Joseph’s Dreams

37 So Jacob settled again in the land of Canaan, where his father had lived as a foreigner.

² This is the account of Jacob and his family. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he often tended his father’s flocks. He worked for his half brothers, the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah. But Joseph reported to his father some of the bad things his brothers were doing.

³ Jacob^[a] loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph—a beautiful robe.^{[b] 4} But his brothers hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them. They couldn’t say a kind word to him.

⁵ One night Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated him more than ever. ⁶ “Listen to this dream,” he said. ⁷ “We were out in the field, tying up bundles of grain. Suddenly my bundle stood up, and your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before mine!”

⁸ His brothers responded, “So you think you will be our king, do you? Do you actually think you will reign over us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dreams and the way he talked about them.

⁹ Soon Joseph had another dream, and again he told his brothers about it. “Listen, I have had another dream,” he said. “The sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed low before me!”

¹⁰ This time he told the dream to his father as well as to his brothers, but his father scolded him. “What kind of dream is that?” he asked. “Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow to the ground before you?” ¹¹ But while his brothers were jealous of Joseph, his father wondered what the dreams meant.

¹² Soon after this, Joseph’s brothers went to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem. ¹³ When they had been gone for some time, Jacob said to Joseph, “Your brothers are pasturing the sheep at Shechem. Get ready, and I will send you to them.”

“I’m ready to go,” Joseph replied.

¹⁴ “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are getting along,” Jacob said. “Then come back and bring me a report.” So Jacob sent him on his way, and Joseph traveled to Shechem from their home in the valley of Hebron.

¹⁵ When he arrived there, a man from the area noticed him wandering around the countryside. “What are you looking for?” he asked.

¹⁶ “I’m looking for my brothers,” Joseph replied. “Do you know where they are pasturing their sheep?”

¹⁷ “Yes,” the man told him. “They have moved on from here, but I heard them say, ‘Let’s go on to Dothan.’” So Joseph followed his brothers to Dothan and found them there.

Joseph Sold into Slavery

¹⁸ When Joseph’s brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance. As he approached, they made plans to kill him. ¹⁹ “Here comes the dreamer!” they said. ²⁰ “Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns. We can tell our father, ‘A wild animal has eaten him.’ Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”

²¹ But when Reuben heard of their scheme, he came to Joseph’s rescue. “Let’s not kill him,” he said. ²² “Why should we shed any blood? Let’s just throw him into this empty cistern here in the wilderness. Then he’ll die without our laying a hand on him.” Reuben was secretly planning to rescue Joseph and return him to his father.

²³ So when Joseph arrived, his brothers ripped off the beautiful robe he was wearing. ²⁴ Then they grabbed him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it. ²⁵ Then, just as they were sitting down to eat, they looked up and saw a caravan of camels in the distance coming toward them. It was a group of Ishmaelite traders taking a load of gum, balm, and aromatic resin from Gilead down to Egypt.

²⁶ Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain by killing our brother? We’d have to cover up the crime.^{[c] 27} Instead of hurting him, let’s sell him to those Ishmaelite traders. After all, he is our brother—our own flesh and blood!” And his brothers agreed. ²⁸ So when the Ishmaelites, who were Midianite traders, came by, Joseph’s brothers pulled him out of the cistern and sold him to them for twenty pieces^[d] of silver. And the traders took him to Egypt.

²⁹ Some time later, Reuben returned to get Joseph out of the cistern. When he discovered that Joseph was missing, he tore his clothes in grief. ³⁰ Then he went back to his brothers and lamented, “The boy is gone! What will I do now?”

³¹ Then the brothers killed a young goat and dipped Joseph’s robe in its blood. ³² They sent the beautiful robe to their father with this message: “Look at what we found. Doesn’t this robe belong to your son?”

³³ Their father recognized it immediately. “Yes,” he said, “it is my son’s robe. A wild animal must have eaten him. Joseph has clearly been torn to pieces!” ³⁴ Then Jacob tore his clothes and dressed himself in burlap. He mourned deeply for his son for a long time. ³⁵ His family all tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “I will go to my grave^[e] mourning for my son,” he would say, and then he would weep.

³⁶ Meanwhile, the Midianite traders^[f] arrived in Egypt, where they sold Joseph to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Potiphar was captain of the palace guard.

Judah and Tamar

38 About this time, Judah left home and moved to Adullam, where he stayed with a man named Hirah. ² There he saw a Canaanite woman, the daughter of Shua, and he married her. When he slept with her, ³ she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, and he named the boy Er. ⁴ Then she became pregnant again and gave birth to another son, and she named him Onan. ⁵ And when she gave birth to a third son, she named him Shelah. At the time of Shelah’s birth, they were living at Kezib.

⁶ In the course of time, Judah arranged for his firstborn son, Er, to marry a young woman named Tamar. ⁷ But Er was a wicked man in the Lord’s sight, so the Lord took his life. ⁸ Then Judah said to Er’s brother Onan, “Go and marry Tamar, as our law requires of the brother of a man who has died. You must produce an heir for your brother.”

⁹ But Onan was not willing to have a child who would not be his own heir. So whenever he had intercourse with his brother’s wife, he spilled the semen on the ground. This prevented her from having a child who would belong to his brother. ¹⁰ But the Lord considered it evil for Onan to deny a child to his dead brother. So the Lord took Onan’s life, too.

¹¹ Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, “Go back to your parents’ home and remain a widow until my son Shelah is old enough to marry you.” (But Judah didn’t really intend to do this because he was afraid Shelah would also die, like his two brothers.) So Tamar went back to live in her father’s home.

¹² Some years later Judah’s wife died. After the time of mourning was over, Judah and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went up to Timnah to supervise the shearing of his sheep. ¹³ Someone told Tamar, “Look, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.”

¹⁴ Tamar was aware that Shelah had grown up, but no arrangements had been made for her to come and marry him. So she changed out of her widow’s clothing and covered herself with a veil to disguise herself. Then she sat beside the road at the entrance to the village of Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. ¹⁵ Judah noticed her and thought she was a prostitute, since she had covered her face. ¹⁶ So he stopped and propositioned her. “Let me have sex with you,” he said, not realizing that she was his own daughter-in-law.

“How much will you pay to have sex with me?” Tamar asked.

¹⁷ “I’ll send you a young goat from my flock,” Judah promised.

“But what will you give me to guarantee that you will send the goat?” she asked.

¹⁸ “What kind of guarantee do you want?” he replied.

She answered, “Leave me your identification seal and its cord and the walking stick you are carrying.” So Judah gave them to her. Then he had intercourse with her, and she became pregnant. ¹⁹ Afterward she went back home, took off her veil, and put on her widow’s clothing as usual.

²⁰ Later Judah asked his friend Hirah the Adullamite to take the young goat to the woman and to pick up the things he had given her as his guarantee. But Hirah couldn’t find her. ²¹ So he asked the men who lived there, “Where can I find the shrine prostitute who was sitting beside the road at the entrance to Enaim?”

“We’ve never had a shrine prostitute here,” they replied.

²² So Hirah returned to Judah and told him, “I couldn’t find her anywhere, and the men of the village claim they’ve never had a shrine prostitute there.”

²³ “Then let her keep the things I gave her,” Judah said. “I sent the young goat as we agreed, but you couldn’t find her. We’d be the laughingstock of the village if we went back again to look for her.”

²⁴ About three months later, Judah was told, “Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has acted like a prostitute. And now, because of this, she’s pregnant.”

“Bring her out, and let her be burned!” Judah demanded.

²⁵ But as they were taking her out to kill her, she sent this message to her father-in-law: “The man who owns these things made me pregnant. Look closely. Whose seal and cord and walking stick are these?”

²⁶ Judah recognized them immediately and said, “She is more righteous than I am, because I didn’t arrange for her to marry my son Shelah.” And Judah never slept with Tamar again.

²⁷ When the time came for Tamar to give birth, it was discovered that she was carrying twins. ²⁸ While she was in labor, one of the babies reached out his hand. The midwife grabbed it and tied a scarlet string around the child’s wrist, announcing, “This one came out first.” ²⁹ But then he pulled back his hand, and out came his brother! “What!” the midwife exclaimed. “How did you break out first?” So he was named Perez.^{[g] 30} Then the baby with the scarlet string on his wrist was born, and he was named Zerah.^[h]

Joseph in Potiphar’s House

39 When Joseph was taken to Egypt by the Ishmaelite traders, he was purchased by Potiphar, an Egyptian officer. Potiphar was captain of the guard for Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.

² The Lord was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything he did as he served in the home of his Egyptian master. ³ Potiphar noticed this and realized that the Lord was with Joseph, giving him success in everything he did. ⁴ This pleased Potiphar, so he soon made Joseph his personal attendant. He put him in charge of his entire household and everything he owned. ⁵ From the day Joseph was put in charge of his master’s household and property, the Lord began to bless Potiphar’s household for Joseph’s sake. All his household affairs ran smoothly, and his crops and livestock flourished. ⁶ So Potiphar gave Joseph complete administrative responsibility over everything he owned. With Joseph there, he didn’t worry about a thing—except what kind of food to eat!

Joseph was a very handsome and well-built young man, ⁷ and Potiphar’s wife soon began to look at him lustfully. “Come and sleep with me,” she demanded.

⁸ But Joseph refused. “Look,” he told her, “my master trusts me with everything in his entire household. ⁹ No one here has more authority than I do. He has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God.”

¹⁰ She kept putting pressure on Joseph day after day, but he refused to sleep with her, and he kept out of her way as much as possible. ¹¹ One day, however, no one else was around when he went in to do his work. ¹² She came and grabbed him by his cloak, demanding, “Come on, sleep with me!” Joseph tore himself away, but he left his cloak in her hand as he ran from the house.

¹³ When she saw that she was holding his cloak and he had fled, ¹⁴ she called out to her servants. Soon all the men came running. “Look!” she said. “My husband has brought this Hebrew slave here to make fools of us! He came into my room to rape me, but I screamed. ¹⁵ When he heard me scream, he ran outside and got away, but he left his cloak behind with me.”

¹⁶ She kept the cloak with her until her husband came home. ¹⁷ Then she told him her story. “That Hebrew slave you’ve brought into our house tried to come in and fool around with me,” she said. ¹⁸ “But when I screamed, he ran outside, leaving his cloak with me!”

Joseph Put in Prison

¹⁹ Potiphar was furious when he heard his wife’s story about how Joseph had treated her. ²⁰ So he took Joseph and threw him into the prison where the king’s prisoners were held, and there he remained. ²¹ But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love. And the Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden. ²² Before long, the warden put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that happened in the prison. ²³ The warden had no more worries, because Joseph took care of everything. The Lord was with him and caused everything he did to succeed.

Joseph Interprets Two Dreams

40 Some time later, Pharaoh’s chief cup-bearer and chief baker offended their royal master. ² Pharaoh became angry with these two officials, ³ and he put them in the prison where Joseph was, in the palace of the captain of the guard. ⁴ They remained in prison for quite some time, and the captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, who looked after them.

⁵ While they were in prison, Pharaoh’s cup-bearer and baker each had a dream one night, and each dream had its own meaning. ⁶ When Joseph saw them the next morning, he noticed that they both looked upset. ⁷ “Why do you look so worried today?” he asked them.

⁸ And they replied, “We both had dreams last night, but no one can tell us what they mean.”

“Interpreting dreams is God’s business,” Joseph replied. “Go ahead and tell me your dreams.”

⁹ So the chief cup-bearer told Joseph his dream first. “In my dream,” he said, “I saw a grapevine in front of me. ¹⁰ The vine had three branches that began to bud and blossom, and soon it produced clusters of ripe grapes. ¹¹ I was holding Pharaoh’s wine cup in my hand, so I took a cluster of grapes and squeezed the juice into the cup. Then I placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.”

¹² “This is what the dream means,” Joseph said. “The three branches represent three days. ¹³ Within three days Pharaoh will lift you up and restore you to your position as his chief cup-bearer. ¹⁴ And please remember me and do me a favor when things go well for you. Mention me to Pharaoh, so he might let me out of this place. ¹⁵ For I was kidnapped from my homeland, the land of the Hebrews, and now I’m here in prison, but I did nothing to deserve it.”

¹⁶ When the chief baker saw that Joseph had given the first dream such a positive interpretation, he said to Joseph, “I had a dream, too. In my dream there were three baskets of white pastries stacked on my head. ¹⁷ The top basket contained all kinds of pastries for Pharaoh, but the birds came and ate them from the basket on my head.”

¹⁸ “This is what the dream means,” Joseph told him. “The three baskets also represent three days. ¹⁹ Three days from now Pharaoh will lift you up and impale your body on a pole. Then birds will come and peck away at your flesh.”

²⁰ Pharaoh’s birthday came three days later, and he prepared a banquet for all his officials and staff. He summoned^[i] his chief cup-bearer and chief baker to join the other officials. ²¹ He then restored the chief cup-bearer to his former position, so he could again hand Pharaoh his cup. ²² But Pharaoh impaled the chief baker, just as Joseph had predicted when he interpreted his dream. ²³ Pharaoh’s chief cup-bearer, however, forgot all about Joseph, never giving him another thought.

Pharaoh’s Dreams

41 Two full years later, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing on the bank of the Nile River. ² In his dream he saw seven fat, healthy cows come up out of the river and begin grazing in the marsh grass. ³ Then he saw seven more cows come up behind them from the Nile, but these were scrawny and thin. These cows stood beside the fat cows on the riverbank. ⁴ Then the scrawny, thin cows ate the seven healthy, fat cows! At this point in the dream, Pharaoh woke up.

⁵ But he fell asleep again and had a second dream. This time he saw seven heads of grain, plump and beautiful, growing on a single stalk. ⁶ Then seven more heads of grain appeared, but these were shriveled and withered by the east wind. ⁷ And these thin heads swallowed up the seven plump, well-formed heads! Then Pharaoh woke up again and realized it was a dream.

⁸ The next morning Pharaoh was very disturbed by the dreams. So he called for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. When Pharaoh told them his dreams, not one of them could tell him what they meant.

⁹ Finally, the king’s chief cup-bearer spoke up. “Today I have been reminded of my failure,” he told Pharaoh. ¹⁰ “Some time ago, you were angry with the chief baker and me, and you imprisoned us in the palace of the captain of the guard. ¹¹ One night the chief baker and I each had a dream, and each dream had its own meaning. ¹² There was a young Hebrew man with us in the prison who was a slave of the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams, and he told us what each of our dreams meant. ¹³ And everything happened just as he had predicted. I was restored to my position as cup-bearer, and the chief baker was executed and impaled on a pole.”

¹⁴ Pharaoh sent for Joseph at once, and he was quickly brought from the prison. After he shaved and changed his clothes, he went in and stood before Pharaoh. ¹⁵ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had a dream last night, and no one here can tell me what it means. But I have heard that when you hear about a dream you can interpret it.”

¹⁶ “It is beyond my power to do this,” Joseph replied. “But God can tell you what it means and set you at ease.”

¹⁷ So Pharaoh told Joseph his dream. “In my dream,” he said, “I was standing on the bank of the Nile River, ¹⁸ and I saw seven fat, healthy cows come up out of the river and begin grazing in the marsh grass. ¹⁹ But then I saw seven sick-looking cows, scrawny and thin, come up after them. I’ve never seen such sorry-looking animals in all the land of Egypt. ²⁰ These thin, scrawny cows ate the seven fat cows. ²¹ But afterward you wouldn’t have known it, for they were still as thin and scrawny as before! Then I woke up.

²² “In my dream I also saw seven heads of grain, full and beautiful, growing on a single stalk. ²³ Then seven more heads of grain appeared, but these were blighted, shriveled, and withered by the east wind. ²⁴ And the shriveled heads swallowed the seven healthy heads. I told these dreams to the magicians, but no one could tell me what they mean.”

²⁵ Joseph responded, “Both of Pharaoh’s dreams mean the same thing. God is telling Pharaoh in advance what he is about to do. ²⁶ The seven healthy cows and the seven healthy heads of grain both represent seven years of prosperity. ²⁷ The seven thin, scrawny cows that came up later and the seven thin heads of grain, withered by the east wind, represent seven years of famine.

²⁸ “This will happen just as I have described it, for God has revealed to Pharaoh in advance what he is about to do. ²⁹ The next seven years will be a period of great prosperity throughout the land of Egypt. ³⁰ But afterward there will be seven years of famine so great that all the prosperity will be forgotten in Egypt. Famine will destroy the land. ³¹ This famine will be so severe that even the memory of the good years will be erased. ³² As for having two similar dreams, it means that these events have been decreed by God, and he will soon make them happen.

³³ “Therefore, Pharaoh should find an intelligent and wise man and put him in charge of the entire land of Egypt. ³⁴ Then Pharaoh should appoint supervisors over the land and let them collect one-fifth of all the crops during the seven good years. ³⁵ Have them gather all the food produced in the good years that are just ahead and bring it to Pharaoh’s storehouses. Store it away, and guard it so there will be food in the cities. ³⁶ That way there will be enough to eat when the seven years of famine come to the land of Egypt. Otherwise this famine will destroy the land.”

Joseph Made Ruler of Egypt

³⁷ Joseph’s suggestions were well received by Pharaoh and his officials. ³⁸ So Pharaoh asked his officials, “Can we find anyone else like this man so obviously filled with the spirit of God?” ³⁹ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has revealed the meaning of the dreams to you, clearly no one else is as intelligent or wise as you are. ⁴⁰ You will be in charge of my court, and all my people will take orders from you. Only I, sitting on my throne, will have a rank higher than yours.”

⁴¹ Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby put you in charge of the entire land of Egypt.” ⁴² Then Pharaoh removed his signet ring from his hand and placed it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in fine linen clothing and hung a gold chain around his neck. ⁴³ Then he had Joseph ride in the chariot reserved for his second-in-command. And wherever Joseph went, the command was shouted, “Kneel down!” So Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of all Egypt. ⁴⁴ And Pharaoh said to him, “I am Pharaoh, but no one will lift a hand or foot in the entire land of Egypt without your approval.”

⁴⁵ Then Pharaoh gave Joseph a new Egyptian name, Zaphenath-paneah.^[j] He also gave him a wife, whose name was Asenath. She was the daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On.^[k] So Joseph took charge of the entire land of Egypt. ⁴⁶ He was thirty years old when he began serving in the court of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. And when Joseph left Pharaoh’s presence, he inspected the entire land of Egypt.

⁴⁷ As predicted, for seven years the land produced bumper crops. ⁴⁸ During those years, Joseph gathered all the crops grown in Egypt and stored the grain from the surrounding fields in the cities. ⁴⁹ He piled up huge amounts of grain like sand on the seashore. Finally, he stopped keeping records because there was too much to measure.

⁵⁰ During this time, before the first of the famine years, two sons were born to Joseph and his wife, Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On. ⁵¹ Joseph named his older son Manasseh,^[l] for he said, “God has made me forget all my troubles and everyone in my father’s family.” ⁵² Joseph named his second son Ephraim,^[m] for he said, “God has made me fruitful in this land of my grief.”

⁵³ At last the seven years of bumper crops throughout the land of Egypt came to an end. ⁵⁴ Then the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had predicted. The famine also struck all the surrounding countries, but throughout Egypt there was plenty of food. ⁵⁵ Eventually, however, the famine spread throughout the land of Egypt as well. And when the people cried out to Pharaoh for food, he told them, “Go to Joseph, and do whatever he tells you.” ⁵⁶ So with severe famine everywhere, Joseph opened up the storehouses and distributed grain to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe throughout the land of Egypt. ⁵⁷ And people from all around came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph because the famine was severe throughout the world.