17 And to Adam he said,

29 and called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground ^wthat the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief¹ from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.”

20 Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard.¹

12 And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord ^jblessed him, 13 and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. 14 He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines ^kenvied him. 15 (Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells ^lthat his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.) 16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”

17 So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. 18 And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham. And ^mhe gave them the names that his father had given them. 19 But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, 20 the herdsmen of Gerar ⁿquarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek,¹ because they contended with him. 21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah.² 22 And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth,³ saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”

23 From there he went up to Beersheba. 24 And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, ^o“I am the God of Abraham your father. ^pFear not, for ^qI am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.” 25 So he ^rbuilt an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.

26 When Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and ^sPhicol the commander of his army, 27 Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and ^thave sent me away from you?” 28 They said, “We see plainly that the Lord has been with you. So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, 29 that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. ^uYou are now the blessed of the Lord.” 30 So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31 In the morning they rose early and ^vexchanged oaths. And Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace. 32 That same day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him, “We have found water.” 33 He called it Shibah;⁴ therefore the name of the city is ^wBeersheba to this day.

Joseph Interprets Pharaoh’s Dreams

1 After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile, 2 and behold, there came up out of the Nile seven cows, attractive and plump, and they fed in the reed grass. 3 And behold, seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile. 4 And the ugly, thin cows ate up the seven attractive, plump cows. And Pharaoh awoke. 5 And he fell asleep and dreamed a second time. And behold, seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing on one stalk. 6 And behold, after them sprouted seven ears, thin and ^wblighted by the east wind. 7 And the thin ears swallowed up the seven plump, full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream. 8 So in the morning ^xhis spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the ^ymagicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh.

9 Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “I remember my offenses today. 10 When Pharaoh was ^zangry with his servants ^aand put me and the chief baker in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, 11 ^bwe dreamed on the same night, he and I, each having a dream with its own interpretation. 12 A young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. When we told him, ^che interpreted our dreams to us, giving an interpretation to each man according to his dream. 13 And ^das he interpreted to us, so it came about. I was restored to my office, and the baker was hanged.”

14 ^eThen Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they ^fquickly brought him ^gout of the pit. And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh. 15 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. ^hI have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” 16 Joseph answered Pharaoh, ⁱ“It is not in me; ^jGod will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”¹ 17 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Behold, ^kin my dream I was standing on the banks of the Nile. 18 Seven cows, plump and attractive, came up out of the Nile and fed in the reed grass. 19 Seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and thin, such as I had never seen in all the land of Egypt. 20 And the thin, ugly cows ate up the first seven plump cows, 21 but when they had eaten them no one would have known that they had eaten them, for they were still as ugly as at the beginning. Then I awoke. 22 I also saw in my dream seven ears growing on one stalk, full and good. 23 Seven ears, withered, thin, and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them, 24 and the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears. And ^lI told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.”

25 Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; ^mGod has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. 26 The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years; the dreams are one. 27 The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty ears blighted by the east wind are also ⁿseven years of famine. 28 It is as I told Pharaoh; ^oGod has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do. 29 There will come ^pseven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, 30 but after them there will arise ^qseven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. ^rThe famine will consume the land, 31 and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of the famine that will follow, for it will be very severe. 32 And the doubling of Pharaoh’s dream means that the ^sthing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about. 33 Now therefore let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt. 34 Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land and take one-fifth of the produce of the land² of Egypt during the seven plentiful years. 35 And ^tlet them gather all the food of these good years that are coming and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it. 36 That food shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that are to occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish through the famine.”

Joseph Rises to Power

37 This proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants. 38 And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, ^uin whom is the Spirit of God?”³ 39 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are. 40 ^vYou shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command.⁴ Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.” 41 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, ^wI have set you over all the land of Egypt.” 42 Then Pharaoh ^xtook his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and ^yclothed him in garments of fine linen ^zand put a gold chain about his neck. 43 And he made him ride in his second chariot. ^aAnd they called out before him, “Bow the knee!”⁵ Thus he set him ^bover all the land of Egypt. 44 Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and ^cwithout your consent no one shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” 45 And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphenath-paneah. And he gave him in marriage Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On. So Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

46 Joseph was thirty years old when he ^dentered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt. 47 During the seven plentiful years the earth produced abundantly, 48 and he gathered up all the food of these seven years, which occurred in the land of Egypt, and put the food in the cities. He put in every city the food from the fields around it. 49 And Joseph stored up grain in great abundance, ^elike the sand of the sea, until he ceased to measure it, for it could not be measured.

50 Before the year of famine came, ^ftwo sons were born to Joseph. Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore them to him. 51 Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house.”⁶ 52 The name of the second he called Ephraim, “For God has ^gmade me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”⁷

53 The seven years of plenty that occurred in the land of Egypt came to an end, 54 and ^hthe seven years of famine began to come, ⁱas Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. 55 When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do.”

56 So when the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses⁸ and ^jsold to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. 57 Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe ^kover all the earth.

Joseph and the Famine

13 Now there was no food in all the land, for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished by reason of the famine. 14 ⁱAnd Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, in exchange for the grain that they bought. And Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house. 15 And when the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. ^jWhy should we die before your eyes? For our money is gone.” 16 And Joseph answered, “Give your livestock, and I will give you food in exchange for your livestock, if your money is gone.” 17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the herds, and the donkeys. He supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year. 18 And when that year was ended, they came to him the following year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is all spent. The herds of livestock are my lord’s. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our land. 19 Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? ^kBuy us and our land for food, and we with our land will be servants to Pharaoh. And give us seed that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.”

20 So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for all the Egyptians sold their fields, because the famine was severe on them. The land became Pharaoh’s. 21 As for the people, he made servants of them¹ from one end of Egypt to the other. 22 ^lOnly the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had a fixed allowance from Pharaoh and lived on the allowance that Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their land.

23 Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have this day bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Now here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. 24 And at the harvests you shall give a ^mfifth to Pharaoh, and four fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and as food for yourselves and your households, and as food for your little ones.” 25 And they said, “You have saved our lives; ⁿmay it please my lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh.” 26 So Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt, and it stands to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; ^othe land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh’s.

19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for ^ham I in the place of God? 20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but ⁱGod meant it for good, to bring it about that many people¹ should be kept alive, as they are today. 21 So do not fear; ^jI will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.