Old/New Testament

Joseph Succeeds in Adversity

39 Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt. Potiphar, an official of Pharaoh, commander of the bodyguards, bought him from the hand of the Ishmaelites, who had brought him down there. ² But Adonai was with Joseph. So he became a successful man in the house of his master, the Egyptian. ³ His master saw that Adonai was with him and that Adonai made everything he set his hand to successful. ⁴ Joseph found favor in his eyes, so he served him as a personal servant and he made him an overseer over his household; everything that was his he entrusted into his hand. ⁵ From the time that he made him an overseer in his house and over everything that belonged to him, Adonai blessed the Egyptian’s house because of Joseph; Adonai’s blessing was on everything that belonged to him, in the house and in the field. ⁶ So he released everything he owned into Joseph’s hand. With him in charge, he did not think about anything except the food he ate.

Now Joseph was handsome in form and handsome in appearance.

⁷ Now after these things, the master’s wife lifted up her eyes at Joseph and said, “Come, lie down with me!”

⁸ But he refused. “Look,” he said to his master’s wife, “my master doesn’t think about anything in the house with me in charge, and everything that belongs to him he’s entrusted into my hand. ⁹ No one in this house is greater than I, and he has withheld nothing from me—except you, because you are his wife. So how could I commit this great evil and sin against God?”

¹⁰ So whenever she spoke to Joseph, day after day, he did not listen to her invitation to lie down beside her, to be with her. ¹¹ Now on one such day, he came into the house to do his work, and none of the people of the house were there in the house. ¹² Then she grabbed him by his garment saying, “Come, lie with me!” But he left his garment in her hand, fled and went outside. ¹³ When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and fled outside, ¹⁴ she screamed to the men of her house and said to them, “Look! Someone brought a Hebrew man to us to fool with us. He approached me to lie with me so I screamed out loud. ¹⁵ When he heard me raise my voice and scream, he left his garment with me, fled and went outside.”

¹⁶ Then she kept the garment with her until his master came home. ¹⁷ She spoke the same words to him saying, “The Hebrew slave that you brought us approached me to fool with me. ¹⁸ When I raised my voiced and screamed, he left his garment with me and fled outside.”

¹⁹ Now when his master heard the words his wife spoke to him saying, “Such are the things your slave did to me,” his anger burned. ²⁰ Then Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. So there he was, in the prison.

²¹ But Adonai was with Joseph and extended kindness to him and gave him favor in the eyes of the commander of the prison. ²² The commander of the prison entrusted into Joseph’s hand all the prisoners who were in the prison, so that everything that was done there, he was responsible for it. ²³ The commander of the prison did not concern himself with anything at all under his care, because Adonai was with him, and Adonai made whatever he did successful.

Interpreter of Dreams

40 Now it was after these things that the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master, the king of Egypt. ² Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, with the chief of the cupbearers and with the chief of the bakers. ³ So he put them in custody of the house of the commander of the bodyguards—in the prison, the place where Joseph was confined. ⁴ The commander of the bodyguards assigned Joseph to be with them and served them as their personal servant. They were in custody for some time.

⁵ Then the two of them each dreamed a dream on the same night. The dream of each man—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison—each had its own interpretation. ⁶ When Joseph came to them in the morning, he observed them, and there they were, looking miserable. ⁷ So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were with him in the custody of the house of his master saying, “Why are your faces so sad today?”

⁸ They said to him, “We dreamed a dream and there is no one to interpret it.”

Then Joseph said to them, “Don’t interpretations belong to God? Please tell me.”

⁹ So the chief of the cupbearers told his dream to Joseph, saying to him, “In my dream, suddenly, there was a vine in front of me. ¹⁰ On the vine were three branches, and as it was budding, its blossoms came out, its clusters ripened into grapes. ¹¹ Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand and I took the grapes, pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup and put the cup in Pharaoh’s palm.”

¹² “This is its interpretation,” Joseph said to him. “The three branches: they are three days. ¹³ In another three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position. Then you’ll put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand just as you used to do before when you were his cupbearer. ¹⁴ But if you remember me, that I was with you, when it goes well with you, please show me kindness and mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this house. ¹⁵ For I was forcibly kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing at all that they should put me in this pit.”

¹⁶ When the chief of the bakers saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, “I also was in my dream. Expectantly, there were three baskets of white bread on my head. ¹⁷ In the top basket was food for Pharaoh—all kinds of baked goods. But the birds were eating them from the basket on my head.”

¹⁸ Then Joseph answered and said, “This is its interpretation. The three baskets: they are three days. ¹⁹ In another three days Pharaoh will lift up your head—off of you—and will hang you on a tree. Then the birds will eat your flesh off of you.”

²⁰ Then it happened on the third day—Pharaoh’s birthday—that he held a banquet for all his servants. He lifted up the head of the chief of the cupbearers and the head of the chief of the bakers among his servants. ²¹ He restored the chief of the cupbearers as his cupbearer, and he put the cup on the palm of Pharaoh’s hand. ²² But the chief of the bakers he hung. It was just as Joseph had interpreted for them. ²³ Yet the chief of the cupbearers did not remember Joseph—indeed, he forgot him.

Signs and Wonders Bear Witness

11 When Yeshua had finished instructing His twelve disciples, He went on from there to teach and preach in their towns. ² Now when John heard in prison about the works of the Messiah, he sent word through his disciples ³ and said to Yeshua, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?”

⁴ Yeshua replied, “Go report to John what you hear and see: ⁵ the blind see and the lame walk, those with tzara’at are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised and the poor have good news proclaimed to them. ⁶ Blessed is the one who is not led to stumble because of Me.”^[a]

A Prophet Without Honor

⁷ Now as they were leaving, Yeshua began to talk to the crowd concerning John. “What did you go out to the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? ⁸ No? So what did you go out to see? A man dressed in finery? Look, those who wear finery are in the palaces of kings! ⁹ Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, even more than a prophet. ¹⁰ This is the one about whom it is written,

¹¹ “Amen, I tell you, among those born of women, none has arisen greater than John the Immerser. Yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. ¹² From the days of John the Immerser until now, the kingdom of heaven is treated with violence, and the violent grasp hold of it. ¹³ For all the prophets and the Torah prophesied until the time of John. ¹⁴ And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. ¹⁵ He who has ears, let him hear!

¹⁶ “But to what shall I compare this generation? It’s like children sitting in the marketplaces who call to one other, saying,

¹⁸ “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’ ¹⁹ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”^[c]

²⁰ Then Yeshua began to denounce the towns where most of His miracles had happened, because they did not turn from their sins. ²¹ “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon,^[d] they would have turned long ago in sackcloth and ashes. ²² Nevertheless I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the Day of Judgment than for you. ²³ And you, Capernaum? Will you be lifted up to heaven? No, you will go down to Sheol! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. ²⁴ Nevertheless I tell you that it will be more bearable for the land of Sodom on the Day of Judgment than for you.”

Yeshua Teaches the Ways of His Father

²⁵ At that time Yeshua said in response, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and discerning and revealed them to infants. ²⁶ Yes, Father, for this way was pleasing to You.

²⁷ “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son^[e] and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. ²⁸ Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and ‘you will find rest for your souls.’ ^{[f] 30} For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”