1. It happened at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and behold, he stood by the river.
2. Behold, there came up out of the river seven cattle, well favored and fat fleshed, and they fed in the reed grass.
3. Behold, seven other cattle came up after them out of the river, ill favored and lean fleshed, and stood by the other cattle on the brink of the river.
4. The ill favored and lean fleshed cattle ate up the seven well favored and fat cattle. So Pharaoh awoke.
5. He slept and dreamed a second time: and behold, seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, healthy and good.
6. Behold, seven heads of grain, thin and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them.
7. The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy and full ears. Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream.
8. It happened in the morning that his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all the wise men of it. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them to Pharaoh.
9. Then the chief cupbearer spoke to Pharaoh, saying, “I remember my faults today.
10. Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, me and the chief baker.
11. We dreamed a dream in one night, I and he. We dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream.
12. There was with us there a young man, a Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard, and we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams. To each man according to his dream he interpreted.
13. It happened, as he interpreted to us, so it was: he restored me to my office, and he hanged him.”
14. Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph , and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon. He shaved himself, changed his clothing, and came in to Pharaoh.
15. Pharaoh said to Joseph , “I have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you, that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.”
16. Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “It isn’t in me. God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.”
17. Pharaoh spoke to Joseph , “In my dream, behold, I stood on the brink of the river:
18. And behold, there came up out of the river seven cattle, fat fleshed and well favored. They fed in the reed grass,
19. And behold, seven other cattle came up after them, poor and very ill favored and lean fleshed, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for ugliness.
20. The ill and lean favored cattle ate up the first seven fat cattle,
21. And when they had eaten them up, it couldn’t be known that they had eaten them, but they were still ill favored , as at the beginning. So I awoke.
22. I saw in my dream, and behold, seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, full and good:
23. And behold, seven heads of grain, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them.
24. The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads of grain. I told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.”
25. Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dream of Pharaoh is one. What God is about to do he has declared to Pharaoh.
26. The seven good cattle are seven years; and the seven good heads of grain are seven years. The dream is one.
27. The seven lean and ill favored cattle that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven empty heads of grain blasted with the east wind; they will be seven years of famine.
28. That is the thing which I spoke to Pharaoh. What God is about to do he has shown to Pharaoh.
29. Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt.
30. There will arise after them seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land,
31. And the plenty will not be known in the land by reason of that famine which follows; for it will be very grievous.
32. The dream was doubled to Pharaoh, because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.
33. Now therefore let Pharaoh look for a discreet and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt.
34. Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint overseers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt’s produce in the seven plenteous years.
35. Let them gather all the food of these good years that come, and lay up grain under the hand of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it.
36. The food will be for a store to the land against the seven years of famine, which will be in the land of Egypt; that the land not perish through the famine.”
37. The thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants.
38. Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?”
39. Pharaoh said to Joseph , “Because God has shown you all of this, there is none so discreet and wise as you.
40. You shall be over my house, and according to your word will all my people be ruled. Only in the throne I will be greater than you.”
41. Pharaoh said to Joseph , “Behold, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.”
42. Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand, and put it on Joseph ’s hand, and arrayed him in robes of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck,
43. And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had. They cried before him, “Bow the knee!” He set him over all the land of Egypt.
44. Pharaoh said to Joseph , “I am Pharaoh, and without you shall no man lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt.”
45. Pharaoh called Joseph ’s name Zaphenath-Paneah; and he gave him Asenath , the daughter of Potiphera , priest of On, as a wife. Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.
46. Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.
47. In the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth abundantly.
48. He gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities: the food of the field, which was round about every city, he laid up in the same.
49. Joseph laid up grain as the sand of the sea, very much, until he stopped counting, for it was without number.
50. To Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, whom Asenath , the daughter of Potiphera , priest of On, bore to him.
51. Joseph called the name of the firstborn, Manasseh , “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.”
52. The name of the second, he called Ephraim: “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
53. The seven years of plenty, that were in the land of Egypt, came to an end.
54. The seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.
55. When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread, and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph . What he says to you, do.”
56. The famine was over all the surface of the earth. Joseph opened all the store houses, and sold to the Egyptians. The famine was severe in the land of Egypt.
57. All countries came into Egypt, to Joseph , to buy grain, because the famine was severe in all the earth.
Chapter 42
1. Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?”
2. He said, “Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there, and buy for us from there, so that we may live, and not die.”
3. Joseph ’s ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.
4. But Jacob didn’t send Benjamin , Joseph ’s brother, with his brothers; for he said, “Lest perhaps harm happen to him.”
5. The sons of Israel came to buy among those who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
6. Joseph was the governor over the land. It was he who sold to all the people of the land. Joseph ’s brothers came, and bowed themselves down to him with their faces to the earth.
7. Joseph saw his brothers, and he recognized them, but acted like a stranger to them, and spoke roughly with them. He said to them, “Where did you come from?” They said, “From the land of Canaan to buy food.”
8. Joseph recognized his brothers, but they didn’t recognize him.
9. Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed about them, and said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see the nakedness of the land.”
10. They said to him, “No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food.
11. We are all one man’s sons; we are honest men. Your servants are not spies.”
12. He said to them, “No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land.”
13. They said, “We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is no more.”
14. Joseph said to them, “It is like I told you, saying, ‘You are spies.’
15. Hereby you shall be tested. By the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go forth from here, unless your youngest brother come here.
16. Send one of you, and let him get your brother, and you shall be bound, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you, or else by the life of Pharaoh surely you are spies.”
17. He put them all together into custody three days.
18. Joseph said to them the third day, “Do this, and live, for I fear God.
19. If you are honest men, then let one of your brothers be bound in your prison house; but you go, carry grain for the famine of your houses.
20. Bring your youngest brother to me; so will your words be verified, and you won’t die.” They did so.
21. They said one to another, “We are most assuredly guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us, and we wouldn’t listen. Therefore this distress has come upon us.”
22. Reuben answered them, saying, “Didn’t I tell you, saying, ‘Don’t sin against the child,’ and you wouldn’t listen? Therefore also, behold, his blood is required.”
23. They didn’t know that Joseph understood them; for there was an interpreter between them.
24. He turned himself about from them, and wept. Then he returned to them, and spoke to them, and took Simeon from among them, and bound him before their eyes.
25. Then Joseph commanded to fill their bags with grain, and to restore every man’s money into his sack, and to give them food for the way. So it was done to them.
26. They loaded their donkeys with their grain, and departed from there.
27. As one of them opened his sack to give his donkey food in the lodging place, he saw his money. Behold, it was in the mouth of his sack.
28. He said to his brothers, “My money is restored! Behold, it is even in my sack!” Their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling one to another, saying, “What is this that God has done to us?”
29. They came to Jacob , their father, to the land of Canaan, and told him all that had happened to them, saying,
30. “The man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly with us, and took us for spies of the country.
31. We said to him, ‘We are honest men. We are no spies.
32. We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.’
33. The man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘Hereby will I know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for the famine of your houses, and go your way.
34. Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I will know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. So I will deliver your brother to you, and you shall trade in the land.’”
35. It happened as they emptied their sacks, that behold, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack. When they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid.
36. Jacob , their father, said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children! Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin away. All these things are against me.”
37. Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “Kill my two sons, if I don’t bring him to you. Deliver him to my hand, and I will bring him to you again.”
38. He said, “My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he only is left. If harm happens to him along the way in which you go, then you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.”
Chapter 43
1. The famine was severe in the land.
2. It happened, when they had eaten up the grain which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said to them, “Go again, buy us a little more food.”
3. Judah spoke to him, saying, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.’
4. If you’ll send our brother with us, we’ll go down and buy you food,
5. But if you’ll not send him, we’ll not go down, for the man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.’”
6. Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly, telling the man that you had another brother?”
7. They said, “The man asked directly concerning ourselves, and concerning our relatives, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?’ We just answered his questions. Is there any way we could know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down?’”
8. Judah said to Israel , his father, “Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, so that we may live, and not die, both we, and you, and also our little ones.
9. I will be collateral for him. From my hand will you require him. If I don’t bring him to you, and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever,
10. For unless we had lingered, surely we would have returned a second time by now.”
11. Their father, Israel , said to them, “If it be so now, do this. Take from the choice fruits of the land in your bags, and carry down a present for the man, a little balm, a little honey, spices and myrrh, nuts, and almonds;
12. And take double money in your hand, with the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks carry again in your hand. Perhaps it was an oversight.
13. Take also your brother , arise , and go again to the man.
14. May God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release to you your other brother and Benjamin . If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.”
15. The men took that present, and they took double money in their hand, and Benjamin ; and rose up, went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph .
16. When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Bring the men into the house, and butcher an animal, and make ready; for the men will dine with me at noon.”
17. The man did as Joseph commanded, and the man brought the men to Joseph ’s house.
18. The men were afraid, because they were brought to Joseph ’s house; and they said, “Because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time, are we brought in; that he may seek occasion against us, and fall on us, and take us for bond servants, along with our donkeys.”
19. They came near to the steward of Joseph ’s house, and they spoke to him at the door of the house,
20. And said, “Oh, my lord, we indeed came down the first time to buy food, and it happened,
21. When we came to the lodging place, we opened our sacks, and behold, every man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight. We have brought it again in our hand.
22. We have brought down other money in our hand to buy food. We don’t know who put our money in our sacks.”
23. He said, “Peace be to you. Don’t be afraid. Your God, and the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks. I received your money.” He brought Simeon out to them.
24. The man brought the men into Joseph ’s house, and gave them water, and they washed their feet. He gave their donkeys fodder.
25. They made ready the present for Joseph ’s coming at noon, for they heard that they should eat bread there.
26. When Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed themselves down to him to the earth.
27. He asked them of their welfare, and said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he yet alive?”
28. They said, “Your servant, our father, is well. He is still alive.” They bowed the head, and did homage.
29. He lifted up his eyes, and saw Benjamin , his brother, his mother’s son, and said, “Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me?” He said, “God be gracious to you, my son.”
30. Joseph made haste, for his heart yearned over his brother; and he sought a place to weep. He entered into his room, and wept there.
31. He washed his face, and came out. He controlled himself, and said, “Serve the meal.”
32. They served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians, that ate with him, by themselves, because the Egyptians don’t eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians.
33. They sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth, and the men marveled one with another.
34. He sent portions to them from before him, but Benjamin ’s portion was five times as much as any of theirs. They drank, and were merry with him.
Chapter 44
1. He commanded the steward of his house, saying, “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man’s money in his sack’s mouth.
2. Put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack’s mouth of the youngest, with his grain money.” He did according to the word that Joseph had spoken.
3. As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their donkeys.
4. When they had gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, Joseph said to his steward, “Go, follow after the men. When you overtake them, ask them, ‘Why have you rewarded evil for good?
5. Isn’t this that from which my lord drinks, and by which he indeed divines? You have done evil in so doing.’”
6. He overtook them, and he spoke to them these words.
7. They said to him, “Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants that they should do such a thing!
8. Behold, the money, which we found in our sacks’ mouths, we brought again to you out of the land of Canaan. How then should we steal silver or gold out of your lord’s house?
9. With whoever of your servants it be found, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s bondservants.”
10. He said, “Now also let it be according to your words: he with whom it is found will be my bondservant; and you will be blameless.”
11. Then they hurried, and took down every man his sack to the ground, and opened every man his sack.
12. He searched, beginning with the eldest, and ending at the youngest. The cup was found in Benjamin ’s sack.
13. Then they tore their clothes, and loaded every man his donkey, and returned to the city.
14. Judah and his brothers came to Joseph ’s house, and he was still there. They fell on the ground before him.
15. Joseph said to them, “What deed is this that you have done? Don’t you know that such a man as I can indeed divine?”
16. Judah said, “What will we tell my lord? What will we speak? Or how will we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants. Behold, we are my lord’s bondservants, both we, and he also in whose hand the cup is found.”
17. He said, “Far be it from me that I should do so. The man in whose hand the cup is found, he will be my bondservant; but as for you, go up in peace to your father.”