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Genesis 40

The Dreams Interpreted.

1^* Some time afterward, the royal cupbearer and baker offended their lord, the king of Egypt.

2Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker,

3and he put them in custody in the house of the chief steward, the same jail where Joseph was confined.

4The chief steward assigned Joseph to them, and he became their attendant.

After they had been in custody for some time,

5the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt who were confined in the jail both had dreams on the same night, each his own dream and each dream with its own meaning.

6When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they looked disturbed.

7So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were with him in custody in his master’s house, “Why do you look so troubled today?”

8They answered him, “We have had dreams, but there is no one to interpret them.” Joseph said to them, “Do interpretations not come from God? Please tell me the dreams.”^a

9Then the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream. “In my dream,” he said, “I saw a vine in front of me,

10and on the vine were three branches. It had barely budded when its blossoms came out, and its clusters ripened into grapes.

11Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; so I took the grapes, pressed them out into his cup, and put it in Pharaoh’s hand.”

12Joseph said to him: “This is its interpretation. The three branches are three days;

13within three days Pharaoh will single you out^* and restore you to your post. You will be handing Pharaoh his cup as you formerly did when you were his cupbearer.

14Only think of me when all is well with you, and please do me the great favor of mentioning me to Pharaoh, to get me out of this place.

15The truth is that I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and I have not done anything here that they should have put me into a dungeon.”

16When the chief baker saw that Joseph had given a favorable interpretation, he said to him: “I too had a dream. In it I had three bread baskets on my head;

17in the top one were all kinds of bakery products for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.”

18Joseph said to him in reply: “This is its interpretation. The three baskets are three days;

19within three days Pharaoh will single you out and will impale you on a stake, and the birds will be eating your flesh.”

20And so on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, when he gave a banquet to all his servants, he singled out the chief cupbearer and chief baker in the midst of his servants.

21He restored the chief cupbearer to his office, so that he again handed the cup to Pharaoh;

22but the chief baker he impaled—just as Joseph had told them in his interpretation.

23Yet the chief cupbearer did not think of Joseph; he forgot him.

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Genesis 41

Pharaoh’s Dream.

1^* After a lapse of two years, Pharaoh had a dream. He was standing by the Nile,

2when up out of the Nile came seven cows, fine-looking and fat; they grazed in the reed grass.

3Behind them seven other cows, poor-looking and gaunt, came up out of the Nile; and standing on the bank of the Nile beside the others,

4the poor-looking, gaunt cows devoured the seven fine-looking, fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.

5He fell asleep again and had another dream. He saw seven ears of grain, fat and healthy, growing on a single stalk.

6Behind them sprouted seven ears of grain, thin and scorched by the east wind;

7and the thin ears swallowed up the seven fat, healthy ears. Then Pharaoh woke up—it was a dream!

8Next morning his mind was agitated. So Pharaoh had all the magicians^* and sages of Egypt summoned and recounted his dream to them; but there was no one to interpret it for him.

9Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh: “Now I remember my negligence!

10Once, when Pharaoh was angry with his servants, he put me and the chief baker in custody in the house of the chief steward.

11Later, we both had dreams on the same night, and each of our dreams had its own meaning.

12There was a Hebrew youth with us, a slave of the chief steward; and when we told him our dreams, he interpreted them for us and explained for each of us the meaning of his dream.^a

13Things turned out just as he had told us: I was restored to my post, but the other man was impaled.”

14Pharaoh therefore had Joseph summoned, and they hurriedly brought him from the dungeon. After he shaved and changed his clothes, he came to Pharaoh.^b

15Pharaoh then said to Joseph: “I had a dream but there was no one to interpret it. But I hear it said of you, ‘If he hears a dream he can interpret it.’”

16“It is not I,” Joseph replied to Pharaoh, “but God who will respond for the well-being of Pharaoh.”^c

17Then Pharaoh said to Joseph: “In my dream, I was standing on the bank of the Nile,

18when up from the Nile came seven cows, fat and well-formed; they grazed in the reed grass.

19Behind them came seven other cows, scrawny, most ill-formed and gaunt. Never have I seen such bad specimens as these in all the land of Egypt!

20The gaunt, bad cows devoured the first seven fat cows.

21But when they had consumed them, no one could tell that they had done so, because they looked as bad as before. Then I woke up.

22In another dream I saw seven ears of grain, full and healthy, growing on a single stalk.

23Behind them sprouted seven ears of grain, shriveled and thin and scorched by the east wind;

24and the seven thin ears swallowed up the seven healthy ears. I have spoken to the magicians, but there is no one to explain it to me.”

25Joseph said to Pharaoh: “Pharaoh’s dreams have the same meaning. God has made known to Pharaoh what he is about to do.

26The seven healthy cows are seven years, and the seven healthy ears are seven years—the same in each dream.

27The seven thin, bad cows that came up after them are seven years, as are the seven thin ears scorched by the east wind; they are seven years of famine.

28Things are just as I told Pharaoh: God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.

29Seven years of great abundance are now coming throughout the land of Egypt;

30but seven years of famine will rise up after them, when all the abundance will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. When the famine has exhausted the land,

31no trace of the abundance will be found in the land because of the famine that follows it, for it will be very severe.

32That Pharaoh had the same dream twice means that the matter has been confirmed by God and that God will soon bring it about.

33“Therefore, let Pharaoh seek out a discerning and wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt.

34Let Pharaoh act and appoint overseers for the land to organize it during the seven years of abundance.

35They should collect all the food of these coming good years, gathering the grain under Pharaoh’s authority, for food in the cities, and they should guard it.

36This food will serve as a reserve for the country against the seven years of famine that will occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish in the famine.”

37This advice pleased Pharaoh and all his servants.^d

38“Could we find another like him,” Pharaoh asked his servants, “a man so endowed with the spirit of God?”

39So Pharaoh said to Joseph: “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as discerning and wise as you are.

40You shall be in charge of my household, and all my people will obey your command. Only in respect to the throne will I outrank you.”^e

41Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Look, I put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.”

42With that, Pharaoh took off his signet ring^* and put it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck.

43He then had him ride in his second chariot, and they shouted “Abrek!”^* before him.

Thus was Joseph installed over the whole land of Egypt.

44“I am Pharaoh,” he told Joseph, “but without your approval no one shall lift hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.”

45Pharaoh also bestowed the name of Zaphenath-paneah^* on Joseph, and he gave him in marriage Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis. And Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

46Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

After Joseph left Pharaoh, he went throughout the land of Egypt.

47During the seven years of plenty, when the land produced abundant crops,

48he collected all the food of these years of plenty that the land of Egypt was enjoying and stored it in the cities, placing in each city the crops of the fields around it.

49Joseph collected grain like the sands of the sea, so much that at last he stopped measuring it, for it was beyond measure.

50Before the famine years set in, Joseph became the father of two sons, borne to him by Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis.^f

51Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh,^* meaning, “God has made me forget entirely my troubles and my father’s house”;

52and the second he named Ephraim,^* meaning, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

53When the seven years of abundance enjoyed by the land of Egypt came to an end,

54the seven years of famine set in, just as Joseph had said. Although there was famine in all the other countries, food was available throughout the land of Egypt.^g

55When all the land of Egypt became hungry and the people cried to Pharaoh for food, Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians: “Go to Joseph and do whatever he tells you.”

56When the famine had spread throughout the land, Joseph opened all the cities that had grain and rationed it to the Egyptians, since the famine had gripped the land of Egypt.

57Indeed, the whole world came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, for famine had gripped the whole world.

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Genesis 42

The Brothers’ First Journey to Egypt.^*

1When Jacob learned that grain rations were for sale in Egypt, he said to his sons: “Why do you keep looking at one another?”

2He went on, “I hear that grain is for sale in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, that we may stay alive and not die.”^a

3So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.

4But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he thought some disaster might befall him.

5And so the sons of Israel were among those who came to buy grain, since there was famine in the land of Canaan.^b

6Joseph, as governor of the country, was the one who sold grain to all the people of the land. When Joseph’s brothers came, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.^c

7He recognized them as soon as he saw them. But he concealed his own identity from them and spoke harshly to them. “Where do you come from?” he asked them. They answered, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.”

8When Joseph recognized his brothers, although they did not recognize him,

9he was reminded of the dreams he had about them. He said to them: “You are spies.^d You have come to see the weak points^* of the land.”

10“No, my lord,” they replied. “On the contrary, your servants have come to buy food.

11All of us are sons of the same man. We are honest men; your servants have never been spies.”

12But he answered them: “Not so! It is the weak points of the land that you have come to see.”

13“We your servants,” they said, “are twelve brothers, sons of a certain man in Canaan; but the youngest one is at present with our father, and the other one is no more.”^e

14“It is just as I said,” Joseph persisted; “you are spies.

15This is how you shall be tested: I swear by the life of Pharaoh that you shall not leave here unless your youngest brother comes here.

16So send one of your number to get your brother, while the rest of you stay here under arrest. Thus will your words be tested for their truth; if they are untrue, as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!”

17With that, he locked them up in the guardhouse for three days.

18On the third day Joseph said to them: “Do this, and you shall live; for I am a God-fearing man.

19If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in this prison, while the rest of you go and take home grain for your starving families.

20But you must bring me your youngest brother. Your words will thus be verified, and you will not die.” To this they agreed.^f

21To one another, however, they said: “Truly we are being punished because of our brother. We saw the anguish of his heart when he pleaded with us, yet we would not listen. That is why this anguish has now come upon us.”^g

22Then Reuben responded, “Did I not tell you, ‘Do no wrong to the boy’? But you would not listen! Now comes the reckoning for his blood.”^h

23They did not know, of course, that Joseph understood what they said, since he spoke with them through an interpreter.

24But turning away from them, he wept. When he was able to speak to them again, he took Simeon from among them and bound him before their eyes.

25Then Joseph gave orders to have their containers filled with grain, their money replaced in each one’s sack, and provisions given them for their journey. After this had been done for them,

26they loaded their donkeys with the grain and departed.

27At the night encampment, when one of them opened his bag to give his donkey some fodder, he saw his money there in the mouth of his bag.

28He cried out to his brothers, “My money has been returned! Here it is in my bag!” At that their hearts sank. Trembling, they asked one another, “What is this that God has done to us?”

29When they got back to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them.

30“The man who is lord of the land,” they said, “spoke to us harshly and put us in custody on the grounds that we were spying on the land.

31But we said to him: ‘We are honest men; we have never been spies.

32We are twelve brothers, sons of the same father; but one is no more, and the youngest one is now with our father in the land of Canaan.’

33Then the man who is lord of the land said to us: ‘This is how I will know if you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, then take grain for your starving families and go.

34When you bring me your youngest brother, and I know that you are not spies but honest men, I will restore your brother to you, and you may move about freely in the land.’”

35When they were emptying their sacks, there in each one’s sack was his moneybag! At the sight of their moneybags, they and their father were afraid.

36Their father Jacob said to them: “Must you make me childless? Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin away! All these things have happened to me!”

37Then Reuben told his father: “You may kill my own two sons if I do not return him to you! Put him in my care, and I will bring him back to you.”

38But Jacob replied: “My son shall not go down with you. Now that his brother is dead, he is the only one left. If some disaster should befall him on the journey you must make, you would send my white head down to Sheol in grief.”ⁱ

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Mark 6 :30-56

The Return of the Twelve.

30The apostles^* gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught.^m

31^* He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat.ⁿ

32So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place.^o

33People saw them leaving and many came to know about it. They hastened there on foot from all the towns and arrived at the place before them.

The Feeding of the Five Thousand.

34When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

35^* By now it was already late and his disciples approached him and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already very late.

36Dismiss them so that they can go to the surrounding farms and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

37He said to them in reply, “Give them some food yourselves.” But they said to him, “Are we to buy two hundred days’ wages worth of food and give it to them to eat?”

38He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out they said, “Five loaves and two fish.”

39So he gave orders to have them sit down in groups on the green grass.

40^* The people took their places in rows by hundreds and by fifties.

41Then, taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to [his] disciples to set before the people; he also divided the two fish among them all.^*

42They all ate and were satisfied.

43And they picked up twelve wicker baskets full of fragments and what was left of the fish.

44Those who ate [of the loaves] were five thousand men.

The Walking on the Water.^*

45Then he made his disciples get into the boat^p and precede him to the other side toward Bethsaida,^* while he dismissed the crowd.

46^* And when he had taken leave of them, he went off to the mountain to pray.

47When it was evening, the boat was far out on the sea and he was alone on shore.

48Then he saw that they were tossed about while rowing, for the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night, he came toward them walking on the sea.^* He meant to pass by them.

49But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out.

50^* They had all seen him and were terrified. But at once he spoke with them, “Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid!”

51He got into the boat with them and the wind died down. They were [completely] astounded.

52They had not understood the incident of the loaves.^* On the contrary, their hearts were hardened.^q

The Healings at Gennesaret.

53^r After making the crossing, they came to land at Gennesaret and tied up there.

54As they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him.

55They scurried about the surrounding country and began to bring in the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was.

56Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak; and as many as touched it were healed.^s

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