Joseph the Interpreter of Dreams
JOSEPH STAYED AND lived in the land of Canaan. This is the same land where his father had lived. This is the story of Jacob’s family.
Joseph was a young man, 17 years old. His job was to take care of the sheep and the goats. Joseph did this work with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah. (Bilhah and Zilpah were his father’s wives.) Joseph told his father about the bad things that his brothers did. Joseph was born at a time when his father Israel was very old, so Israel loved him more than he loved his other sons. Jacob gave him a special coat, which was long and very beautiful. When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than he loved them, they hated their brother because of this. They refused to say nice things to him. (Genesis 1:1-4 Easy-to-Read Version)
Joseph was a young man, 17 years old. His job was to take care of the sheep and the goats. Joseph did this work with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah. (Bilhah and Zilpah were his father’s wives.) Joseph told his father about the bad things that his brothers did. Joseph was born at a time when his father Israel was very old, so Israel loved him more than he loved his other sons. Jacob gave him a special coat, which was long and very beautiful. When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than he loved them, they hated their brother because of this. They refused to say nice things to him. (Genesis 1:1-4 Easy-to-Read Version)
JOSEPH THE DREAMER
One time Joseph had a dream. When he told his brothers about it, they hated him even more. oseph said, “Listen to the dream I had. We were in the field tying bundles of wheat together. My bundle stood up, and your bundles of wheat gathered around mine. Your bundles bowed down to mine.”
His brothers said, “Do you really think you will be king over us? Do you truly think you will rule over us?” His brothers hated him even more now. They hated him because of his dreams and what he had said.
Then Joseph had another dream, and he told his brothers about it. He said, “I had another dream. I saw the sun, the moon, and eleven stars bowing down to me.”
Joseph also told his father about this dream, but his father criticized him. His father said, “What kind of dream is this? Do you believe that your mother, your brothers, and I will bow down to you?”
Joseph’s brothers continued to be jealous of him, but his father thought about all these things and wondered what they could mean.
One day Joseph’s brothers went to Shechem to care for their father’s sheep. Jacob said to Joseph, “Go to Shechem. Your brothers are there with my sheep.”
Joseph answered, “I will go.”
His father said, “Go and see if your brothers are safe. Come back and tell me if my sheep are all fine.” So Joseph’s father sent him from the Valley of Hebron to Shechem.
At Shechem, Joseph got lost. A man found him wandering in the fields. The man said, “What are you looking for?”
Joseph answered, “I am looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are with their sheep?”
The man said, “They have already gone away. I heard them say that they were going to Dothan.”
So Joseph followed his brothers and found them in Dothan.
JOSEPH SOLD INTO SLAVERY
Joseph’s brothers saw him coming from far away. They decided to make a plan to kill him. They said to each other, “Here comes Joseph the dreamer. We should kill him now while we can. We could throw his body into one of the empty wells and tell our father that a wild animal killed him. Then we will show him that his dreams are useless.”
But Reuben heard their plan and saved Joseph. He said, “Let’s not kill him. Don’t spill any blood. Throw him into this well here in the desert. But don’t hurt him!”
Reuben planned to save Joseph later and send him back to his father. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they pulled off his robe with long sleeves. Then they threw him into the well. It was empty. There was no water in it.
While Joseph was in the well, the brothers sat down to eat. They looked up and saw a group of traders traveling from Gilead to Egypt. Their camels were carrying many different spices and riches.
So Judah said to his brothers, “What profit will we get if we kill our brother and hide his death? We will profit more if we sell him to these traders. Then we will not be guilty of killing our own brother.” The other brothers agreed.
When the Midianite traders came by, the brothers took Joseph out of the well and sold him to the traders for pieces of silver. The traders took him to Egypt.
Reuben had been gone, but when he came back to the well, he saw that Joseph was not there. He tore his clothes to show that he was upset.
Reuben went to the brothers and said, “The boy is not in the well! What will I do?” The brothers killed a goat and put the goat’s blood on Joseph’s beautiful coat.
Then the brothers showed the coat to their father. And the brothers said, “We found this coat. Is this Joseph’s coat?”
His father saw the coat and knew that it was Joseph’s. He said, “Yes, that is his! Maybe some wild animal has killed him. My son Joseph has been eaten by a wild animal!”
Jacob was so sorry about his son that he tore his clothes. Then Jacob put on special clothes to show that he was sad.
He continued to be sad about his son for a long time. All of Jacob’s sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but Jacob was never comforted.
He said, “I will be sad about my son until the day I die.” So Jacob continued to mourn his son Joseph.
The traders who bought Joseph took him down to Egypt. They sold him to the captain of Pharaoh’s guard, Potiphar. The Lord helped Joseph become a successful man. Joseph lived in the house of his master, Potiphar the Egyptian.
Potiphar saw that the Lord was with Joseph and that the Lord helped Joseph be successful in everything he did. So Potiphar was very happy with Joseph. He allowed Joseph to work for him and to help him rule the house. Joseph was the ruler over everything Potiphar owned. After Joseph was made the ruler over the house, the Lord blessed the house and everything that Potiphar owned. The Lord also blessed everything that grew in Potiphar’s fields. The Lord did this because of Joseph. So Potiphar allowed Joseph to take responsibility for everything in the house. Potiphar didn’t have to worry about anything except deciding what to eat.
JOSEPH REFUSES POTIPHAR’S WIFE
Joseph was a very handsome, good-looking man. After some time, the wife of Joseph’s master began to pay special attention to him.
One day she said to him, “Sleep with me.”
But Joseph refused. He said to her, “My master trusts me with everything in his house. He has put me in charge of everything he owns. There is no one in his house greater than I. He has not kept anything from me, except you. And that is because you are his wife. How can I do such an evil thing? It is a sin against God.”
The woman talked with Joseph every day, but he refused to sleep with her.
The woman talked with Joseph every day, but he refused to sleep with her. One day Joseph went into the house to do his work. He was the only man in the house at the time. His master’s wife grabbed his coat and said to him, “Come to bed with me.” But Joseph ran out of the house so fast that he left his coat in her hand.
The woman saw that Joseph had left his coat in her hand and had run out of the house. She called to the men outside and said, “Look! This Hebrew slave was brought here to make fun of us. He came in and tried to attack me, but I screamed. My scream scared him and he ran away, but he left his coat with me.”
Then she kept his coat until her husband, Joseph’s master, came home. She told her husband the same story. She said, “This Hebrew slave you brought here tried to attack me! But when he came near me, I screamed. He ran away, but he left his coat.”
Joseph’s master listened to what his wife said, and he became very angry. So Potiphar put Joseph into the prison where the king’s enemies were held, and that is where Joseph remained.
JOSEPH IN PRISON
The Lord was with Joseph and continued to show his kindness to him, so the commander of the prison guards began to like Joseph. The commander of the guards put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners. Joseph was their leader, but he still did the same work they did. The commander of the guards trusted Joseph with everything that was in the prison. This happened because the Lord was with Joseph. The Lord helped Joseph be successful in everything he did.
Later, two of Pharaoh’s servants did something wrong to Pharaoh. These servants were the baker and the man who served wine to Pharaoh. Pharaoh became angry with his baker and wine server, so he put them in the same prison as Joseph. Potiphar, the commander of Pharaoh’s guards, was in charge of this prison. The commander put the two prisoners under Joseph’s care. The two men continued to stay in prison for some time. One night both of the prisoners had a dream. The baker and the wine server each had his own dream, and each dream had its own meaning.
Joseph went to them the next morning and saw that the two men were worried. He asked them, “Why do you look so worried today?”
The two men answered, “We both had dreams last night, but we don’t understand what we dreamed. There is no one to explain the dreams to us.”
Joseph said to them, “God is the only one who can understand and explain dreams. So I beg you, tell me your dreams.”
THE WINE SERVER’S DREAM
So the wine server told Joseph his dream. The server said, “I dreamed I saw a vine. On the vine there were three branches. I watched the branches grow flowers and then become grapes. I was holding Pharaoh’s cup, so I took the grapes and squeezed the juice into the cup. Then I gave the cup to Pharaoh.”
Then Joseph said, “I will explain the dream to you. The three branches mean three days. Before the end of three days, Pharaoh will forgive you and allow you to go back to your work. You will do the same work for Pharaoh as you did before. But when you are free, remember me. Be good to me and help me. Tell Pharaoh about me so that I can get out of this prison. I was kidnapped and taken from the land of my people, the Hebrews. I have done nothing wrong! I should not be in prison.”
THE BAKER’S DREAM
The baker saw that the other servant’s dream was good, so he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream. I dreamed there were three baskets of bread on my head. In the top basket there were all kinds of baked food for the king, but birds were eating this food.”
Joseph answered, “I will tell you what the dream means. The three baskets mean three days. Before the end of three days, the king will take you out of this prison and cut off your head! He will hang your body on a pole, and the birds will eat it.”
JOSEPH IS FORGOTTEN
Three days later it was Pharaoh’s birthday. He gave a party for all his servants. At the party Pharaoh allowed the wine server and the baker to leave the prison. He freed the wine server and gave him his job back, and once again the wine server put a cup of wine in Pharaoh’s hand.
But Pharaoh hanged the baker, and everything happened the way Joseph said it would.
But the wine server did not remember to help Joseph. He said nothing about him to Pharaoh. The wine server forgot about Joseph.
PHARAOH’S DREAMS
Two years later Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile River.
In the dream, seven cows came out of the river and stood there eating grass. They were healthy, good-looking cows. Then seven more cows came out of the river and stood on the bank of the river by the healthy cows. But these cows were thin and looked sick. The seven sick cows ate the seven healthy cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.
Pharaoh went back to sleep and began dreaming again. This time he dreamed that he saw seven heads of grain growing on one plant. They were healthy and full of grain. Then he saw seven more heads of grain sprouting, but they were thin and scorched by the hot wind. The thin heads of grain ate the seven good heads of grain.
Then Pharaoh woke up again and realized it was only a dream. The next morning Pharaoh was worried about these dreams, so he sent for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. Pharaoh told these men the dreams, but none of them could explain the dreams.
THE SERVANT TELLS PHARAOH ABOUT JOSEPH
Then the wine servant remembered Joseph and said to Pharaoh, “I remember something that happened to me. You were angry with the baker and me, and you put us in prison. Then one night he and I had a dream. Each dream had a different meaning. There was a young Hebrew man in prison with us. He was a servant of the commander of the guards. We told him our dreams, and he explained them to us. He told us the meaning of each dream, and what he said came true. He said I would be free and have my old job back, and it happened. He also said the baker would die, and it happened!”
JOSEPH IS CALLED TO EXPLAIN THE DREAMS
So Pharaoh called Joseph from the prison. The guards quickly got Joseph out of prison. Joseph shaved, put on some clean clothes, and went to see Pharaoh.
Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had a dream, and no one can explain it for me. I heard that you can explain dreams when someone tells you about them.”
Joseph answered, “I cannot! But God can explain the dream for you, Pharaoh.”
Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “In my dream I was standing by the Nile River. Seven cows came up out of the river and stood there eating the grass. They were healthy, good-looking cows. Then I saw seven more cows come up out of the river after them, but these cows were thin and looked sick. They were the worst cows I had ever seen anywhere in Egypt! The thin, sick cows ate the first healthy cows, but they still looked thin and sick. You couldn’t even tell they had eaten the healthy cows. They looked as thin and sick as they did in the beginning. Then I woke up…
“In my next dream I saw seven heads of grain growing on one plant. They were healthy and full of grain.And then seven more heads of grain grew after them, but they were thin and scorched by the hot wind. Then the thin heads of grain ate the seven good heads of grain.
“I told these dreams to my magicians. But no one could explain the dreams to me. What do they mean?”
Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Both of these dreams have the same meaning. God is telling you what will happen soon. The seven good cows and the seven good heads of grain are seven good years. And the seven thin, sick-looking cows and the seven thin heads of grain mean that there will be seven years of hunger in this area. These seven bad years will come after the seven good years. God has shown you what will happen soon. He will make these things happen just as I told you. For seven years there will be plenty of food in Egypt. But then there will be seven years of hunger. The people will forget how much food there had been in Egypt before. This famine will ruin the country. It will be so bad that people will forget what it was like to have plenty of food.
“Pharaoh, you had two dreams about the same thing. That means God wanted to show you that he really will make this happen, and he will make it happen soon! So, Pharaoh, you should choose a wise, intelligent man and put him in charge of Egypt. Then you should choose other men to collect food from the people. During the seven good years, the people must give them one-fifth of all the food they grow. In this way these men will collect all the food during the seven good years and store it in the cities until it is needed. Pharaoh, this food will be under your control. Then during the seven years of hunger, there will be food for the country of Egypt. And Egypt will not be destroyed by the famine.”
This seemed like a very good idea to Pharaoh, and all his officials agreed. Then Pharaoh told them, “I don’t think we can find anyone better than Joseph to take this job! God’s Spirit is in him, making him very wise!”
Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I now make you governor over all of Egypt.” Then Pharaoh gave his special ring to Joseph. The royal seal was on this ring. Pharaoh also gave Joseph a fine linen robe and put a gold chain around his neck.
Then he told Joseph to ride in his second chariot. Pharaoh’s officials said, “Let him be the governor over the whole land of Egypt!”
Then Pharaoh said to him, “I am Pharaoh, the king over everyone in Egypt, but no one else in Egypt can lift a hand or move a foot unless you say he can.” Then Pharaoh gave Joseph another name, Zaphenath Paneah.
He also gave Joseph a wife named Asenath. She was the daughter of Potiphera, a priest in the city of On. So Joseph became the governor over the whole country of Egypt.
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