Genesis 39-41

International Children’s Bible

Joseph Is Sold to Potiphar

39 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. An Egyptian named Potiphar was an officer to the king of Egypt. He was the captain of the palace guard. He bought Joseph from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. ² The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man. He lived in the house of his master, Potiphar the Egyptian.

³ Potiphar saw that the Lord was with Joseph. He saw that the Lord made Joseph successful in everything he did. ⁴ So Potiphar was very happy with Joseph. He allowed Joseph to be his personal servant. He put Joseph in charge of the house. Joseph was trusted with everything Potiphar owned. ⁵ So Joseph was put in charge of the house. He was put in charge of everything Potiphar owned. Then the Lord blessed the people in Potiphar’s house because of Joseph. And the Lord blessed everything that belonged to Potiphar, both in the house and in the field. ⁶ So Potiphar put Joseph in charge of everything he owned. Potiphar was not concerned about anything, except the food he ate.

Joseph Is Put into Prison

Now Joseph was well built and handsome. ⁷ After some time the wife of Joseph’s master began to desire Joseph. One day she said to him, “Have physical relations with me.”

⁸ But Joseph refused. He said to her, “My master trusts me with everything in his house. He has put me in charge of everything he owns. ⁹ There is no one in his house greater than I. He has not kept anything from me, except you. And that is because you are his wife. How can I do such an evil thing? It is a sin against God.”

¹⁰ The woman talked to Joseph every day, but he refused to have physical relations with her or even spend time with her.

¹¹ One day Joseph went into the house to do his work as usual. He was the only man in the house at that time. ¹² His master’s wife grabbed his coat. She said to him, “Come and have physical relations with me.” But Joseph left his coat in her hand and ran out of the house.

¹³ She saw what Joseph had done. He had left his coat in her hands and had run outside. ¹⁴ So she called to the servants in her house. She said, “Look! This Hebrew slave was brought here to shame us. He came in and tried to have physical relations with me. But I screamed. ¹⁵ My scream scared him, and he ran away. But he left his coat with me.” ¹⁶ She kept his coat until her husband came home. ¹⁷ And she told her husband the same story. She said, “This Hebrew slave you brought here came in to shame me! ¹⁸ When he came near me, I screamed. He ran away, but he left his coat.”

¹⁹ When Joseph’s master heard what his wife said Joseph had done, he became very angry. ²⁰ So Potiphar arrested Joseph and put him into prison. This prison was where the king’s prisoners were put. And Joseph stayed there in the prison.

²¹ But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him kindness. The Lord caused the prison warden to like Joseph. ²² The prison warden chose Joseph to take care of all the prisoners. He was responsible for whatever was done in the prison. ²³ The warden paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph’s care. This was because the Lord was with Joseph. The Lord made Joseph successful in everything he did.

Joseph Interprets Two Dreams

40 After these things happened, two of the king’s officers displeased the king. These officers were the man who served wine to the king and the king’s baker. ² The king became angry with his officer who served him wine and his baker. ³ So he put them in the prison of the captain of the guard. This was the same prison where Joseph was kept. ⁴ The captain of the guard put the two prisoners in Joseph’s care. They stayed in prison for some time.

⁵ One night both the king’s officer who served him wine and the baker had a dream. Each had his own dream with its own meaning. ⁶ When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw they were worried. ⁷ Joseph asked the king’s officers who were with him, “Why do you look so unhappy today?”

⁸ The two men answered, “We both had dreams last night. But no one can explain the meaning of them to us.”

Joseph said to them, “God is the only One who can explain the meaning of dreams. So tell me your dreams.”

⁹ So the man who served wine to the king told Joseph his dream. He said, “I dreamed I saw a vine. ¹⁰ On the vine there were three branches. I watched the branches bud and blossom, and then the grapes ripened. ¹¹ I was holding the king’s cup. So I took the grapes and squeezed the juice into the cup. Then I gave it to the king.”

¹² Then Joseph said, “I will explain the dream to you. The three branches stand for three days. ¹³ Before the end of three days the king will free you. He will allow you to return to your work. You will serve the king his wine just as you did before. ¹⁴ But when you are free, remember me. Be kind to me. Tell the king about me so that I can get out of this prison. ¹⁵ I was taken by force from the land of the Hebrews. And I have done nothing here to deserve being put in prison.”

¹⁶ The baker saw that Joseph’s explanation of the dream was good. So he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream. I dreamed there were three bread baskets on my head. ¹⁷ In the top basket there were all kinds of baked food for the king. But the birds were eating this food out of the basket on my head.”

¹⁸ Joseph answered, “I will tell you what the dream means. The three baskets stand for three days. ¹⁹ Before the end of three days, the king will cut off your head! He will hang your body on a pole. And the birds will eat your flesh.”

²⁰ Three days later it was the king’s birthday. So he gave a feast for all his officers. In front of his officers, he let the chief officer who served his wine and the chief baker out of prison. ²¹ The king gave his chief officer who served wine his old position. Once again he put the king’s cup of wine into the king’s hand. ²² But the king hanged the baker on a pole. Everything happened just as Joseph had said it would. ²³ But the officer who served wine did not remember Joseph. He forgot all about him.

The King’s Dreams

41 Two years later the king had a dream. He dreamed he was standing on the bank of the Nile River. ² He saw seven fat and beautiful cows come up out of the river. They stood there, eating the grass. ³ Then seven more cows came up out of the river. But they were thin and ugly. They stood beside the seven beautiful cows on the bank of the Nile. ⁴ The seven thin and ugly cows ate the seven beautiful fat cows. Then the king woke up. ⁵ The king slept again and dreamed a second time. In his dream he saw seven full and good heads of grain growing on one stalk. ⁶ After that, seven more heads of grain sprang up. But they were thin and burned by the hot east wind. ⁷ The thin heads of grain ate the seven full and good heads. Then the king woke up again. And he realized it was only a dream. ⁸ The next morning the king was troubled about these dreams. So he sent for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. The king told them his dreams. But no one could explain their meaning to him.

⁹ Then the chief officer who served wine to the king said to him, “I remember something I promised to do. But I had forgotten about it. ¹⁰ There was a time when you were angry with me and the baker. You put us in prison in the house of the captain of the guard. ¹¹ In prison we each had a dream on the same night. Each dream had a different meaning. ¹² A young Hebrew man was in the prison with us. He was a servant of the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams, and he explained their meanings to us. He told each man the meaning of his dream. ¹³ Things happened exactly as he said they would: I was given back my old position, and the baker was hanged.”

¹⁴ So the king called for Joseph. The guards quickly brought him out of the prison. He shaved, put on clean clothes and went before the king.

¹⁵ The king said to Joseph, “I have had a dream. But no one can explain its meaning to me. I have heard that you can explain a dream when someone tells it to you.”

¹⁶ Joseph answered the king, “I am not able to explain the meaning of dreams. God will do this for the king.”

¹⁷ Then the king said to Joseph, “In my dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile River. ¹⁸ I saw seven fat and beautiful cows. They came up out of the river and ate the grass. ¹⁹ Then I saw seven more cows come out of the river. They were thin and lean and ugly. They were the worst looking cows I have seen in all the land of Egypt. ²⁰ And these thin and ugly cows ate the first seven fat cows. ²¹ But after they had eaten the seven cows, no one could tell they had eaten them. They just looked as thin and ugly as they did in the beginning. Then I woke up.

²² “I had another dream. I saw seven full and good heads of grain growing on one stalk. ²³ Then seven more heads of grain sprang up after them. But these heads were thin and ugly. They were burned by the hot east wind. ²⁴ Then the thin heads ate the seven good heads. I told this dream to the magicians. But no one could explain its meaning to me.”

Joseph Tells the Dreams’ Meaning

²⁵ Then Joseph said to the king, “Both of these dreams mean the same thing. God is telling you what he is about to do. ²⁶ The seven good cows stand for seven years. And the seven good heads of grain stand for seven years. Both dreams mean the same thing. ²⁷ The seven thin and ugly cows stand for seven years. And the seven thin heads of grain burned by the hot east wind stand for seven years of hunger. ²⁸ This will happen as I told you. God is showing the king what he is about to do. ²⁹ You will have seven years of good crops and plenty to eat in all the land of Egypt. ³⁰ But after those seven years, there will come seven years of hunger. All the food that grew in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. The time of hunger will eat up the land. ³¹ People will forget what it was like to have plenty of food. This is because the hunger that follows will be so great. ³² You had two dreams which mean the same thing. This shows that God has firmly decided that this will happen. And he will make it happen soon.

³³ “So let the king choose a man who is very wise and understanding. Let the king set him over the land of Egypt. ³⁴ And let the king also appoint officers over the land. They should take one-fifth of all the food that is grown during the seven good years. ³⁵ They should gather all the food that is produced during the good years that are coming. Under the king’s authority they should store the grain in the cities and guard it. ³⁶ That food should be saved for later. It will be used during the seven years of hunger that will come on the land of Egypt. Then the people in Egypt will not die during the seven years of hunger.”

Joseph Is Made Ruler over Egypt

³⁷ This seemed like a very good idea to the king. All his officers agreed. ³⁸ And the king asked them, “Can we find a better man than Joseph to take this job? God’s spirit is truly in him!”

³⁹ So the king said to Joseph, “God has shown you all this. There is no one as wise and understanding as you are. ⁴⁰ I will put you in charge of my palace. All the people will obey your orders. Only I will be greater than you.”

⁴¹ Then the king said to Joseph, “Look! I have put you in charge of all the land of Egypt.” ⁴² Then the king took off from his own finger his ring with the royal seal on it. And he put it on Joseph’s finger. He gave Joseph fine linen clothes to wear. And he put a gold chain around Joseph’s neck. ⁴³ The king had Joseph ride in the second royal chariot. Men walked ahead of his chariot calling, “Bow down!” By doing these things, the king put Joseph in charge of all of Egypt.

⁴⁴ The king said to him, “I am the king. And I say that no one in all the land of Egypt may lift a hand or a foot unless you say he may.” ⁴⁵ The king gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-Paneah. He also gave Joseph a wife named Asenath. She was the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. So Joseph traveled through all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁶ Joseph was 30 years old when he began serving the king of Egypt. And he left the king’s court and traveled through all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁷ During the seven good years, the crops in the land grew well. ⁴⁸ And Joseph gathered all the food produced in Egypt during those seven years of good crops. He stored the food in the cities. In every city he stored grain that had been grown in the fields around that city. ⁴⁹ Joseph stored much grain, as much as the sand of the seashore. He stored so much grain that he could not measure it.

⁵⁰ Joseph’s wife was Asenath daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On. Before the years of hunger came, Joseph and Asenath had two sons. ⁵¹ Joseph named the first son Manasseh.^[a] Joseph said, “God has made me forget all the troubles I have had and all my father’s family.” ⁵² Joseph named the second son Ephraim.^[b] Joseph said, “God has given me children in the land of my troubles.”

⁵³ The seven years of good crops came to an end in the land of Egypt. ⁵⁴ Then the seven years of hunger began, just as Joseph had said. In all the lands people had nothing to eat. But in Egypt there was food. ⁵⁵ The time of hunger became terrible in all of Egypt. The people cried to the king for food. He said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. Do whatever he tells you to do.”

⁵⁶ The hunger was everywhere in that part of the world. And Joseph opened the storehouses and sold grain to the people of Egypt. This was because the time of hunger became terrible in Egypt. ⁵⁷ And all the people in that part of the world came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain. This was because the hunger was terrible everywhere in that part of the world.