One Year Pray for America Bible - Flipbook - Page 81
71
January 19
5 From
owned.
the day Joseph was put
in charge of his master’s household
and property, the Lord began to bless
Potiphar’s household for Joseph’s
sake. All his household affairs ran
smoothly, and his crops and livestock
flourished. 6 So Potiphar gave Joseph
complete administrative responsibility over everything he owned. With
Joseph there, he didn’t worry about a
thing—except what kind of food to eat!
Joseph was a very handsome and
well-built young man, 7 and Potiphar’s
wife soon began to look at him lustfully. “Come and sleep with me,” she
demanded.
8 But Joseph refused. “Look,” he told
her, “my master trusts me with every
thing in his entire household. 9 No 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.”
10 She kept putting pressure on Jo
seph day after day, but he refused to
sleep with her, and he kept out of her
way as much as possible. 11 One 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, 14 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. 15 When he heard me
scream, he ran outside and got away,
but he left his cloak behind with me.”
16 She 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!”
19 Pot
iphar was furious when he
heard his wife’s story about how Jo
seph had treated her.
he took
Joseph and threw him into the prison
where the king’s prisoners were held,
and there he remained. 21 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. 22 Before 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 every
thing he did to succeed.
20 So
40:1 Some
time later, Pharaoh’s chief
c up-bearer and chief baker offended
their royal master. 2 Pharaoh became
angry with these two officials, 3 and he
put them in the prison where Joseph
was, in the palace of the captain of
the guard. 4 They 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, Pha
raoh’s cup-bearer and baker each had
a dream one night, and each dream
had its own meaning. 6 When Joseph
saw them the next morning, he noticed
that they both looked upset. 7 “Why do
you look so worried today?” he asked
them.
8 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.”
9 So the chief cup-bearer told Joseph
his dream first. “In my dream,” he said,
“I saw a grapevine in front of me. 10 The
vine had three branches that began to
bud and blossom, and soon it produced
clusters of ripe grapes. 11 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.”
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
