Study Desk

"Now a Hebrew youth was there with us, a servant of the captain of the bodyguard, and we told him the dreams, and he interpreted our dreams for us. For each man he interpreted according to his own dream.

"And just as he interpreted for us, so it happened; Pharaoh restored me in my office, but he hanged the chief baker."

Then Pharaoh sent word and called for Joseph, and they hurriedly brought him out of the dungeon; and when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came to Pharaoh.

Joseph then answered Pharaoh, saying, "It has nothing to do with me; God will give Pharaoh an answer for his own good."

"Then behold, seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and thin, such as I had never seen for ugliness in all the land of Egypt;

"Yet when they had devoured them, it could not be detected that they had devoured them, for they were just as ugly as before. Then I awoke.

"So the abundance will be unknown in the land because of that subsequent famine; for it will be very severe.

"Now as for the repeating of the dream to Pharaoh twice, it means that the matter is confirmed by God, and God will quickly bring it about.

"So now let Pharaoh look for a man discerning and wise, and appoint him over the land of Egypt.

"Then have them collect all the food of these good years that are coming, and store up the grain for food in the cities under Pharaoh's authority, and have them guard it.

"Let the food be used as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which will occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land will not perish during the famine."

Joseph stored up grain in great abundance like the sand of the sea, until he stopped measuring it, for it was beyond measure.

Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh; "For," he said, "God has made me forget all my trouble and all of my father's household."

And he named the second Ephraim; "For," he said, "God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction."

So when all the land of Egypt suffered famine, the people cried out to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, "Go to Joseph; whatever he says to you, you shall do."

Then he said, "Look, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down there and buy some for us from that place, so that we may live and not die."

But Jacob did not send Joseph's brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, "I am afraid that harm may happen to him."

So he put them all together in prison for three days.

Now Joseph said to them on the third day, "Do this and live, for I fear God:

if you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in your prison; but as for the rest of you, go, carry grain for the famine of your households,