1
Now the Ishmaelites had taken Joseph to Egypt and sold him to Potiphar, one of the king's officers, who was the captain of the palace guard.
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The LORD was with Joseph and made him successful. He lived in the house of his Egyptian master,
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who saw that the LORD was with Joseph and had made him successful in everything he did.
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Potiphar was pleased with him and made him his personal servant; so he put him in charge of his house and everything he owned.
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From then on, because of Joseph the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian and everything that he had in his house and in his fields.
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Potiphar turned over everything he had to the care of Joseph and did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Joseph was well-built and good-looking,
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and after a while his master's wife began to desire Joseph and asked him to go to bed with her.
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He refused and said to her, "Look, my master does not have to concern himself with anything in the house, because I am here. He has put me in charge of everything he has.
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I have as much authority in this house as he has, and he has not kept back anything from me except you. How then could I do such an immoral thing and sin against God?"
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Although she asked Joseph day after day, he would not go to bed with her.
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But one day when Joseph went into the house to do his work, none of the house servants was there.
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She caught him by his robe and said, "Come to bed with me." But he escaped and ran outside, leaving his robe in her hand.
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When she saw that he had left his robe and had run out of the house,
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she called to her house servants and said, "Look at this! This Hebrew that my husband brought to the house is insulting us. He came into my room and tried to rape me, but I screamed as loud as I could.
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When he heard me scream, he ran outside, leaving his robe beside me."
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She kept his robe with her until Joseph's master came home.
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Then she told him the same story: "That Hebrew slave that you brought here came into my room and insulted me.
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But when I screamed, he ran outside, leaving his robe beside me."
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Joseph's master was furious
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and had Joseph arrested and put in the prison where the king's prisoners were kept, and there he stayed.
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But the LORD was with Joseph and blessed him, so that the jailer was pleased with him.
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He put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and made him responsible for everything that was done in the prison.
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The jailer did not have to look after anything for which Joseph was responsible, because the LORD was with Joseph and made him succeed in everything he did.
1
Some time later the king of Egypt's wine steward and his chief baker offended the king.
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He was angry with these two officials
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and put them in prison in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same place where Joseph was being kept.
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They spent a long time in prison, and the captain assigned Joseph as their servant.
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One night there in prison the wine steward and the chief baker each had a dream, and the dreams had different meanings.
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When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were upset.
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He asked them, "Why do you look so worried today?"
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They answered, "Each of us had a dream, and there is no one here to explain what the dreams mean." "It is God who gives the ability to interpret dreams," Joseph said. "Tell me your dreams."
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So the wine steward said, "In my dream there was a grapevine in front of me
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with three branches on it. As soon as the leaves came out, the blossoms appeared, and the grapes ripened.
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I was holding the king's cup; so I took the grapes and squeezed them into the cup and gave it to him."
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Joseph said, "This is what it means: the three branches are three days.
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In three days the king will release you, pardon you, and restore you to your position. You will give him his cup as you did before when you were his wine steward.
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But please remember me when everything is going well for you, and please be kind enough to mention me to the king and help me get out of this prison.
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After all, I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here in Egypt I didn't do anything to deserve being put in prison."
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When the chief baker saw that the interpretation of the wine steward's dream was favorable, he said to Joseph, "I had a dream too; I was carrying three breadbaskets on my head.
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In the top basket there were all kinds of baked goods for the king, and the birds were eating them."
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Joseph answered, "This is what it means: the three baskets are three days.
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In three days the king will release you---and have your head cut off! Then he will hang your body on a pole, and the birds will eat your flesh."
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On his birthday three days later the king gave a banquet for all his officials; he released his wine steward and his chief baker and brought them before his officials.
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He restored the wine steward to his former position,
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but he executed the chief baker. It all happened just as Joseph had said.
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But the wine steward never gave Joseph another thought---he forgot all about him.
1
After two years had passed, the king of Egypt dreamed that he was standing by the Nile River,
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when seven cows, fat and sleek, came up out of the river and began to feed on the grass.
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Then seven other cows came up; they were thin and bony. They came and stood by the other cows on the riverbank,
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and the thin cows ate up the fat cows. Then the king woke up.
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He fell asleep again and had another dream. Seven heads of grain, full and ripe, were growing on one stalk.
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Then seven other heads of grain sprouted, thin and scorched by the desert wind,
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and the thin heads of grain swallowed the full ones. The king woke up and realized that he had been dreaming.
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In the morning he was worried, so he sent for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. He told them his dreams, but no one could explain them to him.
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Then the wine steward said to the king, "I must confess today that I have done wrong.
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You were angry with the chief baker and me, and you put us in prison in the house of the captain of the guard.
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One night each of us had a dream, and the dreams had different meanings.
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A young Hebrew was there with us, a slave of the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams, and he interpreted them for us.
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Things turned out just as he said: you restored me to my position, but you executed the baker."
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The king sent for Joseph, and he was immediately brought from the prison. After he had shaved and changed his clothes, he came into the king's presence.
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The king said to him, "I have had a dream, and no one can explain it. I have been told that you can interpret dreams."
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Joseph answered, "I cannot, Your Majesty, but God will give a favorable interpretation."
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The king said, "I dreamed that I was standing on the bank of the Nile,
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when seven cows, fat and sleek, came up out of the river and began feeding on the grass.
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Then seven other cows came up which were thin and bony. They were the poorest cows I have ever seen anywhere in Egypt.
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The thin cows ate up the fat ones,
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but no one would have known it, because they looked just as bad as before. Then I woke up.
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I also dreamed that I saw seven heads of grain which were full and ripe, growing on one stalk.
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Then seven heads of grain sprouted, thin and scorched by the desert wind,
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and the thin heads of grain swallowed the full ones. I told the dreams to the magicians, but none of them could explain them to me."
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Joseph said to the king, "The two dreams mean the same thing; God has told you what he is going to do.
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The seven fat cows are seven years, and the seven full heads of grain are also seven years; they have the same meaning.
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The seven thin cows which came up later and the seven thin heads of grain scorched by the desert wind are seven years of famine.
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It is just as I told you---God has shown you what he is going to do.
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There will be seven years of great plenty in all the land of Egypt.
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After that, there will be seven years of famine, and all the good years will be forgotten, because the famine will ruin the country.
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The time of plenty will be entirely forgotten, because the famine which follows will be so terrible.
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The repetition of your dream means that the matter is fixed by God and that he will make it happen in the near future.
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"Now you should choose some man with wisdom and insight and put him in charge of the country.
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You must also appoint other officials and take a fifth of the crops during the seven years of plenty.
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Order them to collect all the food during the good years that are coming, and give them authority to store up grain in the cities and guard it.
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The food will be a reserve supply for the country during the seven years of famine which are going to come on Egypt. In this way the people will not starve."
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The king and his officials approved this plan,
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and he said to them, "We will never find a better man than Joseph, a man who has God's spirit in him."
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The king said to Joseph, "God has shown you all this, so it is obvious that you have greater wisdom and insight than anyone else.
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I will put you in charge of my country, and all my people will obey your orders. Your authority will be second only to mine.
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I now appoint you governor over all Egypt."
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The king removed from his finger the ring engraved with the royal seal and put it on Joseph's finger. He put a fine linen robe on him, and placed a gold chain around his neck.
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He gave him the second royal chariot to ride in, and his guard of honor went ahead of him and cried out, "Make way! Make way!" And so Joseph was appointed governor over all Egypt.
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The king said to him, "I am the king---and no one in all Egypt shall so much as lift a hand or a foot without your permission."
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He gave Joseph the Egyptian name Zaphenath Paneah, and he gave him a wife, Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, a priest in the city of Heliopolis. Joseph was thirty years old when he began to serve the king of Egypt. He left the king's court and traveled all over the land.
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During the seven years of plenty the land produced abundant crops,
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all of which Joseph collected and stored in the cities. In each city he stored the food from the fields around it.
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There was so much grain that Joseph stopped measuring it---it was like the sand of the sea.
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Before the years of famine came, Joseph had two sons by Asenath.
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He said, "God has made me forget all my sufferings and all my father's family"; so he named his first son Manasseh.
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He also said, "God has given me children in the land of my trouble"; so he named his second son Ephraim.
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The seven years of plenty that the land of Egypt had enjoyed came to an end,
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and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in every other country, but there was food throughout Egypt.
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When the Egyptians began to be hungry, they cried out to the king for food. So he ordered them to go to Joseph and do what he told them.
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The famine grew worse and spread over the whole country, so Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians.
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People came to Egypt from all over the world to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe everywhere.
1
Jesus said to his disciples, "There was once a rich man who had a servant who managed his property. The rich man was told that the manager was wasting his master's money,
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so he called him in and said, 'What is this I hear about you? Turn in a complete account of your handling of my property, because you cannot be my manager any longer.'
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The servant said to himself, 'My master is going to dismiss me from my job. What shall I do? I am not strong enough to dig ditches, and I am ashamed to beg.
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Now I know what I will do! Then when my job is gone, I shall have friends who will welcome me in their homes.'
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So he called in all the people who were in debt to his master. He asked the first one, 'How much do you owe my master?'
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'One hundred barrels of olive oil,' he answered. 'Here is your account,' the manager told him; 'sit down and write fifty.'
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Then he asked another one, 'And you---how much do you owe?' 'A thousand bushels of wheat,' he answered. 'Here is your account,' the manager told him; 'write eight hundred.'
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As a result the master of this dishonest manager praised him for doing such a shrewd thing; because the people of this world are much more shrewd in handling their affairs than the people who belong to the light."
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And Jesus went on to say, "And so I tell you: make friends for yourselves with worldly wealth, so that when it gives out, you will be welcomed in the eternal home.
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Whoever is faithful in small matters will be faithful in large ones; whoever is dishonest in small matters will be dishonest in large ones.
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If, then, you have not been faithful in handling worldly wealth, how can you be trusted with true wealth?
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And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what belongs to you?
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"No servant can be the slave of two masters; such a slave will hate one and love the other or will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."
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When the Pharisees heard all this, they made fun of Jesus, because they loved money.
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Jesus said to them, "You are the ones who make yourselves look right in other people's sight, but God knows your hearts. For the things that are considered of great value by people are worth nothing in God's sight.
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"The Law of Moses and the writings of the prophets were in effect up to the time of John the Baptist; since then the Good News about the Kingdom of God is being told, and everyone forces their way in.
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But it is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the smallest detail of the Law to be done away with.
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"Any man who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery; and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
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"There was once a rich man who dressed in the most expensive clothes and lived in great luxury every day.
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There was also a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who used to be brought to the rich man's door,
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hoping to eat the bits of food that fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs would come and lick his sores.
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The poor man died and was carried by the angels to sit beside Abraham at the feast in heaven. The rich man died and was buried,
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and in Hades, where he was in great pain, he looked up and saw Abraham, far away, with Lazarus at his side.
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So he called out, 'Father Abraham! Take pity on me, and send Lazarus to dip his finger in some water and cool off my tongue, because I am in great pain in this fire!'
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But Abraham said, 'Remember, my son, that in your lifetime you were given all the good things, while Lazarus got all the bad things. But now he is enjoying himself here, while you are in pain.
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Besides all that, there is a deep pit lying between us, so that those who want to cross over from here to you cannot do so, nor can anyone cross over to us from where you are.'
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The rich man said, 'Then I beg you, father Abraham, send Lazarus to my father's house,
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where I have five brothers. Let him go and warn them so that they, at least, will not come to this place of pain.'
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Abraham said, 'Your brothers have Moses and the prophets to warn them; your brothers should listen to what they say.'
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The rich man answered, 'That is not enough, father Abraham! But if someone were to rise from death and go to them, then they would turn from their sins.'
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But Abraham said, 'If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone were to rise from death.' "
