¹Now it happened at the end of two full years that Pharaoh had a dream, and behold, he was standing by the Nile. ²And lo, from the Nile there came up seven cows, sleek and fat; and they grazed in the marsh grass. ³Then behold, seven other cows came up after them from the Nile, ugly and gaunt, and they stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile. ⁴The ugly and gaunt cows ate up the seven sleek and fat cows. Then Pharaoh awoke. ⁵He fell asleep and dreamed a second time; and behold, seven ears of grain came up on a single stalk, plump and good. ⁶Then behold, seven ears, thin and scorched by the east wind, sprouted up after them. ⁷The thin ears swallowed up the seven plump and full ears. Then Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream. ⁸Now in the morning his spirit was troubled, so he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all its wise men. And Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them to Pharaoh.

⁹Then the chief cupbearer spoke to Pharaoh, saying, "I would make mention today of my own offenses. ¹⁰"Pharaoh was furious with his servants, and he put me in confinement in the house of the captain of the bodyguard, both me and the chief baker. ¹¹"We had a dream on the same night, he and I; each of us dreamed according to the interpretation of his own dream. ¹²"Now a Hebrew youth was with us there, a servant of the captain of the bodyguard, and we related them to him, and he interpreted our dreams for us. To each one he interpreted according to his own dream. ¹³"And just as he interpreted for us, so it happened; he restored me in my office, but he hanged him."

Joseph Interprets

¹⁴Then Pharaoh sent and called for Joseph, and they hurriedly brought him out of the dungeon; and when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came to Pharaoh. ¹⁵Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I have had a dream, but no one can interpret it; and I have heard it said about you, that when you hear a dream you can interpret it." ¹⁶Joseph then answered Pharaoh, saying, "It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer." ¹⁷So Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, "In my dream, behold, I was standing on the bank of the Nile; ¹⁸and behold, seven cows, fat and sleek came up out of the Nile, and they grazed in the marsh grass. ¹⁹"Lo, seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and gaunt, such as I had never seen for ugliness in all the land of Egypt; ²⁰and the lean and ugly cows ate up the first seven fat cows. ²¹"Yet when they had devoured them, it could not be detected that they had devoured them, for they were just as ugly as before. Then I awoke. ²²"I saw also in my dream, and behold, seven ears, full and good, came up on a single stalk; ²³and lo, seven ears, withered, thin, and scorched by the east wind, sprouted up after them; ²⁴and the thin ears swallowed the seven good ears. Then I told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me."

²⁵Now Joseph said to Pharaoh, "Pharaoh's dreams are one and the same; God has told to Pharaoh what He is about to do. ²⁶"The seven good cows are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years; the dreams are one and the same. ²⁷"The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven thin ears scorched by the east wind will be seven years of famine. ²⁸"It is as I have spoken to Pharaoh: God has shown to Pharaoh what He is about to do. ²⁹"Behold, seven years of great abundance are coming in all the land of Egypt; ³⁰and after them seven years of famine will come, and all the abundance will be forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine will ravage the land. ³¹"So the abundance will be unknown in the land because of that subsequent famine; for it will be very severe. ³²"Now as for the repeating of the dream to Pharaoh twice, it means that the matter is determined by God, and God will quickly bring it about. ³³"Now let Pharaoh look for a man discerning and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt. ³⁴"Let Pharaoh take action to appoint overseers in charge of the land, and let him exact a fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt in the seven years of abundance. ³⁵"Then let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming, and store up the grain for food in the cities under Pharaoh's authority, and let them guard it. ³⁶"Let the food become as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which will occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land will not perish during the famine."

³⁷Now the proposal seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his servants.

Joseph Is Made a Ruler of Egypt

³⁸Then Pharaoh said to his servants, "Can we find a man like this, in whom is a divine spirit?" ³⁹So Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has informed you of all this, there is no one so discerning and wise as you are. ⁴⁰"You shall be over my house, and according to your command all my people shall do homage; only in the throne I will be greater than you." ⁴¹Pharaoh said to Joseph, "See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt." ⁴²Then Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put the gold necklace around his neck. ⁴³He had him ride in his second chariot; and they proclaimed before him, "Bow the knee!" And he set him over all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁴Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Though I am Pharaoh, yet without your permission no one shall raise his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt." ⁴⁵Then Pharaoh named Joseph Zaphenath-paneah; and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, as his wife. And Joseph went forth over the land of Egypt.

⁴⁶Now Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁷During the seven years of plenty the land brought forth abundantly. ⁴⁸So he gathered all the food of these seven years which occurred in the land of Egypt and placed the food in the cities; he placed in every city the food from its own surrounding fields. ⁴⁹Thus Joseph stored up grain in great abundance like the sand of the sea, until he stopped measuring it, for it was beyond measure.

The Sons of Joseph

⁵⁰Now before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him. ⁵¹Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, "For," he said, "God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father's household." ⁵²He named the second Ephraim, "For," he said, "God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction."

⁵³When the seven years of plenty which had been in the land of Egypt came to an end, ⁵⁴and the seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had said, then there was famine in all the lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. ⁵⁵So when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried out to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, "Go to Joseph; whatever he says to you, you shall do." ⁵⁶When the famine was spread over all the face of the earth, then Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold to the Egyptians; and the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. ⁵⁷The people of all the earth came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe in all the earth. 

¹Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, "Why are you staring at one another?" ²He said, "Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down there and buy some for us from that place, so that we may live and not die." ³Then ten brothers of Joseph went down to buy grain from Egypt. ⁴But Jacob did not send Joseph's brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, "I am afraid that harm may befall him." ⁵So the sons of Israel came to buy grain among those who were coming, for the famine was in the land of Canaan also.

⁶Now Joseph was the ruler over the land; he was the one who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came and bowed down to him with their faces to the ground. ⁷When Joseph saw his brothers he recognized them, but he disguised himself to them and spoke to them harshly. And he said to them, "Where have you come from?" And they said, "From the land of Canaan, to buy food."

⁸But Joseph had recognized his brothers, although they did not recognize him. ⁹Joseph remembered the dreams which he had about them, and said to them, "You are spies; you have come to look at the undefended parts of our land." ¹⁰Then they said to him, "No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. ¹¹"We are all sons of one man; we are honest men, your servants are not spies." ¹²Yet he said to them, "No, but you have come to look at the undefended parts of our land!" ¹³But they said, "Your servants are twelve brothers in all, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and behold, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no longer alive." ¹⁴Joseph said to them, "It is as I said to you, you are spies; ¹⁵by this you will be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here! ¹⁶"Send one of you that he may get your brother, while you remain confined, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you. But if not, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies." ¹⁷So he put them all together in prison for three days.

¹⁸Now Joseph said to them on the third day, "Do this and live, for I fear God: ¹⁹if you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in your prison; but as for the rest of you, go, carry grain for the famine of your households, ²⁰and bring your youngest brother to me, so your words may be verified, and you will not die." And they did so. ²¹Then they said to one another, "Truly we are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, yet we would not listen; therefore this distress has come upon us." ²²Reuben answered them, saying, "Did I not tell you, `Do not sin against the boy'; and you would not listen? Now comes the reckoning for his blood." ²³They did not know, however, that Joseph understood, for there was an interpreter between them. ²⁴He turned away from them and wept. But when he returned to them and spoke to them, he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. ²⁵Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain and to restore every man's money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. And thus it was done for them.

²⁶So they loaded their donkeys with their grain and departed from there. ²⁷As one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place, he saw his money; and behold, it was in the mouth of his sack. ²⁸Then he said to his brothers, "My money has been returned, and behold, it is even in my sack." And their hearts sank, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, "What is this that God has done to us?"

Simeon Is Held Hostage

²⁹When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying, ³⁰"The man, the lord of the land, spoke harshly with us, and took us for spies of the country. ³¹"But we said to him, `We are honest men; we are not spies. <sup>32</sup> `We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no longer alive, and the youngest is with our father today in the land of Canaan.' ³³"The 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 households, and go. <sup>34</sup> `But bring your youngest brother to me that I may know that you are not spies, but honest men. I will give your brother to you, and you may trade in the land.'"

³⁵Now it came about as they were emptying their sacks, that behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were dismayed. ³⁶Their father Jacob said to them, "You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and you would take Benjamin; all these things are against me." ³⁷Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, "You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my care, and I will return him to you." ³⁸But Jacob said, "My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If harm should befall him on the journey you are taking, then you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow."