Saying to one another, See, here comes this dreamer.

Let us now put him to death and put his body into one of these holes, and we will say, An evil beast has put him to death: then we will see what becomes of his dreams.

Do not put him to a violent death, but let him be placed in one of the holes; this he said to keep him safe from their hands, with the purpose of taking him back to his father again.

So when Joseph came to his brothers, they took off his long coat which he had on;

Then seating themselves, they took their meal: and looking up, they saw a travelling band of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead on their way to Egypt, with spices and perfumes on their camels.

And Judah said to his brothers, What profit is there in putting our brother to death and covering up his blood?

Let us give him to these Ishmaelites for a price, and let us not put violent hands on him, for he is our brother, our flesh. And his brothers gave ear to him.

And some traders from Midian went by; so pulling Joseph up out of the hole, they gave him to the Ishmaelites for twenty bits of silver, and they took him to Egypt.

Now when Reuben came back to the hole, Joseph was not there; and giving signs of grief,

He went back to his brothers, and said, The child is gone; what am I to do?

Then they took Joseph's coat, and put on it some of the blood from a young goat which they had put to death,

And they took the coat to their father, and said, We came across this; is it your son's coat or not?

And he saw that it was, and said, It is my son's coat; an evil beast has put him to death; without doubt Joseph has come to a cruel end.

Then Jacob, giving signs of grief, put on haircloth, and went on weeping for his son day after day.

And all his sons and all his daughters came to give him comfort, but he would not be comforted, saying with weeping, I will go down to the underworld to my son. So great was his father's sorrow for him.

And in Egypt the men of Midian gave him for a price to Potiphar, a captain of high position in Pharaoh's house.

And she gave birth to a son, and he gave him the name Er.

And again she gave birth to a son, and he gave him the name Onan.

Then she had another son, to whom she gave the name Shelah; she was at Chezib when the birth took place.

Now Er, Judah's first son, did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so that he put him to death.

Then Judah said to Onan, Go in to your brother's wife and do what it is right for a husband's brother to do; make her your wife and get offspring for your brother.

But Onan, seeing that the offspring would not be his, went in to his brother's wife, but let his seed go on to the earth, so that he might not get offspring for his brother.

And what he did was evil in the eyes of the Lord, so that he put him to death, like his brother.

Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, Go back to your father's house and keep yourself as a widow till my son Shelah becomes a man: for he had in his mind the thought that death might come to him as it had come to his brothers. So Tamar went back to her father's house.

And after a time, Bath-shua, Judah's wife, came to her end; and after Judah was comforted for her loss, he went to Timnah, where they were cutting the wool of his sheep, and his friend Hirah of Adullam went with him.

And when Tamar had news that her father-in-law was going up to Timnah to the wool-cutting,

She took off her widow's clothing, and covering herself with her veil, she took her seat near Enaim on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was now a man, but she had not been made his wife.

When Judah saw her he took her to be a loose woman of the town, because her face was covered.

And turning to her by the roadside, he said to her, Let me come in to you; for he had no idea that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, What will you give me as my price?

And he said, What would you have? And she said, Your ring and its cord and the stick in your hand. So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she became with child by him.

Then Judah sent his friend Hirah with the young goat, to get back the things which he had given as a sign to the woman: but she was not there.

And he put questions to the men of the place, saying, Where is the loose woman who was in Enaim by the wayside? And they said, There was no such woman there.

So he went back to Judah, and said, I have not seen her, and the men of the place say that there is no such woman there.

Now about three months after this, word came to Judah that Tamar, his daughter-in-law, had been acting like a loose woman and was with child. And Judah said, Take her out and let her be burned.

And while she was being taken out, she sent word to her father-in-law, saying, The man whose property these things are, is the father of my child: say then, whose are this ring and this cord and this stick?

Then Judah said openly that they were his, and said, She is more upright than I am, for I did not give her to Shelah my son. And he had no more connection with her.

And when the time came for her to give birth, it was clear that there were two children in her body.

But then he took his hand back again, and his brother came first to birth: and the woman said, What an opening you have made for yourself! So he was named Perez.

Now Joseph was taken down to Egypt; and Potiphar the Egyptian, a captain of high position in Pharaoh's house, got him for a price from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.

And after a time, his master's wife, looking on Joseph with desire, said to him, Be my lover.

But he would not, and said to her, You see that my master keeps no account of what I do in his house, and has put all his property in my control;

So that no one has more authority in this house than I have; he has kept nothing back from me but you, because you are his wife; how then may I do this great wrong, sinning against God?

And day after day she went on requesting Joseph to come to her and be her lover, but he would not give ear to her.

Now one day he went into the house to do his work; and not one of the men of the house was inside.

And pulling at his coat, she said, Come to my bed; but slipping out of his coat, he went running away.

She sent for the men of her house and said to them, See, he has let a Hebrew come here and make sport of us; he came to my bed, and I gave a loud cry;

Then she gave him the same story, saying, The Hebrew servant whom you have taken into our house came in to make sport of me;

But the Lord was with Joseph, and was good to him, and made the keeper of the prison his friend.

And the keeper of the prison gave no attention to anything which was under his care, because the Lord was with him; and the Lord made everything he did go well.

And Pharaoh was angry with his two servants, with the chief wine-servant and the chief bread-maker;

And these two had a dream on the same night; the chief wine-servant and the chief bread-maker of the king of Egypt, who were in prison, the two of them had dreams with a special sense.

And in the morning when Joseph came to them he saw that they were looking sad.

And he said to the servants of Pharaoh who were in prison with him, Why are you looking so sad?

Then they said to him, We have had a dream, and no one is able to give us the sense. And Joseph said, Does not the sense of dreams come from God? what was your dream?

But keep me in mind when things go well for you, and be good to me and say a good word for me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison:

Now when the chief bread-maker saw that the first dream had a good sense, he said to Joseph, I had a dream; and in my dream there were three baskets of white bread on my head;

Now the third day was Pharaoh's birthday, and he gave a feast for all his servants; and he gave honour to the chief wine-servant and the chief bread-maker among the others.

But the chief bread-maker was put to death by hanging, as Joseph had said.

But the wine-servant did not keep Joseph in mind or give a thought to him.

Now after two years had gone by, Pharaoh had a dream; and in his dream he was by the side of the Nile;

But he went to sleep again and had a second dream, in which he saw seven heads of grain, full and good, all on one stem.

And in the morning his spirit was troubled; and he sent for all the wise men of Egypt and all the holy men, and put his dream before them, but no one was able to give him the sense of it.

Then the chief wine-servant said to Pharaoh, The memory of my sin comes back to me now;

And we had a dream on the same night, the two of us, and the dreams had a special sense.

And it came about as he said: I was put back in my place, and the bread-maker was put to death by hanging.

And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have had a dream, and no one is able to give me the sense of it; now it has come to my ears that you are able to give the sense of a dream when it is put before you.

And the seven thin heads made a meal of the seven good heads; and I put this dream before the wise men, but not one of them was able to give me the sense of it.

Then Joseph said, These two dreams have the same sense: God has made clear to Pharaoh what he is about to do.

The seven fat cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years: the two have the same sense.

As I said to Pharaoh before, God has made clear to him what he is about to do.

And this dream came to Pharaoh twice, because this thing is certain, and God will quickly make it come about.

Let Pharaoh do this, and let him put overseers over the land of Egypt to put in store a fifth part of the produce of the land in the good years.

And let that food be kept in store for the land till the seven bad years which are to come in Egypt; so that the land may not come to destruction through need of food.

And this seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his servants.

Then Pharaoh said to his servants, Where may we get such a man as this, a man in whom is the spirit of God?

And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Seeing that God has made all this clear to you, there is no other man of such wisdom and good sense as you:

You, then, are to be over my house, and all my people will be ruled by your word: only as king will I be greater than you.

And Pharaoh said to Joseph, See, I have put you over all the land of Egypt.

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh; and without your order no man may do anything in all the land of Egypt.

And Pharaoh gave Joseph the name of Zaphnath-paaneah; and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, the priest of On, to be his wife. So Joseph went through all the land of Egypt.

And before the time of need, Joseph had two sons, to whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On, gave birth.

And to the first he gave the name Manasseh, for he said, God has taken away from me all memory of my hard life and of my father's house.

And to the second he gave the name Ephraim, for he said, God has given me fruit in the land of my sorrow.

And so the seven good years in Egypt came to an end.

And when all the land of Egypt was in need of food, the people came crying to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to the people, Go to Joseph, and whatever he says to you, do it.

And all lands sent to Egypt, to Joseph, to get grain, for the need was great over all the earth.

Now Jacob, hearing that there was grain in Egypt, said to his sons, Why are you looking at one another?

So Joseph's ten brothers went down to get grain from Egypt.

But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with them, for fear, as he said, that some evil might come to him.

And the sons of Israel came with all the others to get grain: for they were very short of food in the land of Canaan.

Now Joseph was ruler over all the land, and it was he who gave out the grain to all the people of the land; and Joseph's brothers came before him and went down on their faces to the earth.

And when Joseph saw his brothers, it was clear to him who they were, but he made himself strange to them, and talking roughly to them, said, Where do you come from? And they said, From the land of Canaan, to get food.

Then the memory of his dreams about them came back to Joseph, and he said to them, You have come secretly to see how poor the land is.

And they said to him, Not so, my lord: your servants have come with money to get food.

And he said to them, No, but you have come to see how poor the land is.

But in this way will you be put to the test: by the life of Pharaoh, you will not go away from this place till your youngest brother comes here.

Send one of your number to get your brother, and the rest of you will be kept in prison, so that your words may be tested to see if you are true; if not, by the life of Pharaoh, your purpose is certainly secret.

And on the third day Joseph said to them, Do this, if you would keep your lives: for I am a god-fearing man:

And come back to me with your youngest brother, so that your words may be seen to be true, and you will not be put to death. This is what you are to do.

And they said to one another, Truly, we did wrong to our brother, for we saw his grief of mind, and we did not give ear to his prayers; that is why this trouble has come on us.