Study Desk

"What shall I give you as a pledge?" he asked. She answered, "Your seal with its cord and the walking stick you are carrying." He gave them to her. Then they had intercourse, and she became pregnant.

As she was being taken out, she sent word to her father-in-law: "I am pregnant by the man who owns these things. Look at them and see whose they are—this seal with its cord and this walking stick."

They spent a long time in prison, and the captain assigned Joseph as their servant.

They answered, "Each of us had a dream, and there is no one here to explain what the dreams mean." "It is God who gives the ability to interpret dreams," Joseph said. "Tell me your dreams."

Then seven other cows came up; they were thin and bony. They came and stood by the other cows on the riverbank,

Then seven other cows came up which were thin and bony. They were the poorest cows I have ever seen anywhere in Egypt.

The seven fat cows are seven years, and the seven full heads of grain are also seven years; they have the same meaning.

When the Egyptians began to be hungry, they cried out to the king for food. So he ordered them to go to Joseph and do what he told them.

They said, "We were twelve brothers in all, sir, sons of the same man in the land of Canaan. One brother is dead, and the youngest is now with our father."

Then you must bring your youngest brother to me. This will prove that you have been telling the truth, and I will not put you to death." They agreed to this

The brothers loaded their donkeys with the grain they had bought, and then they left.

At the place where they spent the night, one of them opened his sack to feed his donkey and found his money at the top of the sack.

"My money has been returned to me," he called to his brothers. "Here it is in my sack!" Their hearts sank, and in fear they asked one another, "What has God done to us?"

Then when they emptied out their sacks, every one of them found his bag of money; and when they saw the money, they and their father Jacob were afraid.

They answered, "The man kept asking about us and our family, ‘Is your father still living? Do you have another brother?' We had to answer his questions. How could we know that he would tell us to bring our brother with us?"

So the brothers took the gifts and twice as much money, and set out for Egypt with Benjamin. There they presented themselves to Joseph.

When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the servant in charge of his house, "Take these men to my house. They are going to eat with me at noon, so kill an animal and prepare it."

As they were being brought to the house, they were afraid and thought, "We are being brought here because of the money that was returned in our sacks the first time. They will suddenly attack us, take our donkeys, and make us his slaves."

The servant took the brothers into the house. He gave them water so that they could wash their feet, and he fed their donkeys.

When Joseph got home, they took the gifts into the house to him and bowed down to the ground before him.