Genesis:41-42
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After two whole years ,
Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile ,
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and behold ,
there came up out of the Nile seven cows sleek and fat ,
and they fed in the reed grass .
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And behold ,
seven other cows ,
gaunt and thin ,
came up out of the Nile after them ,
and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile .
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And the gaunt and thin cows ate up the seven sleek and fat cows .
And Pharaoh awoke .
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And he fell asleep and dreamed a second time ;
and behold ,
seven ears of grain ,
plump and good ,
were growing on one stalk .
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And behold ,
after them sprouted seven ears ,
thin and blighted by the east wind .
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And the thin ears swallowed up the seven plump and full ears .
And Pharaoh awoke ,
and behold ,
it was a dream .
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So in the morning his spirit was troubled ;
and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men ;
and Pharaoh told them his dream ,
but there was none who could interpret it to Pharaoh .
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Then the chief butler said to Pharaoh , "
I remember my faults today .
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When Pharaoh was angry with his servants ,
and put me and the chief baker in custody in the house of the captain of the guard ,
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we dreamed on the same night ,
he and I ,
each having a dream with its own meaning .
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A young Hebrew was there with us ,
a servant of the captain of the guard ;
and when we told him ,
he interpreted our dreams to us ,
giving an interpretation to each man according to his dream .
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And as he interpreted to us ,
so it came to pass ;
I was restored to my office ,
and the baker was hanged ."
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Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph ,
and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon ;
and when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes ,
he came in before Pharaoh .
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And Pharaoh said to Joseph , "
I have had a dream ,
and there is no one who can interpret it ;
and I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it ."
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Joseph answered Pharaoh , "
It is not in me ;
God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer ."
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Then Pharaoh said to Joseph , "
Behold ,
in my dream I was standing on the banks of the Nile ;
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and seven cows ,
fat and sleek ,
came up out of the Nile and fed in the reed grass ;
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and seven other cows came up after them ,
poor and very gaunt and thin ,
such as I had never seen in all the land of Egypt .
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And the thin and gaunt cows ate up the first seven fat cows ,
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but when they had eaten them no one would have known that they had eaten them ,
for they were still as gaunt as at the beginning .
Then I awoke .
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I also saw in my dream seven ears growing on one stalk ,
full and good ;
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and seven ears ,
withered ,
thin ,
and blighted by the east wind ,
sprouted after them ,
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and the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears .
And I told it to the magicians ,
but there was no one who could explain it to me ."
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Then Joseph said to Pharaoh , "
The dream of Pharaoh is one ;
God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do .
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The seven good cows are seven years ,
and the seven good ears are seven years ;
the dream is one .
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The seven lean and gaunt cows that came up after them are seven years ,
and the seven empty ears blighted by the east wind are also seven years of famine .
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It is as I told Pharaoh ,
God has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do .
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There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt ,
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but after them there will arise seven years of famine ,
and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt ;
the famine will consume the land ,
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and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of that famine which will follow ,
for it will be very grievous .
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And the doubling of Pharaoh '
s dream means that the thing is fixed by God ,
and God will shortly bring it to pass .
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Now therefore let Pharaoh select a man discreet and wise ,
and set him over the land of Egypt .
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Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land ,
and take the fifth part of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plenteous years .
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And let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming ,
and lay up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities ,
and let them keep it .
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That food shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine which are to befall the land of Egypt ,
so that the land may not perish through the famine ."
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This proposal seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his servants .
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And Pharaoh said to his servants , "
Can we find such a man as this ,
in whom is the Spirit of God ?"
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So Pharaoh said to Joseph , "
Since God has shown you all this ,
there is none so discreet and wise as you are ;
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you shall be over my house ,
and all my people shall order themselves as you command ;
only as regards the throne will I be greater than you ."
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And Pharaoh said to Joseph , "
Behold ,
I have set you over all the land of Egypt ."
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Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph '
s hand ,
and arrayed him in garments of fine linen ,
and put a gold chain about his neck ;
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and he made him to ride in his second chariot ;
and they cried before him , "
Bow the knee !"
Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt .
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Moreover Pharaoh said to Joseph , "
I am Pharaoh ,
and without your consent no man shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt ."
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And Pharaoh called Joseph '
s name Zaph '
enath-pane '
ah ;
and he gave him in marriage As '
enath ,
the daughter of Poti '
phera priest of On .
So Joseph went out over the land of Egypt .
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Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt .
And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh ,
and went through all the land of Egypt .
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During the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth abundantly ,
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and he gathered up all the food of the seven years when there was plenty in the land of Egypt ,
and stored up food in the cities ;
he stored up in every city the food from the fields around it .
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And Joseph stored up grain in great abundance ,
like the sand of the sea ,
until he ceased to measure it ,
for it could not be measured .
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Before the year of famine came ,
Joseph had two sons ,
whom As '
enath ,
the daughter of Poti '
phera priest of On ,
bore to him .
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Joseph called the name of the first-born Manas '
seh , "
For ,"
he said , "
God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father '
s house ."
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The name of the second he called E '
phraim , "
For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction ."
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The seven years of plenty that prevailed in the land of Egypt came to an end ;
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and the seven years of famine began to come ,
as Joseph had said .
There was famine in all lands ;
but in all the land of Egypt there was bread .
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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 ."
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So when the famine had spread over all the land ,
Joseph opened all the storehouses ,
and sold to the Egyptians ,
for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt .
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Moreover ,
all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain ,
because the famine was severe over all the earth .
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When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt ,
he said to his sons , "
Why do you look at one another ?"
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And he said , "
Behold ,
I have heard that there is grain in Egypt ;
go down and buy grain for us there ,
that we may live ,
and not die ."
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So ten of Joseph '
s brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt .
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But Jacob did not send Benjamin ,
Joseph '
s brother ,
with his brothers ,
for he feared that harm might befall him .
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Thus the sons of Israel came to buy among the others who came ,
for the famine was in the land of Canaan .
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Now Joseph was governor over the land ;
he it was who sold to all the people of the land .
And Joseph '
s brothers came ,
and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground .
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Joseph saw his brothers ,
and knew them ,
but he treated them like strangers and spoke roughly to them . "
Where do you come from ?"
he said .
They said , "
From the land of Canaan ,
to buy food ."
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Thus Joseph knew his brothers ,
but they did not know him .
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And Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed of them ;
and he said to them , "
You are spies ,
you have come to see the weakness of the land ."
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They said to him , "
No ,
my lord ,
but to buy food have your servants come .
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We are all sons of one man ,
we are honest men ,
your servants are not spies ."
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He said to them , "
No ,
it is the weakness of the land that you have come to see ."
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And 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 ."
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But Joseph said to them , "
It is as I said to you ,
you are spies .
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By this you shall be tested :
by the life of Pharaoh ,
you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here .
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Send one of you ,
and let him bring your brother ,
while you remain in prison ,
that your words may be tested ,
whether there is truth in you ;
or else ,
by the life of Pharaoh ,
surely you are spies ."
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And he put them all together in prison for three days .
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On the third day Joseph said to them , "
Do this and you will live ,
for I fear God :
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if you are honest men ,
let one of your brothers remain confined in your prison ,
and let the rest go and carry grain for the famine of your households ,
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and bring your youngest brother to me ;
so your words will be verified ,
and you shall not die ."
And they did so .
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Then they said to one another , "
In truth we are guilty concerning our brother ,
in that we saw the distress of his soul ,
when he besought us and we would not listen ;
therefore is this distress come upon us ."
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And Reuben answered them , "
Did I not tell you not to sin against the lad ?
But you would not listen .
So now there comes a reckoning for his blood ."
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They did not know that Joseph understood them ,
for there was an interpreter between them .
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Then he turned away from them and wept ;
and he returned to them and spoke to them .
And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes .
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And Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain ,
and to replace every man '
s money in his sack ,
and to give them provisions for the journey .
This was done for them .
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Then they loaded their asses with their grain ,
and departed .
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And as one of them opened his sack to give his ass provender at the lodging place ,
he saw his money in the mouth of his sack ;
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and he said to his brothers , "
My money has been put back ;
here it is in the mouth of my sack !"
At this their hearts failed them ,
and they turned trembling to one another ,
saying , "
What is this that God has done to us ?"
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When they came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan ,
they told him all that had befallen them ,
saying ,
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The man ,
the lord of the land ,
spoke roughly to us ,
and took us to be spies of the land .
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But we said to him , `
We are honest men ,
we are not spies ;
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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 .'
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Then the man ,
the lord of the land ,
said to us , `
By this I shall know that you are honest men :
leave one of your brothers with me ,
and take grain for the famine of your households ,
and go your way .
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Bring your youngest brother to me ;
then I shall know that you are not spies but honest men ,
and I will deliver to you your brother ,
and you shall trade in the land .'"
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As they emptied their sacks ,
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 .
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And Jacob their father said to them , "
You have bereaved me of my children :
Joseph is no more ,
and Simeon is no more ,
and now you would take Benjamin ;
all this has come upon me ."
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Then Reuben said to his father , "
Slay my two sons if I do not bring him back to you ;
put him in my hands ,
and I will bring him back to you ."
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But he said , "
My son shall not go down with you ,
for his brother is dead ,
and he only is left .
If harm should befall him on the journey that you are to make ,
you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol ."
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Now the famine was severe in the land .
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