39Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. An Egyptian named Potiphar was an officer to the king of Egypt and the captain of the palace guard. He bought Joseph from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. ²The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man. He lived in the house of his master, Potiphar the Egyptian.

³Potiphar saw that the Lord was with Joseph and that the Lord made Joseph successful in everything he did. ⁴So Potiphar was very happy with Joseph and allowed him to be his personal servant. He put Joseph in charge of the house, trusting him with everything he owned. ⁵When Joseph was put in charge of the house and everything Potiphar owned, the Lord blessed the people in Potiphar’s house because of Joseph. And the Lord blessed everything that belonged to Potiphar, both in the house and in the field. ⁶So Potiphar left Joseph in charge of everything he owned and was not concerned about anything except the food he ate.

Joseph Is Put into Prison

Now Joseph was well built and handsome. ⁷After some time the wife of Joseph’s master began to desire Joseph, and one day she said to him, “Have sexual relations with me.”

⁸But Joseph refused and said to her, “My master trusts me with everything in his house. He has put me in charge of everything he owns. ⁹There is no one in his house greater than I. He has not kept anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How can I do such an evil thing? It is a sin against God.”

¹⁰The woman talked to Joseph every day, but he refused to have sexual relations with her or even spend time with her.

¹¹One day Joseph went into the house to do his work as usual and was the only man in the house at that time. ¹²His master’s wife grabbed his coat and said to him, “Come and have sexual relations with me.” But Joseph left his coat in her hand and ran out of the house.

¹³When she saw that Joseph had left his coat in her hands and had run outside, ¹⁴she called to the servants in her house and said, “Look! This Hebrew slave was brought here to shame us. He came in and tried to have sexual relations with me, but I screamed. ¹⁵My scream scared him and he ran away, but he left his coat with me.” ¹⁶She kept his coat until her husband came home, ¹⁷and she told him the same story. She said, “This Hebrew slave you brought here came in to shame me! ¹⁸When he came near me, I screamed. He ran away, but he left his coat.”

¹⁹When Joseph’s master heard what his wife said Joseph had done, he became very angry. ²⁰So Potiphar arrested Joseph and put him into the prison where the king’s prisoners were put. And Joseph stayed there in the prison.

²¹But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him kindness and caused the prison warden to like Joseph. ²²The prison warden chose Joseph to take care of all the prisoners, and he was responsible for whatever was done in the prison. ²³The warden paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph’s care because the Lord was with Joseph and made him successful in everything he did.

Joseph Interprets Two Dreams

40After these things happened, two of the king’s officers displeased the king—the man who served wine to the king and the king’s baker. ²The king became angry with his officer who served him wine and his baker, ³so he put them in the prison of the captain of the guard, the same prison where Joseph was kept. ⁴The captain of the guard put the two prisoners in Joseph’s care, and they stayed in prison for some time.

⁵One night both the king’s officer who served him wine and the baker had a dream. Each had his own dream with its own meaning. ⁶When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw they were worried. ⁷He asked the king’s officers who were with him, “Why do you look so unhappy today?”

⁸The two men answered, “We both had dreams last night, but no one can explain their meaning to us.”

Joseph said to them, “God is the only One who can explain the meaning of dreams. Tell me your dreams.”

⁹So the man who served wine to the king told Joseph his dream. He said, “I dreamed I saw a vine, and ¹⁰on the vine were three branches. I watched the branches bud and blossom, and then the grapes ripened. ¹¹I was holding the king’s cup, so I took the grapes and squeezed the juice into the cup. Then I gave it to the king.”

¹²Then Joseph said, “I will explain the dream to you. The three branches stand for three days. ¹³Before the end of three days the king will free you, and he will allow you to return to your work. You will serve the king his wine just as you did before. ¹⁴But when you are free, remember me. Be kind to me, and tell the king about me so I can get out of this prison. ¹⁵I was taken by force from the land of the Hebrews, and I have done nothing here to deserve being put in prison.”

¹⁶The baker saw that Joseph’s explanation of the dream was good, so he said to him, “I also had a dream. I dreamed there were three bread baskets on my head. ¹⁷In the top basket were all kinds of baked food for the king, but the birds were eating this food out of the basket on my head.”

¹⁸Joseph answered, “I will tell you what the dream means. The three baskets stand for three days. ¹⁹Before the end of three days, the king will cut off your head! He will hang your body on a pole, and the birds will eat your flesh.”

²⁰Three days later, on his birthday, the king gave a feast for all his officers. In front of his officers, he released from prison the chief officer who served his wine and the chief baker. ²¹The king gave his chief officer who served wine his old position, and once again he put the king’s cup of wine into the king’s hand. ²²But the king hanged the baker on a pole. Everything happened just as Joseph had said it would, ²³but the officer who served wine did not remember Joseph. He forgot all about him.

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