Genesis 39-40

New American Standard Bible 1995

Joseph’s Success in Egypt

39 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the bodyguard, bought him ^[a]from the ^(A)Ishmaelites, who had taken him down there. ^2 (B)The Lord was with Joseph, so he became a ^[b]successful man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. ³ Now his master ^(C)saw that the Lord was with him and how the Lord ^(D)caused all that he did to prosper in his hand. ⁴ So Joseph ^(E)found favor in his sight and ^[c]became his personal servant; and he made him overseer over his house, and ^(F)all that he owned he put in his ^[d]charge. ⁵ It came about that from the time he made him overseer in his house and over all that he owned, the Lord ^(G)blessed the Egyptian’s house on account of Joseph; thus ^(H)the Lord’s blessing was upon all that he owned, in the house and in the field. ⁶ So he left everything he owned in Joseph’s ^[e]charge; and with him there he did not ^[f]concern himself with anything except the ^[g]food which he ^[h]ate.

Now Joseph was ^(I)handsome in form and appearance. ⁷ It came about after these events ^(J)that his master’s wife ^[i]looked with desire at Joseph, and she said, “^(K)Lie with me.” ⁸ But ^(L)he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, with me here, my master ^[j]does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has put all that he owns in my ^[k]charge. ^9 [l](M)There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and ^(N)sin against God?” ¹⁰ As she spoke to Joseph day after day, he did not listen to her to lie beside her or be with her. ¹¹ Now it happened ^[m]one day that he went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the household was there inside. ¹² She caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me!” And he left his garment in her hand and fled, and went outside. ^13 [n]When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside, ¹⁴ she called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought in a ^[o]Hebrew to us to make sport of us; he came in to me to lie with me, and I ^[p]screamed. ¹⁵ When he heard that I raised my voice and ^[q]screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled and went outside.” ¹⁶ So she ^[r]left his garment beside her until his master came home. ¹⁷ Then she ^(O)spoke to him ^[s]with these words, “^[t]The Hebrew slave, whom you brought to us, came in to me to make sport of me; ¹⁸ and as I raised my voice and ^[u]screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled outside.”

Joseph Imprisoned

¹⁹ Now when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him, saying, “^[v]This is what your slave did to me,” ^(P)his anger burned. ²⁰ So Joseph’s master took him and ^(Q)put him into the jail, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined; and he was there in the jail. ²¹ But ^(R)the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and ^(S)gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer. ²² The chief jailer ^(T)committed to Joseph’s ^[w]charge all the prisoners who were in the jail; so that whatever was done there, he was ^[x]responsible for it. ^23 (U)The chief jailer did not supervise anything under ^[y]Joseph’s charge because ^(V)the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, ^(W)the Lord made to prosper.

Joseph Interprets a Dream

40 Then it came about after these things, ^(X)the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt. ² Pharaoh was ^(Y)furious with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker. ³ So he put them in confinement in the house of the ^(Z)captain of the bodyguard, in the jail, the same place where Joseph was imprisoned. ⁴ The captain of the bodyguard put Joseph in charge of them, and he ^[z]took care of them; and they were in confinement for ^[aa]some time. ⁵ Then the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt, who were confined in jail, both had a dream the same night, each man with his own dream and each dream with its own interpretation. ^6 [ab]When Joseph came to them in the morning and observed them, ^[ac]behold, they were dejected. ⁷ He asked Pharaoh’s officials who were with him in confinement in his master’s house, “^[ad](AA)Why are your faces so sad today?” ⁸ Then they said to him, “^(AB)We have ^[ae]had a dream and there is no one to interpret it.” Then Joseph said to them, “^(AC)Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell it to me, please.”

⁹ So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, “In my dream, ^[af]behold, there was a vine in front of me; ¹⁰ and on the vine were three branches. And as it was budding, its blossoms came out, and its clusters produced ripe grapes. ¹¹ Now Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; so I took the grapes and squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I put the cup into Pharaoh’s ^[ag]hand.” ¹² Then Joseph said to him, “This is the ^(AD)interpretation of it: the three branches are three days; ¹³ within three more days Pharaoh will ^[ah]lift up your head and restore you to your ^[ai]office; and you will put Pharaoh’s cup into his hand according to your former custom when you were his cupbearer. ¹⁴ Only ^[aj]keep me in mind when it goes well with you, and please ^(AE)do me a kindness ^[ak]by mentioning me to Pharaoh and get me out of this house. ¹⁵ For ^(AF)I was in fact kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing that they should have put me into the ^[al]dungeon.”

¹⁶ When the chief baker saw that he had interpreted favorably, he said to Joseph, “I also saw in my dream, and behold, there were three baskets of white bread on my head; ¹⁷ and in the top basket there were some of all ^[am]sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, and the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.” ¹⁸ Then Joseph answered and said, “This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days; ¹⁹ within three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head from you and will hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh off you.”

²⁰ Thus it came about on the third day, which was ^(AG)Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants; ^(AH)and he lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants. ²¹ He restored the chief cupbearer to his ^[an]office, and ^(AI)he put the cup into Pharaoh’s ^[ao]hand; ²² but ^(AJ)he hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had interpreted to them. ²³ Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but ^(AK)forgot him.