Month: July 2025

“No!, my lord!,” they exclaimed. “Your servants have simply come to by food. We are all brothers – members of the same family. we are honest men, sir! We are not spies!”

“Yes, you are!” Joseph insisted. “You have come to see how vulnerable our land has become.”

“Sir, they said, “there are actually twelve of us. We, your servants, are all brothers, sons of a man living in the land of Canaan. Our youngest brother is back there with our father, and one of our brothers is no no longer with us.”

But Joseph insisted “As I said, you are spies! This is how I will test your story. I swear by the life of Pharaoh that you will never leave Egypt unless your youngest brother comes here! I’ll keep the rest of you here in prison. Then we’ll find out whether or not your story is true. By the life of Pharaoh, it it turns out that you don’t have a younger brother, then I’ll know that you are spies.”

So Joseph put them all in prison for three days. On the third day, Joseph said to them, “I am a God-fearing man. If you do as I say, you will live. If you really are honest men, choose one of your brothers to remain in prison. The rest of you may go home with grain for your starving families. But you must bring your younger brother back to me. This will prove if you are telling the truth, and you will not die..” To this agreed. (vv. 10-20, NLT)

When Jacob heard that grain was available in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why are standing around looking at one another? I have heard there is grain in Egypt. Go down there, and buy enough grain to keep us alive. Otherwise we’ll die.”

So Joseph’s ten older brothers went down to Egypt to buy grain. But Jacob wouldn’t let Joseph’s younger brother, Benjamin, go with them, for fear some harm might come to him. So Jacob’s sons’ arrived in Egypt along with others to buy food, for the famine was in Canaan as well.

Since Joseph was governor of all Egypt and in charge of selling grain to all the people, it was him that all his brothers came. When they arrived, they bowed before him with their faces to the ground. Joseph recognized his brothers immediately, but he pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them. “Where are you from?” he demanded.

“From the land of Canaan,” they replied. “We have come to buy food.” (vv. 1-7, NLT)

Jesus responded, “Both of Pharaoh’s dreams mean the same thing. God is telling Pharaoh what He is about to do. The seven healthy cows and seven healthy heads of grain both represent seven years of prosperity. The seven thin, scrawny cows that came up later and the seven thin heads of grain, withered by the east wind, represent seven years of famine.” (vv. 25-27, NLT)

“Therefore, Pharaoh should find an intelligent and wise man and put him in charge of the entire land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh should appoint supervisors over the land and let them collect one-fifth of all the crops during the seven good years. Have them gather all the food produced in the good years that are just ahead and bring it to Pharaoh’s store houses. Store it away, and guard it so there will be food in the cities. That way there will be enough to eat when the seven years of famine come to Egypt. Otherwise the famine will destroy the land.” (vv. 33-36, NLT)

Pharaoh sent for Joseph at once, and he was quickly brought from the prison. After he was shaved and changed his clothes, he went in and stood before Pharaoh. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph,” I had a dream last night and no one here can tell me what it means. But I have heard that when you hear about a dream you can interpret it.”

“It is beyond my power to do this,” Joseph replied. “But God can tell you what it means and set you at ease.”

So Pharaoh told Joseph his dream,”he said. “I was standing on the bank of the Nile River, and I saw seven fat, healthy cows come up out of the river and began grazing on the marsh grass. But then I saw seven sick-looking cows, scrawny and thin, come up after them. I’ve never seen such sorry-looking animals in all the land of Egypt. These thin, scrawny cows ate the seven fat cows. But afterward you wouldn’t have known it, for they were as then and scrawny as before! Then I woke up.”

“Then I fell asleep again, and I had another dream. This time I saw seven heads of grain, full and beautiful, growing on a single stalk Then seven more heads of grain appeared, but these were blighted, shriveled, and withered by the east wind. And the shriveled heads swallowed the seven healthy heads. I told these dreams to the magicians, but no one could tell me what they mean.” (vv. 14-24, NLT)

The next morning Pharaoh was very disturbed by the dreams. So he called for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. when Pharaoh told them his dreams, not one of them could tell him what they meant.

Finally, the king’s cupbearer spoke up.” Today I have been reminded of my failure,” he told Pharaoh. “Some time ago, you were angry with the chief baker and me, and you imprisoned us in the palace of the captain of the guard. One night the chief baker and I each had a dream, and each dream had its own meaning. There was a young Hebrew man with us in the prison who a a slave of the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams, and he told us what each of our dreams meant. And everything happened just as he had predicted. I was restored to my position as cupbearer, and the chief baker was executed and impaled on a pole.” (vv. 8-13, NLT)

When the chief baker saw that Joseph had given the first dream such a positive interpretation, he said to Joseph, “I had a dream, too. In my dream there were three baskets of white pastries stacked on my head. The top basked contained all kinds of pastries fo r Pharaoh, but the birds cam and ate them from the basket on my head.”

“This is what the dream means,” Joseph told him. “The three baskets also represent three days. Three days from now, Pharaoh will life you up and impale your body with a pole. Then the birds will come and peck away at your flesh.”

Pharaoh’s birthday came three days later, and he prepared a banquet for all his officials and staff. He summoned his chief cupbearer and chief baker to join the other officials. He then restored the cupbearer to his former position, so he could again hand Pharaoh his cup. But Pharaoh impaled the chief baker, just as Joseph had predicted when interpreted his dream. Pharaoh’s chief cupbearer, however, forgot all about Joseph, never giving him another thought. (vv. 16-23, NLT)

So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream first. “In my dream,” he said, “I saw a grapevine in front of me. The vine had three branches that began to bud and blossom, and soon it produced clusters of ripe grapes. I was holding Pharaoh’s wine cup in my hand, so I took a cluster of grapes and squeezed the juice into the cup. Then I placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hands.”

“This is what the dream means,” Joseph said. “The three branches represent three days. Within three days, Pharaoh will lift you up and restore your position as his chief cupbearer. And please remember me and do me a favor when things go well for you. Mention me to Pharaoh so he might let me out of this place. For I was kidnapped from my home land, the land of the Hebrews, and no I’m here in prison, but I did nothing to deserve it.” (vv. 9-15, NLT)

Some time later, Pharaoh’s chief cupbearer and chief baker offended their royal master. Pharaoh became angry with these two officials, and he put them in the prison where Joseph was, in the palace of the captain of the guard, and the captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, who looked after them.

While they were in prison, Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker each had a dream one night, and each dream had its own meaning. When Joseph say them the next morning, he noticed that they both looked upset. “Why do you look so worried today?” he asked them. And the replied, “We both had dreams last night, but o one can tell us what they mean.”

“Interpreting dreams is God’s business,” Joseph replied. “Go ahead and tell me your dreams.” (vv. 1-8, NLT)

Potiphar was furious when he heard his wife’s story about Joseph had treated her. So he took Joseph and threw him into the prison where the king’s prisoners were held, and there he remained. But the Lord was with Joseph in prison and showed him His faithful love. And the Lord made Joseph a faithful favorite with the prison warden. Before long, the warden put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that happened in the prison. The warden had not more worries, because Joseph took care of everything and caused everything he did to succeed. (vv. 19-23, NLT)

Joseph was a very handsome, and well-built young man, and Potiphar’s wife soon began to look at him lustfully. “Come and sleep with me,” she demanded.

But Joseph refused. “Look,” he told her, “my master trusts me with everything in his entire household. No one here has more authority than I do. He has held back nothing except you, because you are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing: It would be a great sin against God.”

She kept putting pressure on Joseph day after day, but he refused to sleep with her, and he kept out for her way as much as possible. One day, however, no one else was around when he went in to do his work. She came and grabbed him by his cloak, demanding, “Come on, sleep with me!” Joseph tore himself away , but he left his cloak in her hand as he ran from the house.

When she saw that she was holding his cloak in her hand and he had fled, she called out to her servants. Soon all the en came running. “Look!” she said. “My husband has brought this Hebrew slave her to make fools of us! He came into my room to rape me, but I screamed. When he heard me scream, he ran outside and go away, but he left his cloak behind with me.”

She kept the cloak with her until her husband came home. Then she told him her story. “That Hebrew slave you’ve brought into our house tried to come in an fool around with me,” she said. “But when I screamed, he rand outside, leaving his cloak with me!” (vv. 6b-18, NLT)