She named him Joseph: “May the Lord add another son to me.”

After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so that I can return to my homeland.

He put the female slaves and their children first, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last.

Leah and her children also approached and bowed down, and then Joseph and Rachel approached and bowed down.

Rachel’s sons were
Joseph and Benjamin.

These are the family records of Jacob.

At 17 years of age, Joseph tended sheep with his brothers. The young man was working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought a bad report about them to their father.

Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons because Joseph was a son born to him in his old age, and he made a robe of many colors for him.

Then Joseph had a dream. When he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.

Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers, you know, are pasturing the flocks at Shechem. Get ready. I’m sending you to them.”

“I’m ready,” Joseph replied.

“I’m looking for my brothers,” Joseph said. “Can you tell me where they are pasturing their flocks?”

“They’ve moved on from here,” the man said. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’” So Joseph set out after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped off his robe, the robe of many colors that he had on.

When Midianite traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for 20 pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took Joseph to Egypt.

When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes.

So they took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a young goat, and dipped the robe in its blood.

His father recognized it. “It is my son’s robe,” he said. “A vicious animal has devoured him. Joseph has been torn to pieces!”

Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard.

Now Joseph had been taken to Egypt. An Egyptian named Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there.

The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, serving in the household of his Egyptian master.

Joseph found favor in his master’s sight and became his personal attendant. Potiphar also put him in charge of his household and placed all that he owned under his authority.

From the time that he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house because of Joseph. The Lord’s blessing was on all that he owned, in his house and in his fields.

He left all that he owned under Joseph’s authority; he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.

Now Joseph was well-built and handsome.

After some time his master’s wife looked longingly at Joseph and said, “Sleep with me.”

Although she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her.

She put Joseph’s garment beside her until his master came home.

and had him thrown into prison, where the king’s prisoners were confined. So Joseph was there in prison.

But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him. He granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.

The warden put all the prisoners who were in the prison under Joseph’s authority, and he was responsible for everything that was done there.

The warden did not bother with anything under Joseph’s authority, because the Lord was with him, and the Lord made everything that he did successful.

and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard in the prison where Joseph was confined.

The captain of the guard assigned Joseph to them, and he became their personal attendant. And they were in custody for some time.

When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they looked distraught.

“We had dreams,” they said to him, “but there is no one to interpret them.”

Then Joseph said to them, “Don’t interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”

So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph: “In my dream there was a vine in front of me.

“This is its interpretation,” Joseph said to him. “The three branches are three days.

When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was positive, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream. Three baskets of white bread were on my head.

“This is its interpretation,” Joseph replied. “The three baskets are three days.

But Pharaoh hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had explained to them.

Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.

Then Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and they quickly brought him from the dungeon. He shaved, changed his clothes, and went to Pharaoh.

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard it said about you that you can hear a dream and interpret it.”

“I am not able to,” Joseph answered Pharaoh. “It is God who will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”

So Pharaoh said to Joseph: “In my dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile,

Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Pharaoh’s dreams mean the same thing. God has revealed to Pharaoh what He is about to do.

So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as intelligent and wise as you are.

Pharaoh also said to Joseph, “See, I am placing you over all the land of Egypt.”

Pharaoh removed his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, clothed him with fine linen garments, and placed a gold chain around his neck.

He had Joseph ride in his second chariot, and servants called out before him, “Abrek!” So he placed him over all the land of Egypt.

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, but no one will be able to raise his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt without your permission.”

Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah and gave him a wife, Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest at On. And Joseph went throughout the land of Egypt.

Joseph was 30 years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Joseph left Pharaoh’s presence and traveled throughout the land of Egypt.

Joseph gathered all the excess food in the land of Egypt during the seven years and put it in the cities. He put the food in every city from the fields around it.

So Joseph stored up grain in such abundance—like the sand of the sea—that he stopped measuring it because it was beyond measure.

Two sons were born to Joseph before the years of famine arrived. Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest at On, bore them to him.

Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, meaning, “God has made me forget all my hardship in my father’s house.”

and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in every country, but throughout the land of Egypt there was food.

Extreme hunger came to all the land of Egypt, and the people cried out to Pharaoh for food. Pharaoh told all Egypt, “Go to Joseph and do whatever he tells you.”

Because the famine had spread across the whole country, Joseph opened up all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt.

Every nation came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, for the famine was severe in every land.

So 10 of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.

But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he thought, “Something might happen to him.”

Joseph was in charge of the country; he sold grain to all its people. His brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the ground.

When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke harshly to them.

“Where do you come from?” he asked.

“From the land of Canaan to buy food,” they replied.

Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him.

Joseph remembered his dreams about them and said to them, “You are spies. You have come to see the weakness of the land.”

Then Joseph said to them, “I have spoken: ‘You are spies!’

So Joseph imprisoned them together for three days.

On the third day Joseph said to them, “I fear God—do this and you will live.

They did not realize that Joseph understood them, since there was an interpreter between them.

Joseph then gave orders to fill their containers with grain, return each man’s money to his sack, and give them provisions for their journey. This order was carried out.

Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my sons. Joseph is gone and Simeon is gone. Now you want to take Benjamin. Everything happens to me!”

The men took this gift, double the amount of money, and Benjamin. They made their way down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.

When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to his steward, “Take the men to my house. Slaughter an animal and prepare it, for they will eat with me at noon.”

The man did as Joseph had said and brought them to Joseph’s house.

But the men were afraid because they were taken to Joseph’s house. They said, “We have been brought here because of the money that was returned in our bags the first time. They intend to overpower us, seize us, make us slaves, and take our donkeys.”

So they approached Joseph’s steward and spoke to him at the doorway of the house.

The steward brought the men into Joseph’s house, gave them water to wash their feet, and got feed for their donkeys.

Since the men had heard that they were going to eat a meal there, they prepared their gift for Joseph’s arrival at noon.

When Joseph came home, they brought him the gift they had carried into the house, and they bowed to the ground before him.

Joseph hurried out because he was overcome with emotion for his brother, and he was about to weep. He went into an inner room to weep.

Portions were served to them from Joseph’s table, and Benjamin’s portion was five times larger than any of theirs. They drank, and they got intoxicated with Joseph.

Then Joseph commanded his steward: “Fill the men’s bags with as much food as they can carry, and put each one’s money at the top of his bag.

Put my cup, the silver one, at the top of the youngest one’s bag, along with his grain money.” So he did as Joseph told him.

They had not gone very far from the city when Joseph said to his steward, “Get up. Pursue the men, and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good?

When Judah and his brothers reached Joseph’s house, he was still there. They fell to the ground before him.

“What is this you have done?” Joseph said to them. “Didn’t you know that a man like me could uncover the truth by divination?”

Then Joseph said, “I swear that I will not do this. The man in whose possession the cup was found will be my slave. The rest of you can go in peace to your father.”

Joseph could no longer keep his composure in front of all his attendants, so he called out, “Send everyone away from me!” No one was with him when he revealed his identity to his brothers.

Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living?” But they could not answer him because they were terrified in his presence.

Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please, come near me,” and they came near. “I am Joseph, your brother,” he said, “the one you sold into Egypt.

“Return quickly to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: “God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me without delay.

Look! Your eyes and my brother Benjamin’s eyes can see that it is I , Joseph, who am speaking to you.

Then Joseph threw his arms around Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin wept on his shoulder.

Joseph kissed each of his brothers as he wept, and afterward his brothers talked with him.

When the news reached Pharaoh’s palace, “Joseph’s brothers have come,” Pharaoh and his servants were pleased.

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals and go on back to the land of Canaan.

The sons of Israel did this. Joseph gave them wagons as Pharaoh had commanded, and he gave them provisions for the journey.

So Joseph sent his brothers on their way, and as they were leaving, he said to them, “Don’t argue on the way.”

They said, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt!” Jacob was stunned, for he did not believe them.

But when they told Jacob all that Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to transport him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived.