Genesis 41:1-57
1 Then it came to pass, at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh
had a dream; and behold, he stood by the river.
2 Suddenly there came up out of the river seven cows, fine looking
and fat; and they fed in the meadow.
3 Then behold, seven other cows came up after them out of the river,
ugly and gaunt, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the river.
4 And the ugly and gaunt cows ate up the seven fine looking and
fat cows. So Pharaoh awoke.
5 He slept and dreamed a second time; and suddenly seven heads of
grain came up on one stalk, plump and good.
6 Then behold, seven thin heads, blighted by the east wind, sprang
up after them.
7 And the seven thin heads devoured the seven plump and full heads.
So Pharaoh awoke, and indeed, it was a dream.
8 Now it came to pass in the morning that 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 dreams, but there was no one
who could interpret them for Pharaoh.
9 Then the chief butler spoke to Pharaoh, saying: "I remember my
faults this day.
10 "When Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me in custody
in the house of the captain of the guard, both me and the chief
baker,
11 "we each dreamed a dream in one night, he and I. Each of us dreamed
according to the interpretation of his own dream.
12 "Now there was a young Hebrew man with us there, a servant of
the captain of the guard. And we told him, and he interpreted our
dreams for us; to each man he interpreted according to his own dream.
13 "And it came to pass, just as he interpreted for us, so it happened.
He restored me to my office, and he hanged him."
14 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him quickly
out of the dungeon; and he shaved, changed his clothing, and came
to Pharaoh.
15 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I have dreamed a dream, and there
is no one who can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you
that you can understand a dream, to interpret it."
16 So Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, "It is not in me; God will
give Pharaoh an answer of peace."
17 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph: "Behold, in my dream I stood on
the bank of the river.
18 "Suddenly seven cows came up out of the river, fine looking and
fat; and they fed in the meadow.
19 "Then behold, seven other cows came up after them, poor and very
ugly and gaunt, such ugliness as I have never seen in all the land
of Egypt.
20 "And the gaunt and ugly cows ate up the first seven, the fat
cows.
21 "When they had eaten them up, no one would have known that they
had eaten them, for they were just as ugly as at the beginning.
So I awoke.
22 "Also I saw in my dream, and suddenly seven heads came up on
one stalk, full and good.
23 "Then behold, seven heads, withered, thin, and blighted by the
east wind, sprang up after them.
24 "And the thin heads devoured the seven good heads. So I told
this to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it
to me."
25 Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, "The dreams of Pharaoh are one;
God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do:
26 "The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads
are seven years; the dreams are one.
27 "And the seven thin and ugly cows which came up after them are
seven years, and the seven empty heads blighted by the east wind
are seven years of famine.
28 "This is the thing which I have spoken to Pharaoh. God has shown
Pharaoh what He is about to do.
29 "Indeed seven years of great plenty will come throughout all
the land of Egypt;
30 "but after them seven years of famine will arise, and all the
plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine will
deplete the land.
31 "So the plenty will not be known in the land because of the famine
following, for it will be very severe.
32 "And the dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice because the thing
is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.
33 "Now therefore, let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man,
and set him over the land of Egypt.
34 "Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land,
to collect one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt in the
seven plentiful years.
35 "And let them gather all the food of those good years that are
coming, and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh, and let
them keep food in the cities.
36 "Then that food shall be as a reserve for the land for the seven
years of famine which shall be in the land of Egypt, that the land
may not perish during the famine."
37 So the advice was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes
of all his servants.
38 And Pharaoh said to his servants, "Can we find such a one as
this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?"
39 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Inasmuch as God has shown you all
this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you.
40 "You shall be over my house, and all my people shall be ruled
according to your word; only in regard to the throne will I be greater
than you."
41 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, "See, I have set you over all the
land of Egypt."
42 Then Pharaoh took his signet ring off his hand and put it on
Joseph's hand; and he clothed him in garments of fine linen and
put a gold chain around his neck.
43 And he had him ride in the second chariot which he had; and they
cried out before him, "Bow the knee!" So he set him over all the
land of Egypt.
44 Pharaoh also said to Joseph, "I am Pharaoh, and without your
consent no man may lift his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt."
45 And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnath-Paaneah. And he gave
him as a wife Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On.
So Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt.
46 Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king
of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and
went throughout all the land of Egypt.
47 Now in the seven plentiful years the ground brought forth abundantly.
48 So he 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 laid
up in every city the food of the fields which surrounded them.
49 Joseph gathered very much grain, as the sand of the sea, until
he stopped counting, for it was without number.
50 And to Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came,
whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On, bore to
him.
51 Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: "For God has
made me forget all my toil and all my father's house."
52 And the name of the second he called Ephraim: "For God has caused
me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction."
53 Then the seven years of plenty which were in the land of Egypt
ended,
54 and the seven years of famine began to come, as Joseph had said.
The famine was in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there
was bread.
55 So when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried
to Pharaoh for bread. Then Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, "Go
to Joseph; whatever he says to you, do."
56 The famine was over all the face of the earth, and Joseph opened
all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians. And the famine became
severe in the land of Egypt.
57 So all countries came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because
the famine was severe in all lands.
Genesis 42:1-38
1 When Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, Jacob said to
his sons, "Why do you look at one another?"
2 And he said, "Indeed I have heard that there is grain in Egypt;
go down to that place and buy for us there, that we may live and
not die."
3 So Joseph's ten brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt.
4 But Jacob did not send Joseph's brother Benjamin with his brothers,
for he said, "Lest some calamity befall him."
5 And the sons of Israel went to buy grain among those who journeyed,
for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
6 Now Joseph was governor over the land; and it was he who sold
to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came and
bowed down before him with their faces to the earth.
7 Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he acted as
a stranger to them and spoke roughly to them. Then he said to
them, "Where do you come from?" And they said, "From the land
of Canaan to buy food."
8 So Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize
him.
9 Then Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed about
them, and said to them, "You are spies! You have come to see the
nakedness of the land!"
10 And they said to him, "No, my lord, but your servants have
come to buy food.
11 "We are all one man's sons; we are honest men; your servants
are not spies."
12 But he said to them, "No, but you have come to see the nakedness
of the land."
13 And they said, "Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons
of one man in the land of Canaan; and in fact, the youngest is
with our father today, and one is no more."
14 But Joseph said to them, "It is as I spoke to you, saying,
'You are spies!'
15 "In this manner you shall be tested: By the life of Pharaoh,
you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes
here.
16 "Send one of you, and let him bring your brother; and you shall
be kept in prison, that your words may be tested to see whether
there is any truth in you; or else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely
you are spies!"
17 So he put them all together in prison three days.
18 Then Joseph said to them the third day, "Do this and live,
for I fear God:
19 "If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined
to your prison house; but you, go and carry grain for the famine
of your houses.
20 "And bring your youngest brother to me; so your words will
be verified, and you shall not die." And they did so.
21 Then they said to one another, "We are truly guilty concerning
our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded
with us, and we would not hear; therefore this distress has come
upon us."
22 And Reuben answered them, saying, "Did I not speak to you,
saying, 'Do not sin against the boy'; and you would not listen?
Therefore behold, his blood is now required of us."
23 But they did not know that Joseph understood them, for he spoke
to them through an interpreter.
24 And he turned himself away from them and wept. Then he returned
to them again, and talked with them. And he took Simeon from them
and bound him before their eyes.
25 Then Joseph gave a command to fill their sacks with grain,
to restore every man's money to his sack, and to give them provisions
for the journey. Thus he did for them.
26 So they loaded their donkeys with the grain and departed from
there.
27 But as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey feed
at the encampment, he saw his money; and there it was, in the
mouth of his sack.
28 So he said to his brothers, "My money has been restored, and
there it is, in my sack!" Then their hearts failed them and they
were afraid, saying to one another, "What is this that God has
done to us?"
29 Then they went to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan
and told him all that had happened to them, saying:
30 "The man who is lord of the land spoke roughly to us, and took
us for spies of the country.
31 "But we said to him, 'We are honest men; we are not spies.
32 'We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more,
and the youngest is with our father this day in the land of Canaan.'
33 "Then the man, the lord of the country, said to us, 'By this
I will know that you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers
here with me, take food for the famine of your households, and
be gone.
34 'And bring your youngest brother to me; so I shall know that
you are not spies, but that you are honest men. I will grant your
brother to you, and you may trade in the land.'"
35 Then it happened as they emptied their sacks, that surprisingly
each man's bundle of money was in his sack; and when they and
their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid.
36 And Jacob their father said to them, "You have bereaved me:
Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin.
All these things are against me."
37 Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, "Kill 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."
38 But he said, "My son shall not go down with you, for his brother
is dead, and he is left alone. If any calamity should befall him
along the way in which you go, then you would bring down my gray
hair with sorrow to the grave."
Genesis 43:1-34
1 Now the famine was severe in the land.
2 And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the grain which
they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, "Go
back, buy us a little food."
3 But Judah spoke to him, saying, "The man solemnly warned us,
saying, 'You shall not see my face unless your brother is with
you.'"
4 "If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you
food.
5 "But if you will not send him, we will not go down; for the
man said to us, 'You shall not see my face unless your brother
is with you.'"
6 And Israel said, "Why did you deal so wrongfully with me as
to tell the man whether you had still another brother?"
7 But they said, "The man asked us pointedly about ourselves and
our family, saying, 'Is your father still alive? Have you another
brother?' And we told him according to these words. Could we possibly
have known that he would say, 'Bring your brother down'?"
8 Then Judah said to Israel his father, "Send the lad with me,
and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we
and you and also our little ones.
9 "I myself will be surety for him; from my hand you shall require
him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you,
then let me bear the blame forever.
10 "For if we had not lingered, surely by now we would have returned
this second time."
11 And their father Israel said to them, "If it must be so, then
do this: Take some of the best fruits of the land in your vessels
and carry down a present for the man-- a little balm and a little
honey, spices and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds.
12 "Take double money in your hand, and take back in your hand
the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks; perhaps
it was an oversight.
13 "Take your brother also, and arise, go back to the man.
14 "And may God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he
may release your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved,
I am bereaved!"
15 So the men took that present and Benjamin, and they took double
money in their hand, and arose and went down to Egypt; and they
stood before Joseph.
16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward
of his house, "Take these men to my home, and slaughter an animal
and make ready; for these men will dine with me at noon."
17 Then the man did as Joseph ordered, and the man brought the
men into Joseph's house.
18 Now the men were afraid because they were brought into Joseph's
house; and they said, "It is because of the money, which was returned
in our sacks the first time, that we are brought in, so that he
may seek an occasion against us and fall upon us, to take us as
slaves with our donkeys."
19 When they drew near to the steward of Joseph's house, they
talked with him at the door of the house,
20 and said, "O sir, we indeed came down the first time to buy
food;
21 "but it happened, when we came to the encampment, that we opened
our sacks, and there, each man's money was in the mouth of his
sack, our money in full weight; so we have brought it back in
our hand.
22 "And we have brought down other money in our hands to buy food.
We do not know who put our money in our sacks."
23 But he said, "Peace be with you, do not be afraid. Your God
and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks;
I had your money." Then he brought Simeon out to them.
24 So the man brought the men into Joseph's house and gave them
water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their donkeys feed.
25 Then they made the present ready for Joseph's coming at noon,
for they heard that they would eat bread there.
26 And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which
was in their hand into the house, and bowed down before him to
the earth.
27 Then he asked them about their well-being, and said, "Is your
father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?"
28 And they answered, "Your servant our father is in good health;
he is still alive." And they bowed their heads down and prostrated
themselves.
29 Then he lifted his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's
son, and said, "Is this your younger brother of whom you spoke
to me?" And he said, "God be gracious to you, my son."
30 Now his heart yearned for his brother; so Joseph made haste
and sought somewhere to weep. And he went into his chamber and
wept there.
31 Then he washed his face and came out; and he restrained himself,
and said, "Serve the bread."
32 So they set him a place by himself, and them by themselves,
and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves; because the
Egyptians could not eat food with the Hebrews, for that is an
abomination to the Egyptians.
33 And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright
and the youngest according to his youth; and the men looked in
astonishment at one another.
34 Then he took servings to them from before him, but Benjamin's
serving was five times as much as any of theirs. So they drank
and were merry with him.
May God bless the reading of His Word.
Heb 4:12
12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than
any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and
spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart.
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Rom 15:13
13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and
peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by
the power of the Holy Spirit.
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