Genesis 39–40

Chapter 39

Joseph’s Success in Egypt

¹Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the bodyguard, bought him ¹from the ^aIshmaelites, who had taken him down there.

^2aThe Lord was with Joseph, so he became a ¹successful man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian.

³Now his master ^asaw that the Lord was with him and how the Lord ^bcaused all that he did to prosper in his hand.

⁴So Joseph ^afound favor in his sight and ¹became his personal servant; and he made him overseer over his house, and ^ball that he owned he put in his ²charge.

⁵It came about that from the time he made him overseer in his house and over all that he owned, the Lord ^ablessed the Egyptian’s house on account of Joseph; thus ^bthe Lord’s blessing was upon all that he owned, in the house and in the field.

⁶So he left everything he owned in Joseph’s ¹charge; and with him there he did not ²concern himself with anything except the ³food which he ⁴ate.

Now Joseph was ^ahandsome in form and appearance.

⁷It came about after these events ^athat his master’s wife ¹looked with desire at Joseph, and she said, “^bLie with me.”

⁸But ^ahe refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, with me here, my master ¹does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has put all that he owns in my ²charge.

⁹“^1aThere is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and ^bsin against God?”

¹⁰As she spoke to Joseph day after day, he did not listen to her to lie beside her or be with her.

¹¹Now it happened ¹one day that he went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the household was there inside.

¹²She caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me!” And he left his garment in her hand and fled, and went outside.

¹³¹When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside,

¹⁴she called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought in a ¹Hebrew to us to make sport of us; he came in to me to lie with me, and I ²screamed.

¹⁵“When he heard that I raised my voice and ¹screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled and went outside.”

¹⁶So she ¹left his garment beside her until his master came home.

¹⁷Then she ^aspoke to him ¹with these words, “²The Hebrew slave, whom you brought to us, came in to me to make sport of me;

¹⁸and as I raised my voice and ¹screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled outside.”

Joseph Imprisoned

¹⁹Now when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him, saying, “¹This is what your slave did to me,” ^ahis anger burned.

²⁰So Joseph’s master took him and ^aput him into the jail, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined; and he was there in the jail.

²¹But ^athe Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and ^bgave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer.

²²The chief jailer ^acommitted to Joseph’s ¹charge all the prisoners who were in the jail; so that whatever was done there, he was ²responsible for it.

^23aThe chief jailer did not supervise anything under ¹Joseph’s charge because ^bthe Lord was with him; and whatever he did, ^cthe Lord made to prosper.

Chapter 40

Joseph Interprets a Dream

¹Then it came about after these things, ^athe cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt.

²Pharaoh was ^afurious with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker.

³So he put them in confinement in the house of the ^acaptain of the bodyguard, in the jail, the same place where Joseph was imprisoned.

⁴The captain of the bodyguard put Joseph in charge of them, and he ¹took care of them; and they were in confinement for ²some time.

⁵Then the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt, who were confined in jail, both had a dream the same night, each man with his own dream and each dream with its own interpretation.

⁶¹When Joseph came to them in the morning and observed them, ²behold, they were dejected.

⁷He asked Pharaoh’s officials who were with him in confinement in his master’s house, “^1aWhy are your faces so sad today?”

⁸Then they said to him, “^aWe have ¹had a dream and there is no one to interpret it.” Then Joseph said to them, “^bDo not interpretations belong to God? Tell it to me, please.”

⁹So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, “In my dream, ¹behold, there was a vine in front of me;

¹⁰and on the vine were three branches. And as it was budding, its blossoms came out, and its clusters produced ripe grapes.

¹¹“Now Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; so I took the grapes and squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I put the cup into Pharaoh’s ¹hand.”

¹²Then Joseph said to him, “This is the ^ainterpretation of it: the three branches are three days;

¹³within three more days Pharaoh will ¹lift up your head and restore you to your ²office; and you will put Pharaoh’s cup into his hand according to your former custom when you were his cupbearer.

¹⁴“Only ¹keep me in mind when it goes well with you, and please ^ado me a kindness ²by mentioning me to Pharaoh and get me out of this house.

¹⁵“For ^aI was in fact kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing that they should have put me into the ¹dungeon.”

¹⁶When the chief baker saw that he had interpreted favorably, he said to Joseph, “I also saw in my dream, and behold, there were three baskets of white bread on my head;

¹⁷and in the top basket there were some of all ¹sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, and the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.”

¹⁸Then Joseph answered and said, “This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days;

¹⁹within three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head from you and will hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh off you.”

²⁰Thus it came about on the third day, which was ^aPharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants; ^band he lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants.

²¹He restored the chief cupbearer to his ¹office, and ^ahe put the cup into Pharaoh’s ²hand;

²²but ^ahe hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had interpreted to them.

²³Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but ^aforgot him.