Genesis 41:17-42

Tree of Life Version

¹⁷ So Pharaoh said to Joseph: “In my dream, there I was, standing by the bank of the Nile. ¹⁸ And to my surprise, out of the Nile seven cows were coming up, beefy and good-looking, and they grazed in the reeds. ¹⁹ Then all of a sudden, there were seven other cows coming up after them, feeble, very ugly and emaciated. I’ve never seen the likes of these in the whole land of Egypt for ugliness. ²⁰ Then the emaciated and ugly cows ate the first seven beefy cows. ²¹ When they were devoured, one couldn’t tell that they had been devoured. Their appearance was as ugly as it was at first. Then I woke up. ²² Then I saw in my dream, there were seven ears of corn coming up on one stalk, plump and good. ²³ Then suddenly, there were seven ears of corn, dried up, thin, and scorched by the east wind, sprouting up after them. ²⁴ Then the thin ears of corn swallowed up the seven good ears of corn. So I told the fortune-telling priests, but no one could provide me with an explanation.”

²⁵ Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Pharaoh’s dream is one. God has told Pharaoh what He is about to do. ²⁶ The seven good cows: they are seven years. Also the seven ears of corn: they’re seven years. It is one dream. ²⁷ The seven emaciated and ugly cows coming up after them: they’re seven years. Also the seven empty ears of corn scorched by the east wind: there will be seven years of famine. ²⁸ It is the word that I have already said to Pharaoh: what God is about to do, he has shown to Pharaoh. ²⁹ Seven years of abundance are about to come in the whole land of Egypt. ³⁰ Then seven years of famine will come up after them and all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten and the famine will consume the land. ³¹ So the abundance in the land will be unknown because of the famine that follows, for it will be a very oppressive famine.

³² “Now as for repeating Pharaoh’s dream twice: it’s because the matter has been settled by God and God will quickly make it happen. ³³ So now, let Pharaoh select a man discerning and wise and set him in authority over the land of Egypt. ³⁴ Let Pharaoh act by appointing administrators over the land and take a fifth portion from the land of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. ³⁵ Then let them gather all the food from these good years that are coming, and let them store up grain under Pharaoh’s hand as food for the cities, so they may preserve it. ³⁶ Let the food be held in reserve for the land for the seven years of famine that is coming upon the land of Egypt. Then the land will not be annihilated by the famine.”

³⁷ Now the plan seemed good in the eyes of Pharaoh as well as all his servants. ³⁸ Then Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can a man like this be found, one in whom is God’s Spirit?”

³⁹ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. ⁴⁰ You! You will be over my house, and all my people will pay homage to you^[a]. Only in relation to the throne will I be greater than you.”

⁴¹ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I appoint you over the whole land of Egypt.” ⁴² Then Pharaoh removed his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, clothed him with fine linen garments, and put a chain of gold around his neck. ⁴³ Then he had him ride in the chariot as second-in-command, the one that belonged to him, and they called out before him, “Kneel down!” So he appointed him over the whole land of Egypt. ⁴⁴ Pharaoh also said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, yet without your permission no one will lift up his hand or his foot in the whole land of Egypt.” ⁴⁵ Then Pharaoh named Joseph Zaphenath-paneah and gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, as his wife. Then Joseph went out, in charge of the land of Egypt.

⁴⁶ Now Joseph was 30 years old when he began serving as representative of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Joseph went out from Pharaoh’s presence and passed throughout the whole land of Egypt. ⁴⁷ During the seven years of abundance, the land produced in heaps. ⁴⁸ So he gathered all the food in the land of Egypt during the seven years, and put food in the cities; the food from the city fields surrounding the cities he put in each city. ⁴⁹ So Joseph stored up grain like the sand of the sea, vast amounts, until he stopped keeping record because it was beyond counting.

⁵⁰ Two sons also had been born to Joseph before the year of famine came, born to him by Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. ⁵¹ Joseph named his first-born Manasseh, “because God has caused me to forget all my trouble and all my father’s house.” ⁵² And the second he named Ephraim, “because God has made me fruitful in the land of my oppression.”

⁵³ Then the seven years of abundance in the land of Egypt came to an end, ⁵⁴ and the seven years of famine started to come—just as Joseph had said. So there was famine in all the lands, but in the whole land of Egypt there was bread. ⁵⁵ When the whole land of Egypt suffered famine, the people cried out to Pharaoh for food, and Pharaoh said to all of Egypt, “Go to Joseph. Do whatever he tells you.” ⁵⁶ The famine was over all the entire land, so Joseph opened up all that was among them and sold grain to Egypt. Then the famine became severe in the land of Egypt. ⁵⁷ Yet the whole world came to Egypt to buy grain—to Joseph—because the famine was severe in the whole world.

Joseph Meets His Brothers

42 Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, so Jacob said to his sons, “Why are you looking at each other?” ² Then he said, “Look! I’ve heard that there’s grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some grain for us there so that we’ll live and not die.”

³ So Joseph’s brothers went down, ten of them, to buy grain from Egypt. ⁴ But Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, Jacob did not send, for he said, “An accident might happen to him.”

⁵ The sons of Israel went to buy grain among the others who were coming, because the famine was in the land of Canaan. ⁶ Now Joseph was the ruler over the land. He was the provider of grain for all the people of the earth. ⁷ Then Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down to him with faces to the ground. When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he made himself unrecognizable to them. Then he spoke harshly and said to them, “Where have you come from?”

“From the land of Canaan,” they said, “to buy grain as food.”

⁸ Though Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. ⁹ Then Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them. He said to them, “You’re spies! You’ve come to see the undefended places in the land.”

¹⁰ “No, my lord!” they said to him. “Your servants came to buy grain as food. ¹¹ All of us—we are sons of one man. We’re honest. Your servants have never been spies.”

¹² “Not so,” he said to them. “Rather, you’ve come to see the undefended places in the land.”

¹³ But they said, “We your servants are twelve brothers, sons of one man in the land of Canaan. Look, the youngest is with our father today and the other one is no more.”

¹⁴ Joseph said to them, “It’s just like I told you when I said, ‘You’re spies.’ ¹⁵ By this you’ll be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you’ll not leave from here until your youngest brother comes here! ¹⁶ Send one from among yourselves to get your brother, while you remain confined, in order to test your words, to see whether the truth is with you. If not, by the life of Pharaoh, you’re definitely spies!”

¹⁷ So he put them together in custody for three days.