Category: Scripture

Joseph could stand it no longer. There were many people in one room, and he said to his attendants, “Out, all of you!” So he was alone with his brothers when he told him who he was. Then he broke down and wept. He wept so loudly that the Egyptians could hear him, and word of it quickly carried to Pharaoh’s palace.

“I am Joseph!” he said to his brothers. “Is my father still alive?” But his brothers were speechless! They were stunned to realize that Joseph was standing there in front of them. “Please, come closer,” he said to them So they came closer. And he said to them again, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold to slavery in Egypt. But don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives. This famine that has ravaged the land for two years will last five more years, and there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. God has sent me here ahead of you to keep you and your families alive and preserve many survivors. So it was God who sent me here, not you! An he is the one who made me an advisor to Pharaoh-the manger of his entire palace and governor of all of Egypt.” (vv. 1-8, NLT)

When his brothers were ready to leave, Joseph gave instructions to his palace manager: “Fill each of their sacks with as much grain as they can carry, and put each man’s money back in his sack. Then put my personal silver cup at the top of the youngest brother’s sack, along with the money for his grain. So the manager did as Joseph instructed him. (vv. 1-2, NLT)

Joseph was still in his palace when Judah and his brothers arrived, and they fell to the ground before him. “What have you done?” Joseph demanded. Don’t you know that a man like me can predict the future?”

Judah answered, “Oh, my lord, what can we way to you? How can we explain this? How can we prove our innocence? God is punishing us for our sins. My lord, we have all returned to be your slaves-all of us, not just our brother wh had you cup in his sack.”

“No,” Joseph said. “I would never do such a thing! Only the man who stole the cup will be my slave. The rest of you my go back to your father in peace.” (vv 14-17, NLT)

When Joseph came home, they gave him the gifts they had brought him, then bowed low to the ground before him. After greeting them, he asked, “How is your father, the old man you spoke about? Is he still alive?”

“Yes”, they replied. “Our father, your servant, is alive and well.” And they bowed again.

Then Joseph looked at his brother, Benjamin, the son of his own mother. “Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about? ” Joseph asked. “May God be gracious to you.” Then Joseph hurried from the room because he was so overcome with emotion for brother. He went to his private room, where he broke down and wept. After washing his face, he came back out, keeping himself under control. Then he ordered, “Bring out the food!”

The waiters served Joseph at his own table, and his brothers were served at a separate table. The Egyptians who ate with Joseph sat at their own table, because Egyptians despise Hebrews and refused to eat with them. Joseph told each of his brothers where to sit, and to their amazement, he seated them according to age, from oldest to youngest. And Joseph filled their plates with food from his own table, giving Benjamin five times as must as he gave the others. So they feasted and drank freely with him. (vv. 26-34, NLT)

Joseph then ordered his servants to fill the men’s sacks with grain, but he also gave secret instructions to return each brother’s payment at the top of his sack. He also gave them supplies for their journey home.So the brothers loaded their donkeys with grain and headed for home. (vv. 25-26, NLT)

When the brothers came to their father, Jacob, in the land of Canaan, they told him everything that happen to them. (v. 29, NLT)

As they emptied out their sacks, there in each man’s sack was the bag of money he had paid for the grain! The brothers and their father were terrified when they saw the bags of money. Jacob exclaimed, “You are robbing me of my children! Joseph is gone, Simeon is gone! An now you want to take Benjamin, too! Everything is going against me!”

Then Ruben said to his father, “You may kill my two sons if I don’t bring Benjamin back to you. I’ll be responsible for hi, and I promises to bring him back.”

But Jacob replied, “My son will not go down with you. His brother Joseph is dead, and he is all I have left. If anything should happen to him on our journey, you would send this grieving, white-haired man to his grave.” (vv. 35-38, NLT)

“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)