Pharaoh's grain, a hidden cup, and a brother who weeps.

Genesis 41

Pharaoh dreams of cows and ears of grain, Joseph reads seven years of plenty and seven of famine, and at thirty Joseph is set over Egypt, where Manasseh and Ephraim are born.

¹At the end of two full years, Pharaoh dreamed, and behold, he stood by the river. ²Behold, seven cattle came up out of the river. They were sleek and fat, and they fed in the marsh grass. ³Behold, seven other cattle came up after them out of the river, ugly and thin, and stood by the other cattle on the brink of the river. ⁴The ugly and thin cattle ate up the seven sleek and fat cattle. So Pharaoh awoke. ⁵He slept and dreamed a second time; and behold, seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, healthy and good. ⁶Behold, seven heads of grain, thin and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them. ⁷The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy and full ears. Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream. ⁸In the morning, his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all of Egypt’s magicians and wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them to Pharaoh.

⁹Then the chief cup bearer spoke to Pharaoh, saying, “I remember my faults today. ¹⁰Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, with the chief baker. ¹¹We dreamed a dream in one night, he and I. Each man dreamed according to the interpretation of his dream. ¹²There 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. He interpreted to each man according to his dream. ¹³As he interpreted to us, so it was. He restored me to my office, and he hanged him.”

¹⁴Then 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. ¹⁵Pharaoh 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.”

¹⁶Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “It isn’t in me. God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.”

¹⁷Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, “In my dream, behold, I stood on the brink of the river; ¹⁸and behold, seven fat and sleek cattle came up out of the river. They fed in the marsh grass; ¹⁹and behold, seven other cattle came up after them, poor and very ugly and thin, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for ugliness. ²⁰The thin and ugly cattle ate up the first seven fat cattle; ²¹and when they had eaten them up, it couldn’t be known that they had eaten them, but they were still ugly, as at the beginning. So I awoke. ²²I saw in my dream, and behold, seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, full and good; ²³and behold, seven heads of grain, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them. ²⁴The 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.”

²⁵Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dream of Pharaoh is one. What God is about to do he has declared to Pharaoh. ²⁶The seven good cattle are seven years; and the seven good heads of grain are seven years. The dream is one. ²⁷The seven thin and ugly 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. ²⁸That is the thing which I have spoken to Pharaoh. God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁹Behold, seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt are coming. ³⁰Seven years of famine will arise after them, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land, ³¹and the plenty will not be known in the land by reason of that famine which follows; for it will be very grievous. ³²The 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. ³⁴Let 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. ³⁵Let them gather all the food of these good years that come, and store grain under the hand of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it. ³⁶The food will be to supply the land against the seven years of famine, which will be in the land of Egypt; so that the land will not perish through the famine.”

³⁷The thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants. ³⁸Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?” ³⁹Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Because God has shown you all of this, there is no one so discreet and wise as you. ⁴⁰You shall be over my house. All my people will be ruled according to your word. Only in the throne I will be greater than you.” ⁴¹Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Behold, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” ⁴²Pharaoh 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. ⁴³He made him ride in the second chariot which he had. They cried before him, “Bow the knee!” He set him over all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁴Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh. Without you, no man shall lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt.” ⁴⁵Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphenath-Paneah. He gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On as a wife. Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

⁴⁶Joseph 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. ⁴⁷In the seven plenteous years the earth produced abundantly. ⁴⁸He gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities. He stored food in each city from the fields around that city. ⁴⁹Joseph laid up grain as the sand of the sea, very much, until he stopped counting, for it was without number. ⁵⁰To Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him. ⁵¹Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh, “For”, he said, “God has made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.” ⁵²The name of the second, he called Ephraim: “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

⁵³The seven years of plenty, that were in the land of Egypt, came to an end. ⁵⁴The 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. ⁵⁵When 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.” ⁵⁶The 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. ⁵⁷All countries came into Egypt, to Joseph, to buy grain, because the famine was severe in all the earth.

Genesis 42

The brothers bow in Egypt, Joseph speaks roughly and keeps Simeon, and the silver returned in their sacks carries fear home to Jacob.

¹Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” ²He 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.” ³Joseph’s ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. ⁴But Jacob didn’t send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with his brothers; for he said, “Lest perhaps harm happen to him.” ⁵The sons of Israel came to buy among those who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. ⁶Joseph 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. ⁷Joseph 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.”

⁸Joseph recognized his brothers, but they didn’t recognize him. ⁹Joseph 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.”

¹⁰They said to him, “No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. ¹¹We are all one man’s sons; we are honest men. Your servants are not spies.”

¹²He said to them, “No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land!”

¹³They said, “We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and behold, the youngest is today with our father, and one is no more.”

¹⁴Joseph said to them, “It is like I told you, saying, ‘You are spies!’ ¹⁵By this you shall be tested. By the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go out from here, unless your youngest brother comes here. ¹⁶Send 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.” ¹⁷He put them all together into custody for three days.

¹⁸Joseph said to them the third day, “Do this, and live, for I fear God. ¹⁹If you are honest men, then let one of your brothers be bound in your prison; but you go, carry grain for the famine of your houses. ²⁰Bring your youngest brother to me; so will your words be verified, and you won’t die.”

They did so. ²¹They said to one another, “We are certainly 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.” ²²Reuben 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.” ²³They didn’t know that Joseph understood them; for there was an interpreter between them. ²⁴He turned himself away 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. ²⁵Then Joseph gave a command to fill their bags with grain, and to restore each man’s money into his sack, and to give them food for the way. So it was done to them.

²⁶They loaded their donkeys with their grain, and departed from there. ²⁷As 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. ²⁸He said to his brothers, “My money is restored! Behold, it is in my sack!” Their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, “What is this that God has done to us?” ²⁹They 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. ³¹We said to him, ‘We are honest men. We are no spies. ³²We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is today with our father in the land of Canaan.’ ³³The man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘By this I will 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. ³⁴Bring 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.’”

³⁵As they emptied their sacks, behold, each man’s bundle of money was in his sack. When they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid. ³⁶Jacob, 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.”

³⁷Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “Kill my two sons, if I don’t bring him to you. Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him to you again.”

³⁸He 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.”

Genesis 43

Judah pledges his own life for Benjamin, the brothers return with gifts and double money, and Joseph eats with them, seating them by age.

¹The famine was severe in the land. ²When 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.”

³Judah spoke to him, saying, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.’ ⁴If you’ll send our brother with us, we’ll go down and buy you food; ⁵but if you don’t send him, we won’t go down, for the man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.’”

⁶Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly, telling the man that you had another brother?”

⁷They 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’?”

⁸Judah said to Israel, his father, “Send the boy with me, and we’ll get up and go, so that we may live, and not die, both we, and you, and also our little ones. ⁹I’ll 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; ¹⁰for if we hadn’t delayed, surely we would have returned a second time by now.”

¹¹Their father, Israel, said to them, “If it must be so, then 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; ¹²and take double money in your hand, and take back the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was an oversight. ¹³Take your brother also, get up, and return to the man. ¹⁴May 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.”

¹⁵The men took that present, and they took double money in their hand, and Benjamin; and got up, went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph. ¹⁶When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Bring the men into the house, and butcher an animal, and prepare; for the men will dine with me at noon.”

¹⁷The man did as Joseph commanded, and the man brought the men to Joseph’s house. ¹⁸The men were afraid, because they were brought to Joseph’s house; and they said, “Because of the money that was returned in our sacks the first time, we’re brought in; that he may seek occasion against us, attack us, and seize us as slaves, along with our donkeys.” ¹⁹They came near to the steward of Joseph’s house, and they spoke to him at the door of the house, ²⁰and said, “Oh, my lord, we indeed came down the first time to buy food. ²¹When we came to the lodging place, we opened our sacks, and behold, each man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight. We have brought it back in our hand. ²²We have brought down other money in our hand to buy food. We don’t know who put our money in our sacks.”

²³He 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. ²⁴The man brought the men into Joseph’s house, and gave them water, and they washed their feet. He gave their donkeys fodder. ²⁵They prepared the present for Joseph’s coming at noon, for they heard that they should eat bread there.

²⁶When Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed themselves down to the earth before him. ²⁷He asked them of their welfare, and said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he yet alive?”

²⁸They said, “Your servant, our father, is well. He is still alive.” They bowed down humbly. ²⁹He 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.” ³⁰Joseph hurried, for his heart yearned over his brother; and he sought a place to weep. He entered into his room, and wept there. ³¹He washed his face, and came out. He controlled himself, and said, “Serve the meal.”

³²They served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians don’t eat with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. ³³They sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth, and the men marveled with one another. ³⁴He 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.

Genesis 44

A silver cup is found in Benjamin's sack, and Judah offers himself as a slave so the boy can return to a father whose life is bound up in the lad.

¹He commanded the steward of his house, saying, “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man’s money in his sack’s mouth. ²Put 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. ³As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their donkeys. ⁴When they had gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, Joseph said to his steward, “Up, follow after the men. When you overtake them, ask them, ‘Why have you rewarded evil for good? ⁵Isn’t this that from which my lord drinks, and by which he indeed divines? You have done evil in so doing.’” ⁶He overtook them, and he spoke these words to them.

⁷They 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! ⁸Behold, 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? ⁹With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s slaves.”

¹⁰He said, “Now also let it be according to your words. He with whom it is found will be my slave; and you will be blameless.”

¹¹Then they hurried, and each man took his sack down to the ground, and each man opened his sack. ¹²He searched, beginning with the oldest, and ending at the youngest. The cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. ¹³Then they tore their clothes, and each man loaded his donkey, and returned to the city.

¹⁴Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, and he was still there. They fell on the ground before him. ¹⁵Joseph said to them, “What deed is this that you have done? Don’t you know that such a man as I can indeed do divination?”

¹⁶Judah said, “What will we tell my lord? What will we speak? How will we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants. Behold, we are my lord’s slaves, both we and he also in whose hand the cup is found.”

¹⁷He said, “Far be it from me that I should do so. The man in whose hand the cup is found, he will be my slave; but as for you, go up in peace to your father.”

¹⁸Then Judah came near to him, and said, “Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, and don’t let your anger burn against your servant; for you are even as Pharaoh. ¹⁹My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father, or a brother?’ ²⁰We said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother; and his father loves him.’ ²¹You said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.’ ²²We said to my lord, ‘The boy can’t leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ ²³You said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will see my face no more.’ ²⁴When we came up to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. ²⁵Our father said, ‘Go again and buy us a little food.’ ²⁶We said, ‘We can’t go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down: for we may not see the man’s face, unless our youngest brother is with us.’ ²⁷Your servant, my father, said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. ²⁸One went out from me, and I said, “Surely he is torn in pieces;” and I haven’t seen him since. ²⁹If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.’ ³⁰Now therefore when I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us; since his life is bound up in the boy’s life; ³¹it will happen, when he sees that the boy is no more, that he will die. Your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant, our father, with sorrow to Sheol. ³²For your servant became collateral for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I don’t bring him to you, then I will bear the blame to my father forever.’ ³³Now therefore, please let your servant stay instead of the boy, my lord’s slave; and let the boy go up with his brothers. ³⁴For how will I go up to my father, if the boy isn’t with me?—lest I see the evil that will come on my father.”

Genesis 45

Joseph reveals his name, says God sent him ahead to preserve life, and sends wagons so that Jacob may come down and see his son alive.

¹Then Joseph couldn’t control himself before all those who stood before him, and he called out, “Cause everyone to go out from me!” No one else stood with him, while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. ²He wept aloud. The Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard. ³Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Does my father still live?”

His brothers couldn’t answer him; for they were terrified at his presence. ⁴Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.”

They came near. He said, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. ⁵Now don’t be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. ⁶For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are yet five years, in which there will be no plowing and no harvest. ⁷God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance. ⁸So now it wasn’t you who sent me here, but God, and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt. ⁹Hurry, and go up to my father, and tell him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says, “God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me. Don’t wait. ¹⁰You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you will be near to me, you, your children, your children’s children, your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. ¹¹There I will provide for you; for there are yet five years of famine; lest you come to poverty, you, and your household, and all that you have.”’ ¹²Behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaks to you. ¹³You shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. You shall hurry and bring my father down here.” ¹⁴He fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. ¹⁵He kissed all his brothers, and wept on them. After that his brothers talked with him.

¹⁶The report of it was heard in Pharaoh’s house, saying, “Joseph’s brothers have come.” It pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants. ¹⁷Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals, and go, travel to the land of Canaan. ¹⁸Take your father and your households, and come to me, and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land.’ ¹⁹Now you are commanded to do this: Take wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. ²⁰Also, don’t concern yourselves about your belongings, for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours.”

²¹The sons of Israel did so. Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way. ²²He gave each one of them changes of clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothing. ²³He sent the following to his father: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and provision for his father by the way. ²⁴So he sent his brothers away, and they departed. He said to them, “See that you don’t quarrel on the way.”

²⁵They went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan, to Jacob their father. ²⁶They told him, saying, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” His heart fainted, for he didn’t believe them. ²⁷They told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them. When he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob, their father, revived. ²⁸Israel said, “It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”