Joseph in Review — Part One

Joseph's Dreams

¹Jacob lived in gthe land of his father's sojournings, in the land of Canaan.

²These are the generations of Jacob.

Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought ha bad report of them to their father. ³Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was ithe son of his old age. And he made him ja robe of many colors.1 ⁴But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.

⁵Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more. ⁶He said to them, “Hear this dream that I have dreamed: ⁷Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, kmy sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and lbowed down to my sheaf.” ⁸His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

⁹Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” ¹⁰But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and myour mother and your brothers indeed come nto bow ourselves to the ground before you?” ¹¹And ohis brothers were jealous of him, pbut his father kept the saying in mind.

Joseph Sold by His Brothers

¹²Now his brothers went to pasture their father's flock near qShechem. ¹³And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “Here I am.” ¹⁴So he said to him, “Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock, and bring me word.” So he sent him from the Valley of rHebron, and he came to Shechem. ¹⁵And a man found him wandering in the fields. And the man asked him, “What are you seeking?” ¹⁶“I am seeking my brothers,” he said. “Tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.” ¹⁷And the man said, “They have gone away, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to sDothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at sDothan.

¹⁸They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them tthey conspired against him to kill him. ¹⁹They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. ²⁰Come now, ulet us kill him and throw him into one of the pits.2 Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.” ²¹But when vReuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” ²²And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—wthat he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father. ²³So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, xthe robe of many colors that he wore. ²⁴And they took him and ythrew him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.

²⁵Then they sat down to eat. And looking up they saw a zcaravan of aIshmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing bgum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. ²⁶Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it cif we kill our brother and conceal his blood? ²⁷Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and dlet not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. ²⁸Then eMidianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and fsold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels3 of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.

²⁹When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he gtore his clothes ³⁰and returned to his brothers and said, “The boy his gone, and I, where shall I go?” ³¹Then they took iJoseph's robe and slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. ³²And they sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father and said, “This we have found; please identify whether it is your son's robe or not.” ³³And he identified it and said, “It is my son's robe. jA fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.” ³⁴Then Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. ³⁵All his sons and all his daughters krose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, “No, lI shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Thus his father wept for him. ³⁶Meanwhile mthe Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, nthe captain of the guard.

Judah and Tamar

¹It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and oturned aside to a certain pAdullamite, whose name was Hirah. ²There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was qShua. He took her and went in to her, ³and she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name rEr. ⁴She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name rOnan. ⁵Yet again she bore a son, and she called his name rShelah. Judah1 was in Chezib when she bore him.

⁶And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. ⁷But Er, Judah's firstborn, swas wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord put him to death. ⁸Then Judah said to Onan, “Go in to tyour brother's wife and uperform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.” ⁹But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. So whenever he went in to his brother's wife he would waste the semen on the ground, so as not to give offspring to his brother. ¹⁰And what he did was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and he put him to death also. ¹¹Then Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, v“Remain a widow in your father's house, till Shelah my son grows up”—for he feared that he would die, like his brothers. So Tamar went and remained win her father's house.

¹²In the course of time the wife of Judah, Shua's daughter, died. When Judah xwas comforted, he went up to yTimnah to his sheepshearers, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. ¹³And when Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,” ¹⁴she took off her widow's garments zand covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance to aEnaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that Shelah was grown up, band she had not been given to him in marriage. ¹⁵When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. ¹⁶He turned to her at the roadside and said, “Come, let me come in to you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?” ¹⁷He answered, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” And she said, “If you give me a pledge, until you send it—” ¹⁸He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She replied, c“Your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him. ¹⁹Then she arose and went away, and taking off dher veil she put on the garments of her widowhood.

²⁰When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite to take back the pledge from the woman's hand, he did not find her. ²¹And he asked the men of the place, “Where is the cult prostitute2 who was at eEnaim at the roadside?” And they said, “No cult prostitute has been here.” ²²So he returned to Judah and said, “I have not found her. Also, the men of the place said, ‘No cult prostitute has been here.’” ²³And Judah replied, “Let her keep the things as her own, or we shall be laughed at. You see, I sent this young goat, and you did not find her.”

²⁴About three months later Judah was told, “Tamar your daughter-in-law fhas been immoral.3 Moreover, she is pregnant by immorality.”4 And Judah said, “Bring her out, and glet her be burned.” ²⁵As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, “By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant.” And she said, “Please identify whose these are, hthe signet and the cord and the staff.” ²⁶Then Judah identified them and said, i“She is more righteous than I, since jI did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not know her again.

²⁷When the time of her labor came, there were twins in her womb. ²⁸And when she was in labor, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.” ²⁹But as he drew back his hand, behold, his brother came out. And she said, “What a breach you have made for yourself!” Therefore his name was called kPerez.5 ³⁰Afterward his brother came out with the scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called kZerah.

Joseph and Potiphar's Wife

¹Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and lPotiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, mhad bought him from the nIshmaelites who had brought him down there. ²oThe Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. ³His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord pcaused all that he did to succeed in his hands. ⁴So Joseph qfound favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house rand put him in charge of all that he had. ⁵From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house sfor Joseph's sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field. ⁶So he left all that he had in Joseph's charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate.

Now Joseph was thandsome in form and appearance. ⁷And after a time his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” ⁸But he refused and said to his master's wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and uhe has put everything that he has in my charge. ⁹He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and vsin against God?” ¹⁰And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he wwould not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her.

¹¹But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, ¹²xshe caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house. ¹³And as soon as she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled out of the house, ¹⁴she called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought among us a Hebrew to laugh at us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. ¹⁵And as soon as he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me and fled and got out of the house.” ¹⁶Then she laid up his garment by her until his master came home, ¹⁷and she told him the same story, saying, “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to laugh at me. ¹⁸But as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment beside me and fled out of the house.”

¹⁹As soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, “This is the way your servant treated me,” his anger was kindled. ²⁰And Joseph's master took him and yput him into the zprison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison. ²¹But athe Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love band gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. ²²And the keeper of the prison cput Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. ²³The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's charge, because dthe Lord was with him. And whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed.

Joseph Interprets Two Prisoners' Dreams

¹Some time after this, the ecupbearer of the king of Egypt and his baker committed an offense against their lord the king of Egypt. ²And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, ³fand he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison where Joseph was confined. ⁴The captain of the guard appointed Joseph to be with them, and he attended them. They continued for some time in custody.

⁵And one night they both dreamed—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison—each his own dream, and each dream with its own interpretation. ⁶When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled. ⁷So he asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in custody in his master's house, g“Why are your faces downcast today?” ⁸They said to him, h“We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.” And Joseph said to them, i“Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me.”

⁹So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph and said to him, “In my dream there was a vine before me, ¹⁰and on the vine there were three branches. As soon as it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters ripened into grapes. ¹¹Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup and placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand.” ¹²Then Joseph said to him, j“This is its interpretation: kthe three branches are three days. ¹³In three days Pharaoh will llift up your head and restore you to your office, and you shall place Pharaoh's cup in his hand as formerly, when you were his cupbearer. ¹⁴Only remember me, when it is well with you, and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this house. ¹⁵For mI was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and nhere also I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit.”

¹⁶When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream: there were three cake baskets on my head, ¹⁷and in the uppermost basket there were all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating it out of the basket on my head.” ¹⁸And Joseph answered and said, o“This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days. ¹⁹pIn three days Pharaoh will lift up your head—from you!—and qhang you on a tree. And the birds will eat the flesh from you.”

²⁰On the third day, which was Pharaoh's rbirthday, he made a feast for all his servants and slifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants. ²¹tHe restored the chief cupbearer to his position, and uhe placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand. ²²But he vhanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. ²³Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

Joseph Interprets Pharaoh's Dreams

¹After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile, ²and behold, there came up out of the Nile seven cows, attractive and plump, and they fed in the reed grass. ³And behold, seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile. ⁴And the ugly, thin cows ate up the seven attractive, plump cows. And Pharaoh awoke. ⁵And he fell asleep and dreamed a second time. And behold, seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing on one stalk. ⁶And behold, after them sprouted seven ears, thin and wblighted by the east wind. ⁷And the thin ears swallowed up the seven plump, full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream. ⁸So in the morning xhis spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the ymagicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh.

⁹Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “I remember my offenses today. ¹⁰When Pharaoh was zangry with his servants aand put me and the chief baker in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, ¹¹bwe dreamed on the same night, he and I, each having a dream with its own interpretation. ¹²A young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. When we told him, che interpreted our dreams to us, giving an interpretation to each man according to his dream. ¹³And das he interpreted to us, so it came about. I was restored to my office, and the baker was hanged.”

¹⁴eThen Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they fquickly brought him gout of the pit. And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh. ¹⁵And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. hI have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” ¹⁶Joseph answered Pharaoh, i“It is not in me; jGod will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”1 ¹⁷Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Behold, kin my dream I was standing on the banks of the Nile. ¹⁸Seven cows, plump and attractive, came up out of the Nile and fed in the reed grass. ¹⁹Seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and thin, such as I had never seen in all the land of Egypt. ²⁰And the thin, ugly cows ate up the first seven plump cows, ²¹but when they had eaten them no one would have known that they had eaten them, for they were still as ugly as at the beginning. Then I awoke. ²²I also saw in my dream seven ears growing on one stalk, full and good. ²³Seven ears, withered, thin, and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them, ²⁴and the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears. And lI told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.”

²⁵Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; mGod has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁶The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years; the dreams are one. ²⁷The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty ears blighted by the east wind are also nseven years of famine. ²⁸It is as I told Pharaoh; oGod has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁹There will come pseven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, ³⁰but after them there will arise qseven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. rThe famine will consume the land, ³¹and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of the famine that will follow, for it will be very severe. ³²And the doubling of Pharaoh's dream means that the sthing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about. ³³Now therefore let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt. ³⁴Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land and take one-fifth of the produce of the land2 of Egypt during the seven plentiful years. ³⁵And tlet them gather all the food of these good years that are coming and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it. ³⁶That food shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that are to occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish through the famine.”

Joseph Rises to Power

³⁷This proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants. ³⁸And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, uin whom is the Spirit of God?”3 ³⁹Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are. ⁴⁰vYou shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command.4 Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.” ⁴¹And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, wI have set you over all the land of Egypt.” ⁴²Then Pharaoh xtook his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, and yclothed him in garments of fine linen zand put a gold chain about his neck. ⁴³And he made him ride in his second chariot. aAnd they called out before him, “Bow the knee!”5 Thus he set him bover all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁴Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and cwithout your consent no one shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” ⁴⁵And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphenath-paneah. And he gave him in marriage Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On. So Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

⁴⁶Joseph was thirty years old when he dentered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁷During the seven plentiful years the earth produced abundantly, ⁴⁸and he gathered up all the food of these seven years, which occurred in the land of Egypt, and put the food in the cities. He put in every city the food from the fields around it. ⁴⁹And Joseph stored up grain in great abundance, elike the sand of the sea, until he ceased to measure it, for it could not be measured.

⁵⁰Before the year of famine came, ftwo sons were born to Joseph. Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore them to him. ⁵¹Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house.”6 ⁵²The name of the second he called Ephraim, “For God has gmade me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”7

⁵³The seven years of plenty that occurred in the land of Egypt came to an end, ⁵⁴and hthe seven years of famine began to come, ias 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. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do.”

⁵⁶So when the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses8 and jsold to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. ⁵⁷Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe kover all the earth.