Study Desk

God further said to him, "I am El Shaddai. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation, indeed a group of nations, will come from you; kings will be descended from you.

Then God went up from him there where he had spoken with him.

Ya‘akov called the place where God spoke with him Beit-El.

In this house I am his equal; he hasn't withheld anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?"

They said to him, "We each had a dream, and there's no one around who can interpret it." Yosef said to them, "Don't interpretations belong to God? Tell it to me, please."

Yosef answered Pharaoh, "It isn't in me. God will give Pharaoh an answer that will set his mind at peace."

Yosef said to Pharaoh, "The dreams of Pharaoh are the same: God has told Pharaoh what he is about to do.

This is what I told Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do.

Why was the dream doubled for Pharaoh? Because the matter has been fixed by God, and God will shortly cause it to happen.

Pharaoh said to his officials, "Can we find anyone else like him? The Spirit of God lives in him!"

(iii) So Pharaoh said to Yosef, "Since God has shown you all this — there is no one as discerning and wise as you —

Yosef called the firstborn M'nasheh [causing to forget], "Because God has caused me to forget all the troubles I suffered at the hands of my family."

The second he called Efrayim [fruit], "For God has made me fruitful in the land of my misfortune."

On the third day, Yosef said to them, "Do what I say, and stay alive, for I fear God.

He said to his brothers, "My money has been restored — there it is, right in my pack!" At that, their hearts sank; they turned, trembling, to one another and said, "What is this that God has done to us?"

"Stop worrying," he replied, "don't be afraid. Your God and the God of your father put treasure in your packs. As for your money — I was the one who received it." Then he brought Shim‘on out to them.

He looked up and saw Binyamin his brother, his mother's son, and said, "Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me?" and added, "May God be good to you, my son."

Y'hudah said, "There's nothing we can say to my lord! How can we speak? There's no way we can clear ourselves! God has revealed your servants' guilt; so here we are, my lord's slaves — both we and also the one in whose possession the cup was found."

But don't be sad that you sold me into slavery here or angry at yourselves, because it was God who sent me ahead of you to preserve life.

God sent me ahead of you to ensure that you will have descendants on earth and to save your lives in a great deliverance.