our donkeys."

¹⁹They came near to the steward of Joseph's house, and they spoke to him at the door of the house,

²⁰and said, "Oh, my lord, we indeed came down the first time to buy food.

²¹When we came to the lodging place, we opened our sacks, and behold, every man's money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight. We have brought it back in our hand.

²²We have brought down other money in our hand to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks."

²³He said, "Peace be to you. Do not be afraid. Your God, and the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks. I received your money." He brought Simeon out to them.

²⁴The man brought the men into Joseph's house, and gave them water, and they washed their feet. He gave their donkeys fodder.

²⁵They made ready the present for Joseph's coming at noon, for they heard that they should eat bread there.

²⁶When Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed themselves down to him to the earth.

²⁷He asked them of their welfare, and said, "Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he yet alive?"

²⁸They said, "Your servant, our father, is well. He is still alive." They bowed the head, and did homage.

²⁹He lifted up his eyes, and saw Benjamin, his brother, his mother's son, and said, "Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me?" He said, "God be gracious to you, my son."

³⁰Joseph hurried, for his heart yearned over his brother; and he sought a place to weep. He entered into his room, and wept there.

³¹He washed his face, and came out. He controlled himself, and said, "Serve the meal."

³²They served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians, that ate with him, by themselves, because the Egyptians do not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians.

³³They sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth, and the men marveled one with another.

³⁴He sent portions to them from before him, but Benjamin's portion was five times as much as any of theirs. They drank, and were merry with him.

¹I will sing of loving kindness and justice. To you, Lord, I will sing praises.

²I will be careful to live a blameless life. When will you come to me? I will walk within my house with a blameless heart.

³I will set no vile thing before my eyes. I hate the deeds of faithless men. They will not cling to me.

⁴A perverse heart will be far from me. I will have nothing to do with evil.

⁵I will silence whoever secretly slanders his neighbor. I won't tolerate one who is haughty and conceited.

⁶My eyes will be on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me. He who walks in a perfect way, he will serve me.

⁷He who practices deceit won't dwell within my house. He who speaks falsehood won't be established before my eyes.

⁸Morning by morning, I will destroy all the wicked of the land; to cut off all the workers of iniquity from the Lord's city.

¹Doesn't wisdom cry out? Doesn't understanding raise her voice?

²On the top of high places by the way, where the paths meet, she stands.

³Beside the gates, at the entry of the city, at the entry doors, she cries aloud:

⁴"To you men, I call! I send my voice to the sons of mankind.

⁵You simple, understand prudence. You fools, be of an understanding heart.

⁶Hear, for I will speak excellent things. The opening of my lips is for right things.

⁷For my mouth speaks truth. Wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

⁸All the words of my mouth are in righteousness. There is nothing crooked or perverse in them.

⁹They are all plain to him who understands, right to those who find knowledge.

¹⁰Receive my instruction rather than silver; knowledge rather than choice gold.

¹¹For wisdom is better than rubies. All the things that may be desired can't be compared to it.

¹²"I, wisdom, have made prudence my dwelling. Find out knowledge and discretion.

¹³The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. I hate pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the perverse mouth.

¹⁴Counsel and sound knowledge are mine. I have understanding and power.

¹⁵By me kings reign, and princes decree justice.

¹⁶By me princes rule; nobles, and all the righteous rulers of the earth.

¹⁷I love those who love me. Those who seek me diligently will find me.

¹⁸With me are riches, honor, enduring wealth, and prosperity.

¹⁹My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold; my yield than choice silver.

²⁰I walk in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of justice;

²¹That I may give wealth to those who love me. I fill their treasuries.

²²"The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his work, before his deeds of old.

²³I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth existed.

²⁴When there were no depths, I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water.

²⁵Before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was brought forth;

²⁶while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the beginning of the dust of the world.

²⁷When he established the heavens, I was there; when he set a circle on the surface of the deep,

²⁸when he established the clouds above, when the springs of the deep became strong,

²⁹when he gave to the sea its boundary, that the waters should not violate his commandment, when he marked out the foundations of the earth;

³⁰then I was the craftsman by his side. I was a delight day by day, always rejoicing before him,

³¹Rejoicing in his whole world. My delight was with the sons of men.

³²"Now therefore, my sons, listen to me, for blessed are those who keep my ways.

³³Hear instruction, and be wise. Do not refuse it.

³⁴Blessed is the man who hears me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my door posts.

³⁵For whoever finds me, finds life, and will obtain favor from the Lord.

³⁶But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul. All those who hate me love death."