One Year Pray for America Bible - Flipbook - Page 85
75
January 20
21 But
cows.
afterward you wouldn’t
have known it, for they were still as
thin and scrawny as before! Then I
woke up.
22 “In my dream I also saw seven
heads of grain, full and beautiful,
growing on a single stalk. 23 Then
seven more heads of grain appeared,
but these were blighted, shriveled,
and withered by the east wind. 24 And
the shriveled heads swallowed the
seven healthy heads. I told these
dreams to the magicians, but no one
could tell me what they mean.”
25 Joseph responded, “Both of Pha
raoh’s dreams mean the same thing.
God is telling Pharaoh in advance
what he is about to do. 26 The seven
healthy cows and the seven healthy
heads of grain both represent seven
years of prosperity. 27 The seven thin,
scrawny cows that came up later and
the seven thin heads of grain, withered by the east wind, represent seven
years of famine.
28 “This will happen just as I have
described it, for God has revealed to
Pharaoh in advance what he is about
to do. 29 The next seven years will be a
period of great prosperity throughout
the land of Egypt. 30 But afterward there
will be seven years of famine so great
that all the prosperity will be forgotten
in Egypt. Famine will destroy the land.
31 This famine will be so severe that
even the memory of the good years will
be erased. 32 As for having two similar
dreams, it means that these events
have been decreed by God, and he will
soon make them happen.
33 “Therefore, Pharaoh should find
an intelligent and wise man and put
him in charge of the entire land of
Egypt. 34 Then Pharaoh should appoint supervisors over the land and
let them collect o
ne-fifth of all the
crops during the seven good years.
35 Have them gather all the food produced in the good years that are just
ahead and bring it to Pharaoh’s storehouses. Store it away, and guard it so
there will be food in the cities. 36 That
way there will be enough to eat when
the seven years of famine come to the
land of Egypt. Otherwise this famine
will destroy the land.”
37 Jo
seph’s suggestions were well
received by Pharaoh and his officials.
38 So Pharaoh asked his officials, “Can
we find anyone else like this man so
obviously filled with the spirit of
God?” 39 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph,
“Since God has revealed the meaning
of the dreams to you, clearly no one
else is as intelligent or wise as you are.
40 You will be in charge of my court,
and all my people will take orders
from you. Only I, sitting on my throne,
will have a rank higher than yours.”
41 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby
put you in charge of the entire land of
Egypt.” 42 Then Pharaoh removed his
signet ring from his hand and placed
it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him
in fine linen clothing and hung a gold
chain around his neck. 43 Then he had
Joseph ride in the chariot reserved for
his second-in-command. And wherever Joseph went, the command was
shouted, “Kneel down!” So Pharaoh
put Joseph in charge of all Egypt.
44 And Pha
raoh said to him, “I am
Pharaoh, but no one will lift a hand or
foot in the entire land of Egypt without
your approval.”
45 Then Pharaoh gave Joseph a new
Egyptian name, Zaphenath-paneah.*
He also gave him a wife, whose name
was Asenath. She was the daughter
of Potiphera, the priest of On.* So Jo
seph took charge of the entire land of
Egypt. 46 He was thirty years old when
he began serving in the court of Pha
raoh, the king of Egypt. And when
Joseph left Pharaoh’s presence, he inspected the entire land of Egypt.
47 As predicted, for seven years the
land produced bumper crops. 48 During those years, Joseph gathered all
the crops grown in Egypt and stored
the grain from the surrounding fields
in the cities. 49 He piled up huge
amounts of grain like sand on the
seashore. Finally, he stopped keeping
records because there was too much
to measure.
50 During this time, before the first
of the famine years, two sons were
