Joseph in Prison

³⁹ Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt. An Egyptian named Potiphar, an official of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard, purchased him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there. ² The Lord was with Joseph. He was successful and lived in the household of his Egyptian master. ³ His master observed that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made everything he was doing successful. ⁴ So Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal attendant. Potiphar appointed Joseph overseer of his household and put him in charge of everything he owned. ⁵ From the time Potiphar appointed him over his household and over all that he owned, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s household for Joseph’s sake. The blessing of the Lord was on everything that he had, both in his house and in his fields. ⁶ So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; he gave no thought to anything except the food he ate.

Now Joseph was well built and good-looking. ⁷ Soon after these things, his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me.” ⁸ But he refused, saying to his master’s wife, “Look, my master does not give any thought to his household with me here, and everything that he owns he has put into my care. ⁹ There is no one greater in this household than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you because you are his wife. So how could I do such a great evil and sin against God?” ¹⁰ Even though she continued to speak to Joseph day after day, he did not respond to her invitation to go to bed with her.

¹¹ One day he went into the house to do his work when none of the household servants were there in the house. ¹² She grabbed him by his outer garment, saying, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his outer garment in her hand and ran outside. ¹³ When she saw that he had left his outer garment in her hand and had run outside, ¹⁴ she called for her household servants and said to them, “See, my husband brought in a Hebrew man to us to humiliate us. He tried to go to bed with me, but I screamed loudly. ¹⁵ When he heard me raise my voice and scream, he left his outer garment beside me and ran outside.”

¹⁶ So she laid his outer garment beside her until his master came home. ¹⁷ This is what she said to him: “That Hebrew slave you brought to us tried to humiliate me, ¹⁸ but when I raised my voice and screamed, he left his outer garment and ran outside.”

¹⁹ When his master heard his wife say, “This is the way your slave treated me,” he became furious. ²⁰ Joseph’s master took him and threw him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. So he was there in the prison.

²¹ But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him kindness. He granted him favor in the sight of the prison warden. ²² The warden put all the prisoners under Joseph’s care. He was in charge of whatever they were doing. ²³ The warden did not concern himself with anything that was in Joseph’s care because the Lord was with him and whatever he was doing the Lord was making successful.

⁴⁰ After these things happened, the cupbearer to the king of Egypt and the royal baker offended their master, the king of Egypt. ² Pharaoh was enraged with his two officials, the cupbearer and the baker, ³ so he imprisoned them in the house of the captain of the guard in the same facility where Joseph was confined. ⁴ The captain of the guard appointed Joseph to be their attendant, and he served them.

They spent some time in custody. ⁵ Both of them, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison, had a dream the same night. Each man’s dream had its own meaning. ⁶ When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were looking depressed. ⁷ So he asked Pharaoh’s officials, who were with him in custody in his master’s house, “Why do you look so sad today?” ⁸ They told him, “We both had dreams, but there is no one to interpret them.” Joseph responded, “Don’t interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me.”

⁹ So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph: “In my dream, there was a vine in front of me. ¹⁰ On the vine there were three branches. As it budded, its blossoms opened and its clusters ripened into grapes. ¹¹ Now Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, so I took the grapes, squeezed them into his cup, and put the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.”

¹² “This is its meaning,” Joseph said to him. “The three branches represent three days. ¹³ In three more days Pharaoh will reinstate you and restore you to your office. You will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, just as you did before when you were cupbearer. ¹⁴ But remember me when it goes well for you, and show me kindness. Make mention of me to Pharaoh and bring me out of this prison, ¹⁵ for I really was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews and I have done nothing wrong here for which they should put me in a dungeon.”

¹⁶ When the chief baker saw that the interpretation of the first dream was favorable, he said to Joseph, “I also appeared in my dream and there were three baskets of white bread on my head. ¹⁷ In the top basket there were baked goods of every kind for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them from the basket that was on my head.”

¹⁸ Joseph replied, “This is its meaning: The three baskets represent three days. ¹⁹ In three more days Pharaoh will decapitate you and impale you on a pole. Then the birds will eat your flesh from you.”

²⁰ On the third day it was Pharaoh’s birthday, so he gave a feast for all his servants. He “lifted up” the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker in the midst of his servants. ²¹ He restored the chief cupbearer to his former position so that he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand, ²² but the chief baker he impaled, just as Joseph had predicted. ²³ But the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph—he forgot him.