The Daily Audio Bible

Joseph in Egypt

39 The Ishmaelites took Joseph to Egypt and they sold him there as a slave. Potiphar bought Joseph from the Ishmaelites. He was one of Pharaoh's officers. He had authority over all the guards. ² The Lord was with Joseph, so that good things happened to him. Joseph lived in the house of Potiphar, his Egyptian master. ³ Potiphar saw that the Lord was with Joseph. He saw that the Lord helped Joseph to do good work. ⁴ So Joseph pleased Potiphar. Potiphar gave Joseph authority as his special servant. Joseph took care of everything that belonged to Potiphar. ⁵ From the time that Potiphar gave Joseph authority over everything in his house, the Lord blessed the people of Potiphar's house, his animals and his crops. The Lord blessed Potiphar because of Joseph.

⁶ So Potiphar told Joseph to take care of everything that belonged to him. Potiphar did not worry about anything in his house. The only thing that he thought about was the food that he ate.

Joseph was a strong and handsome man. ⁷ After some time had passed, Potiphar's wife saw that Joseph was handsome. She said, ‘Come to bed with me!’ ⁸ But Joseph refused to do that. He said, ‘My master does not need to think about anything in the house. I take care of everything that belongs to him. ⁹ No one has more authority in this house than I do. My master keeps nothing from me, except you. That is because you are his wife. I could not do such a bad thing. I could not do a sin that is against God.’

¹⁰ Potiphar's wife continued to speak to Joseph every day. But he would not agree to go to bed with her. He would not even go near her. ¹¹ One day Joseph went into the house to do his work. None of the other servants were there in the house. ¹² Potiphar's wife suddenly took hold of Joseph's coat. She said, ‘Come to bed with me!’ Joseph left his coat in her hand and he ran out of the house.

¹³ Potiphar's wife saw that Joseph had left his coat in her hand. She saw that he had run out of the house. ¹⁴ So she called her servants to come. She said to them, ‘Look at this! The Hebrew man that Potiphar brought to work here does not respect us! He came in here and he tried to have sex with me. But I screamed loudly. ¹⁵ When he heard me scream like that, he ran out of the house. But he left his coat here with me.’

¹⁶ Potiphar's wife kept the coat beside her until Joseph's master, Potiphar, came home. ¹⁷ Then she told him this story: ‘The Hebrew slave that you brought to us tried to insult me. He wanted to sleep with me. ¹⁸ But I screamed loudly for help. So he left his coat with me and he ran out of the house.’

¹⁹ Joseph's master heard the story that his wife told him. She said, ‘This is what your slave did to me.’ When Potiphar heard that, he was very angry. ²⁰ He took hold of Joseph, and he put him in prison. It was the place where the king put his own prisoners. ²¹ While Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was still with him. He was kind to Joseph. He caused the leader of the prison guards to like Joseph. ²² So this man gave Joseph authority over all the other prisoners. Joseph was responsible for everything that they did in the prison. ²³ The prison guard did not worry about anything that Joseph had authority over. He saw that the Lord was with Joseph. Whatever Joseph did, the Lord helped him to do it well.

Joseph tells two people what their dreams mean

40 Some time later, two of the king's officers made him angry. One of them was the king's cupbearer.^[a] The other was the king's baker.

² Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, both the cupbearer and the baker. ³ Pharaoh put them in the same prison that Joseph was in. That was in the house of the captain of the king's guards. ⁴ They were in the prison for a long time. The captain of the guards made Joseph their servant, to help them. ⁵ One night, both of the king's officers had a dream. Each dream had its own meaning.

⁶ When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were upset. ⁷ So Joseph asked the two officers, ‘What are you sad about?’ ⁸ They replied, ‘We both had dreams last night, but there is nobody to tell us what they mean.’ Joseph said, ‘Only God can tell you the meaning of dreams. Tell your dreams to me.’

⁹ So the king's cupbearer told Joseph his dream. He said, ‘In my dream I saw a vine in front of me. ¹⁰ There were three branches on it. New leaves came on the branches, and then flowers came. After that, there were grapes which became ripe. ¹¹ Pharaoh's cup was in my hand. I took the grapes and I squeezed them. Then I put the juice into the cup and I gave the cup to Pharaoh.’

¹² Joseph said, ‘This is what your dream means. The three branches tell us about three days. ¹³ In three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head and he will make you his officer again.^[b] You will put Pharaoh's cup into his hand, as you did before. ¹⁴ But when these good things happen to you, remember to be kind to me. Tell Pharaoh about me so that I will get out of this prison. ¹⁵ Men took hold of me in the land of the Hebrews and they brought me here. Even here, I have not done anything wrong. I should not be in this prison.’

¹⁶ The king's baker heard what Joseph had said to the cupbearer. He realized that the meaning of the cupbearer's dream was good. So he said to Joseph, ‘This was my dream: I had three baskets of bread on my head. ¹⁷ The top basket contained many different kinds of bread for Pharaoh. But birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.’

¹⁸ Joseph said, ‘This is what your dream means. The three baskets tell us about three days. ¹⁹ In three days, Pharaoh will lift off your head. He will hang you on a tree. Then birds will eat the meat off your body.’

²⁰ Three days later, it was Pharaoh's birthday. He gave a feast for all his officers. He lifted up the head of the cupbearer and he lifted off the head of the baker! He brought them both out of the prison so that all his officers could see.

²¹ Pharaoh caused the cupbearer to be his own cupbearer again. As a result, the cupbearer put Pharaoh's cup into his hand again, as he did before. ²² But Pharaoh hanged the baker to kill him.

So it all happened in the way that Joseph said it would happen. ²³ But the cupbearer did not think about Joseph at all. He completely forgot about him.

Pharaoh's dreams

41 Two years later, Pharaoh had a dream. In his dream, he was standing by the River Nile. ² Seven cows walked up out of the river. They were fat and good to look at. They ate the grass at the side of the river. ³ After those seven fat cows, Pharaoh saw seven other cows that also came up out of the river. Those cows were thin and not good to look at. They stood next to the other cows at the side of the river. ⁴ The thin cows ate the seven fat cows! Then Pharaoh woke up.

⁵ Pharaoh went to sleep again and he had another dream. He saw seven groups of grain that were growing on one branch. The grains were fat and good to look at. ⁶ Then he saw seven other groups of grain that grew after the first seven groups. These grains were thin, because the hot east wind had burned them. ⁷ Then the groups of thin grains ate the seven groups of grains that were good and fat. Then Pharaoh woke up. He realized that it was a dream.

⁸ In the morning, Pharaoh had trouble in his mind. So he told all the magicians and the wise men in Egypt to come to him. Pharaoh told them about his dreams. But no one could tell Pharaoh what his dreams meant.

⁹ Then the king's cupbearer said to Pharaoh, ‘Now I remember that I have done a wrong thing!^{[c] 10} Two years ago, you were angry with me and with your special baker. You put us in prison, in the house of the guards' captain. ¹¹ One night we both had a dream. Each of our dreams had its own meaning. ¹² A young Hebrew man was there with us. He was a servant of the guards' captain. We told the Hebrew man about our dreams. Then he told each of us the meaning of our dream. ¹³ And everything happened as he had told us! You gave me my job as cupbearer again. But you hanged the baker to kill him.’

¹⁴ So Pharaoh called Joseph to come to him. They quickly brought Joseph from the prison. Joseph washed himself and he cut his beard from his face. He put on clean clothes. Then he went and he stood in front of Pharaoh. ¹⁵ Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘I had a dream, and no one can tell me what it means. But people have told me about you. They say that you can tell the meaning of dreams.’ ¹⁶ Joseph replied to Pharaoh, ‘I cannot do this. But God will give you an answer that will make you happy.’

Jesus speaks about his family

⁴⁶ While Jesus was still speaking to the crowd of people, his mother and his brothers arrived. They stood outside the house. They wanted to speak to Jesus. ⁴⁷ Someone told him, ‘Look! Your mother and brothers are standing outside. They want to speak to you.’

⁴⁸ Jesus replied, ‘I will tell you who my mother and my brothers really are.’ ⁴⁹ Then he pointed to his disciples. He said, ‘Look! Here are my mother and my brothers. ⁵⁰ My brothers and sisters and my mother are those people who do what my Father in heaven wants.’^[a]

Jesus tells a story about a farmer who planted seeds

13 On that same day, Jesus left the house and he went to Lake Galilee. He sat down near the edge of the lake to teach people. ² The crowd that came to listen to him was very large. So he went and sat in a boat that was on the water. The big crowd of people stood on the shore. ³ Jesus used stories to teach them many things. He said to them: ‘Listen to me! A farmer went out to plant seeds in his field. ⁴ While he was throwing the seeds, some of them fell on the path. The birds came and they ate those seeds. ⁵ Other seeds fell on ground which had rocks. There was not much soil in that place. The seeds quickly began to grow, because the soil was not deep. ⁶ But when the sun rose, it burned the young plants. They soon died because they had not grown down well into the soil. ⁷ Some other seeds fell among thorn bushes. Those bushes grew up with the young plants. They stopped the seeds from growing into strong plants. ⁸ But some seeds fell on good soil and strong plants grew from those seeds. Some plants made 100 new seeds. Some plants made 60 new seeds and some plants made 30 new seeds.’ ⁹ Then Jesus said to the crowd, ‘You have ears, so listen well to what I say!’

Jesus explains to his disciples why he teaches with stories

¹⁰ Then Jesus' disciples came to him. They asked him, ‘Why do you use stories to speak to the crowd?’

¹¹ Jesus replied, ‘God has let you know what these stories mean. You understand how God rules in the lives of his people. But these other people do not understand what the stories mean. ¹² A person who has received some things will receive even more. He will have lots of good things. Some other people have nothing. Those people will lose even the little bit that they do have. ¹³ The reason I use stories to talk to other people is this:

¹⁴ Long ago, the prophet Isaiah spoke a message from God about those people.^[c] Now it has become true. God said:

¹⁵ These people do not really want to understand.

¹⁶ Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘But as for you, be happy because God has helped you to see. He has helped you to hear and understand his message. ¹⁷ I tell you this: Many prophets and good people from a long time ago wanted to see these things. But they did not see the things that you are seeing. They wanted to hear the message that you are hearing. But they did not hear it.’

Jesus explains the story about the farmer who planted his seeds

¹⁸ Jesus then said, ‘Listen to me now. I will tell you what this story about the farmer means. ¹⁹ Some people hear the message about God's kingdom but they do not understand it. Satan comes and he quickly takes the message away from their minds. The seeds that fell on the path show what those people are like. ²⁰ Other seeds fell on soil with rocks in it. This is like some people who hear God's message. These people are happy to believe it for a time. ²¹ But they are like plants that have not grown down well into the soil. So they only believe for a short time. They may have problems. Or other people may do bad things to them, because they obey God's message. When that happens, these people soon stop believing. ²² Some seeds fell among thorn bushes. This is like people who hear the message from God. But they have many troubles in their minds. They want to get more money and more things. They think that this will make them happy. So they do not let God's message change them. They are like plants that do not grow well and make new seeds. ²³ But some seeds fell on good soil. This is like other people who hear the message from God and they understand it. These people are like good plants that grow well. From one seed, some good plants make 100 new seeds. Other good plants make 60 new seeds, and some good plants make 30 new seeds.’^[d]

David wrote this prayer.

A prayer for help

³³ The Lord curses the homes of wicked people, but he blesses the homes of righteous people. ³⁴ The Lord laughs at proud people who laugh at other people. But he is kind to humble people.

³⁵ Wise people will receive honour. But fools will only have shame.