⁵ Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. ⁶ So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: ^7 (A)There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.”

⁸ And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

⁹ Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, ^(B)the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.”

¹⁰ So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and ^(C)your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?” ¹¹ And ^(D)his brothers envied him, but his father ^(E)kept the matter in mind.

Joseph Sold by His Brothers

¹² Then his brothers went to feed their father’s flock in ^(F)Shechem.

⁵ Then the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison, ^(A)had a dream, both of them, each man’s dream in one night and each man’s dream with its own interpretation. ⁶ And Joseph came in to them in the morning and looked at them, and saw that they were ^[a]sad. ⁷ So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in the custody of his lord’s house, saying, ^(B)“Why do you look so sad today?”

⁸ And they said to him, ^(C)“We each have had a dream, and there is no interpreter of it.”

So Joseph said to them, ^(D)“Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me, please.”

⁹ Then the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, “Behold, in my dream a vine was before me, ¹⁰ and in the vine were three branches; it was as though it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and its clusters brought forth ripe grapes. ¹¹ Then Pharaoh’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.”

¹² And Joseph said to him, ^(E)“This is the interpretation of it: The three branches ^(F)are three days. ¹³ Now within three days Pharaoh will ^(G)lift up your head and restore you to your ^[b]place, and you will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand according to the former manner, when you were his butler. ¹⁴ But ^(H)remember me when it is well with you, and ^(I)please show kindness to me; make mention of me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this house. ¹⁵ For indeed I was ^(J)stolen away from the land of the Hebrews; ^(K)and also I have done nothing here that they should put me into the dungeon.”

¹⁶ When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, “I also was in my dream, and there were three ^[c]white baskets on my head. ¹⁷ In the uppermost basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, and the birds ate them out of the basket on my head.”

¹⁸ So Joseph answered and said, ^(L)“This is the interpretation of it: The three baskets are three days. ^19 (M)Within three days Pharaoh will lift ^[d]off your head from you and ^(N)hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat your flesh from you.”

²⁰ Now it came to pass on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s ^(O)birthday, that he ^(P)made a feast for all his servants; and he ^(Q)lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. ²¹ Then he ^(R)restored the chief butler to his butlership again, and ^(S)he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. ²² But he ^(T)hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them.

¹¹ Then each man speedily let down his sack to the ground, and each opened his sack. ¹² So he searched. He began with the oldest and ^[a]left off with the youngest; and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. ¹³ Then they ^(A)tore their clothes, and each man loaded his donkey and returned to the city.

¹⁴ So Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, and he was still there; and they ^(B)fell before him on the ground. ¹⁵ And Joseph said to them, “What deed is this you have done? Did you not know that such a man as I can certainly practice divination?”

¹⁶ Then Judah said, “What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how shall we clear ourselves? God has ^(C)found out the iniquity of your servants; here ^(D)we are, my lord’s slaves, both we and he also with whom the cup was found.”

¹⁷ But he said, ^(E)“Far be it from me that I should do so; the man in whose hand the cup was found, he shall be my slave. And as for you, go up in peace to your father.”

Judah Intercedes for Benjamin

¹⁸ Then Judah came near to him and said: “O my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s hearing, and ^(F)do not let your anger burn against your servant; for you are even like Pharaoh. ¹⁹ My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father or a brother?’ ²⁰ And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and ^(G)a child of his old age, who is young; his brother is ^(H)dead, and he ^(I)alone is left of his mother’s children, and his ^(J)father loves him.’ ²¹ Then you said to your servants, ^(K)‘Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.’ ²² And we said to my lord, ‘The lad cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ ²³ But you said to your servants, ^(L)‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall see my face no more.’

²⁴ “So it was, when we went up to your servant my father, that we told him the words of my lord. ²⁵ And ^(M)our father said, ‘Go back and buy us a little food.’ ²⁶ But we said, ‘We cannot go down; if our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down; for we may not see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’ ²⁷ Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that ^(N)my wife bore me two sons; ²⁸ and the one went out from me, and I said, ^(O)“Surely he is torn to pieces”; and I have not seen him since. ²⁹ But if you ^(P)take this one also from me, and calamity befalls him, you shall bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave.’

³⁰ “Now therefore, when I come to your servant my father, and the lad is not with us, since ^(Q)his life is bound up in the lad’s life, ³¹ it will happen, when he sees that the lad is not with us, that he will die. So your servants will bring down the gray hair of your servant our father with sorrow to the grave. ³² For your servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, ^(R)‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father forever.’