Immerse: Beginnings Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 74
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IMMERSE
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BEGINNINGS
39:13–40:14
When she saw that she was holding his cloak and he had fled, she 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. When he heard me scream, he
ran outside and got away, but he left his cloak behind with me.”
She kept the cloak with her until her husband came home. 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. “But when I screamed, he ran
outside, leaving his cloak with me!”
Potiphar was furious when he heard his wife’s story about how Joseph
had treated her. So he took Joseph and threw him into the prison where
the king’s prisoners were held, and there he remained. But 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. Before long, the warden
put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that
happened in the prison. The warden had no more worries, because Joseph
took care of everything. The Lord was with him and caused everything
he did to succeed.
Some time later, Pharaoh’s chief cup-bearer and chief baker offended their
royal master. Pharaoh became angry with these two officials, and he put
them in the prison where Joseph was, in the palace of the captain of the
guard. They remained in prison for quite some time, and the captain of the
guard assigned them to Joseph, who looked after them.
While they were in prison, Pharaoh’s cup-bearer and baker each had a
dream one night, and each dream had its own meaning. When Joseph saw
them the next morning, he noticed that they both looked upset. “Why do
you look so worried today?” he asked them.
And 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.”
So the chief c up-bearer told Joseph his dream first. “In my dream,” he
said, “I saw a grapevine in front of me. The vine had three branches that
began to bud and blossom, and soon it produced clusters of ripe grapes.
I 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.”
“This is what the dream means,” Joseph said. “The three branches represent three days. Within three days Pharaoh will lift you up and restore
you to your position as his chief cup-bearer. And please remember me and
do me a favor when things go well for you. Mention me to Pharaoh, so he
