Study Desk

she called her household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “my husband brought a Hebrew man to make fools of us. He came to me so he could sleep with me, and I screamed as loud as I could.

and had him thrown into prison, where the king’s prisoners were confined. So Joseph was there in prison.

So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why do you look so sad today?”

So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph: “In my dream there was a vine in front of me.

When morning came, he was troubled, so he summoned all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him.

So Pharaoh said to Joseph: “In my dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile,

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

Let them gather all the excess food during these good years that are coming. Under Pharaoh’s authority, store the grain in the cities, so they may preserve it as food.

So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as discerning and wise as you are.

He had Joseph ride in his second chariot, and servants called out before him, “Make way!” So he placed him over all the land of Egypt.

So Joseph stored up grain in such abundance—like the sand of the sea—that he stopped measuring it because it was beyond measure.

Now the famine had spread across the whole region, so Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt.

Listen,” he went on, “I have heard there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us so that we will live and not die.”

So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.

Send one from among you to get your brother. The rest of you will be imprisoned so that your words can be tested to see if they are true. If they are not, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!”

So Joseph imprisoned them together for three days.

Bring your youngest brother to me so that your words can be confirmed; then you won’t die.” And they consented to this.

“Why have you caused me so much trouble?” Israel asked. “Why did you tell the man that you had another brother?”

Then Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me. We will be on our way so that we may live and not die—neither we, nor you, nor our dependents.

Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your packs and take them down to the man as a gift—a little balsam and a little honey, aromatic gum and resin, pistachios and almonds.