On the third day it was Pharaoh's birthday, so he gave a feast for all his servants. He "lifted up" the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker in the midst of his servants.

but the chief baker he impaled, just as Joseph had predicted.

At the end of two full years Pharaoh had a dream. As he was standing by the Nile,

Then he fell asleep again and had a second dream: There were seven heads of grain growing on one stalk, healthy and good.

We each had a dream one night; each of us had a dream with its own meaning.

It happened just as he had said to us -- Pharaoh restored me to my office, but he impaled the baker."

Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. But I have heard about you, that you can interpret dreams."

Then seven other cows came up after them; they were scrawny, very bad-looking, and lean. I had never seen such bad-looking cows as these in all the land of Egypt!

When they had eaten them, no one would have known that they had done so, for they were just as bad-looking as before. Then I woke up.

Pharaoh had him ride in the chariot used by his second-in-command, and they cried out before him, "Kneel down!" So he placed him over all the land of Egypt.

Then the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had predicted. There was famine in all the other lands, but throughout the land of Egypt there was food.

Then Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them, and he said to them, "You are spies; you have come to see if our land is vulnerable!"

He turned away from them and wept. When he turned around and spoke to them again, he had Simeon taken from them and tied up before their eyes.

They returned to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan and told him all the things that had happened to them, saying,

When they finished eating the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, "Return, buy us a little more food."

Israel said, "Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man you had one more brother?"

But if we had not delayed, we could have traveled there and back twice by now!"

"Everything is fine," the man in charge of Joseph's household told them. "Don't 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.

They got their gifts ready for Joseph's arrival at noon, for they had heard that they were to have a meal there.

When Joseph came home, they presented him with the gifts they had brought inside, and they bowed down to the ground before him.

They had not gone very far from the city when Joseph said to the servant who was over his household, "Pursue the men at once! When you overtake them, say to them, 'Why have you repaid good with evil?

So the sons of Israel did as he said. Joseph gave them wagons as Pharaoh had instructed, and he gave them provisions for the journey.

But when they related to him everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to transport him, their father Jacob's spirit revived.

So Israel began his journey, taking with him all that he had. When he came to Beer Sheba he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.

Then Jacob started out from Beer Sheba, and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little children, and their wives in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent along to transport him.

Jacob and all his descendants took their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and they went to Egypt.

So Joseph settled his father and his brothers. He gave them territory in the land of Egypt, in the best region of the land, the land of Rameses, just as Pharaoh had commanded.

When that year was over, they came to him the next year and said to him, "We cannot hide from our lord that the money is used up and the livestock and the animals belong to our lord. Nothing remains before our lord except our bodies and our land.

But he did not purchase the land of the priests because the priests had an allotment from Pharaoh and they ate from their allotment that Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their land.

Jacob said, "Swear to me that you will do so." So Joseph gave him his word. Then Israel bowed down at the head of his bed.

Israel stretched out his right hand and placed it on Ephraim's head, although he was the younger. Crossing his hands, he put his left hand on Manasseh's head, for Manasseh was the firstborn.

When Joseph saw that his father placed his right hand on Ephraim's head, it displeased him. So he took his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head.

Joseph said to his father, "Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head."

The blessings of your father are greater than the blessings of the eternal mountains or the desirable things of the age-old hills. They will be on the head of Joseph and on the brow of the prince of his brothers.

When the days of mourning had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh's royal court, "If I have found favor in your sight, please say to Pharaoh,

So the sons of Jacob did for him just as he had instructed them.

After he buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, along with his brothers and all who had accompanied him to bury his father.