Hands-On Bible Sampler - Flipbook - Page 72
Genesis 40 ... page 42
Joseph was a very handsome and well-built
young man, 7and Potiphar’s wife soon began to
look at him lustfully. “Come and sleep with me,”
she demanded.
8But Joseph refused. “Look,” he told her, “my
master trusts me with everything in his entire
household. 9No one here has more authority
than I do. He has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I
do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin
against God.”
10She kept putting pressure on Joseph day after day, but he refused to sleep with her, and he
kept out of her way as much as possible. 11One
day, however, no one else was around when he
went in to do his work. 12 She came and grabbed
him by his cloak, demanding, “Come on, sleep
with me!” Joseph tore himself away, but he left
his cloak in her hand as he ran from the house.
13 When she saw that she was holding his
cloak and he had fled, 14she called out to her servants. Soon all the men came running. “Look!”
she said. “My husband has brought this Hebrew
slave here to make fools of us! He came into my
room to rape me, but I screamed. 15 When he
heard me scream, he ran outside and got away,
but he left his cloak behind with me.”
16She kept the cloak with her until her husband came home. 17 Then she told him her story.
“That Hebrew slave you’ve brought into our
house tried to come in and fool around with me,”
she said. 18 “But when I screamed, he ran outside,
leaving his cloak with me!”
Joseph Put in Prison
19Potiphar was furious when he heard his wife’s
story about how Joseph had treated her. 20So he
took Joseph and threw him into the prison where
the king’s prisoners were held, and there he remained. 21But the Lord was with Joseph in the
prison and showed him his faithful love. And the
Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison
warden. 22Before long, the warden put Joseph in
charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that happened in the prison. 23 The warden
had no more worries, because Joseph took care
of everything. The Lord was with him and
caused everything he did to succeed.
CHAPTER
40
Joseph Interprets Two Dreams
Some time later, Pharaoh’s chief cup-bearer and
chief baker offended their royal master. 2Pharaoh became angry with these two officials, 3and
he put them in the prison where Joseph was, in
the palace of the captain of the guard. 4They remained in prison for quite some time, and the
captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph,
who looked after them.
5 While they were in prison, Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker each had a dream one night,
and each dream had its own meaning. 6When Joseph saw them the next morning, he noticed that
they both looked upset. 7 “Why do you look so
worried today?” he asked them.
8And they replied, “We both had dreams last
night, but no one can tell us what they mean.”
“Interpreting dreams is God’s business,” Joseph
replied. “Go ahead and tell me your dreams.”
9 So the chief cup-bearer told Joseph his dream
first. “In my dream,” he said, “I saw a grapevine in
front of me. 10The vine had three branches that
began to bud and blossom, and soon it produced
clusters of ripe grapes. 11I was holding Pharaoh’s
wine cup in my hand, so I took a cluster of grapes
and squeezed the juice into the cup. Then I placed
the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.”
12 “This is what the dream means,” Joseph
said. “The three branches represent three days.
13 Within three days Pharaoh will lift you up and
restore you to your position as his chief cupbearer. 14And please remember me and do me a
favor when things go well for you. Mention me to
Pharaoh, so he might let me out of this place.
15For I was kidnapped from my homeland, the
land of the Hebrews, and now I’m here in prison,
but I did nothing to deserve it.”
16When the chief baker saw that Joseph had
given the first dream such a positive interpretation, he said to Joseph, “I had a dream, too. In my
dream there were three baskets of white pastries
stacked on my head. 17 The top basket contained
all kinds of pastries for Pharaoh, but the birds
came and ate them from the basket on my head.”
18 “This is what the dream means,” Joseph told
him. “The three baskets also represent three
days. 19 Three days from now Pharaoh will lift you
up and impale your body on a pole. Then birds
will come and peck away at your flesh.”
20Pharaoh’s birthday came three days later,
and he prepared a banquet for all his officials and staff. He summoned his chief cupbearer and chief baker to join the other officials.
21He then restored the chief cup-bearer to his
former position, so he could again hand Pharaoh
his cup. 22But Pharaoh impaled the chief baker,
just as Joseph had predicted when he interpreted
his dream. 23Pharaoh’s chief cup-bearer, however, forgot all about Joseph, never giving him another thought.
