Daily Text and Bible Reading: Tuesday, January 14 [Press play below]

41.1 At the end of two full years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile River.
41.2 And there, coming up from the river, were seven fine-looking, fat cows, and they were feeding on the Nile grass.
41.3 There were seven other cows that looked ugly and thin coming up after them from the Nile, and they stood alongside the fat cows by the bank of the Nile.
41.4 Then the ugly, thin cows began to eat up the seven fine-looking, fat cows. At this Pharaoh woke up.
41.5 Then he went back to sleep and had a second dream. There were seven ears of grain coming up on one stalk, full and choice.
41.6 And growing up after them were seven ears of grain that were thin and scorched by the east wind.
41.7 And the thin ears of grain began to swallow up the seven full and choice ears of grain. At this Pharaoh woke up and realized that it was a dream.
41.8 But in the morning, his spirit became agitated. So he sent for all the magic-practicing priests of Egypt and all her wise men. Pharaoh related his dreams to them, but there was no one who could interpret them for Pharaoh.
41.9 At that the chief cupbearer spoke with Pharaoh, saying: “I am confessing my sins today.
41.10 Pharaoh was indignant at his servants. So he committed me to the jail of the house of the chief of the guard, both me and the chief baker.
41.11 After that we each had a dream on the same night. He and I each had a dream with its own interpretation.
41.12 And there with us was a young Hebrew man, a servant of the chief of the guard. When we related them to him, he interpreted for us the meaning of each dream.
41.13 It happened exactly as he had interpreted to us. I was restored to my office, but the other man was hanged.”
41.14 So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and they brought him quickly from the prison. He shaved and changed his clothes and went in to Pharaoh.
41.15 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph: “I had a dream, but there is no one to interpret it. Now I have heard it said about you that you can hear a dream and interpret it.”
41.16 At this Joseph answered Pharaoh: “I need not be considered! God will speak concerning Pharaoh’s welfare.”
41.17 Pharaoh went on to say to Joseph: “In my dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile River.
41.18 And there, coming up from the Nile, were seven fine-looking, fat cows, and they began to feed on the Nile grass.
41.19 And there were seven other cows coming up after them, poor and very bad-looking and thin. I have never seen such bad-looking cows in all the land of Egypt.
41.20 And the skinny, bad cows began to eat up the first seven fat cows.
41.21 But when they had consumed them, no one could have known that they had done so, since their appearance was just as bad as at the start. At that I woke up.
41.22 “After that I saw in my dream seven ears of grain coming up on one stalk, full and choice.
41.23 Growing up after them were seven ears of shriveled grain, thin and scorched by the east wind.
41.24 Then the thin ears of grain began to swallow up the seven choice ears of grain. So I told it to the magic-practicing priests, but there was no one who could explain it to me.”
41.25 Then Joseph said to Pharaoh: “The dreams of Pharaoh are one and the same. The true God has told to Pharaoh what He will do.
41.26 The seven good cows are seven years. Likewise, the seven good ears of grain are seven years. The dreams are one and the same.
41.27 The seven skinny and bad cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty ears of grain, scorched by the east wind, will prove to be seven years of famine.
41.28 This is just as I told to Pharaoh: The true God has caused Pharaoh to see what He will do.
41.29 “There are to be seven years of great abundance in all the land of Egypt.
41.30 But seven years of famine will certainly arise after them, and all the abundance in the land of Egypt will certainly be forgotten, and the famine will exhaust the land.
41.31 And the previous abundance in the land will not be remembered because of the famine afterward, for it will be very severe.
41.32 The dream was given twice to Pharaoh because the matter has been firmly established by the true God, and the true God will soon carry it out.
41.33 “So now let Pharaoh look for a man who is discreet and wise and place him over the land of Egypt.
41.34 Let Pharaoh take action and appoint overseers in the land, and he should collect one fifth of the produce of Egypt during the seven years of abundance.
41.35 And let them collect all the food during these coming good years, and let them stockpile grain under Pharaoh’s authority as food to be stored in the cities and safeguarded there.
41.36 The food should serve as a supply for the land for the seven years of famine that will occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish in the famine.”
41.37 This proposal seemed good to Pharaoh and all his servants.
41.38 So Pharaoh said to his servants: “Can another man be found like this one in whom there is the spirit of God?”
41.39 Pharaoh then said to Joseph: “Since God has caused you to know all of this, there is no one as discreet and wise as you.
41.40 You will personally be over my house, and all my people will obey you implicitly. Only in my role as king will I be greater than you.”
41.41 And Pharaoh added to Joseph: “See, I am putting you over all the land of Egypt.”
41.42 Then Pharaoh removed his signet ring from his own hand and put it on Joseph’s hand and clothed him with garments of fine linen and placed a necklace of gold around his neck.
41.43 Moreover, he had him ride in the second chariot of honor that he had, and they would call out ahead of him, “Avrékh!” Thus he put him over all the land of Egypt.
41.44 Pharaoh further said to Joseph: “I am Pharaoh, but without your authorization, no man may do a single thing in all the land of Egypt.”
41.45 After that Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah and gave him Asenath the daughter of Potiphera the priest of On as a wife. And Joseph began to oversee the land of Egypt.
41.46 Joseph was 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. Then Joseph went out from before Pharaoh and traveled throughout all the land of Egypt.
41.47 And during the seven years of abundance, the land went on producing plentifully.
41.48 And he kept collecting all the food of the seven years from the land of Egypt, and he would stockpile the food in the cities. In each city he would store the food from the fields around it.
41.49 Joseph continued stockpiling grain in very great quantity, like the sand of the sea, until finally they gave up measuring it because it could not be measured.
41.50 Before the year of the famine arrived, two sons were born to Joseph, whom Asenath the daughter of Potiphera the priest of On bore to him.
41.51 Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, for he said, “God has made me forget all my trouble and all the house of my father.”
41.52 And he named the second one Ephraim, for he said, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
41.53 Then the seven years of abundance in the land of Egypt ended,
41.54 and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. The famine developed in all the lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.
41.55 Eventually, all the land of Egypt suffered from the famine, and the people began to cry to Pharaoh for bread. Then Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians: “Go to Joseph, and do whatever he tells you.”
41.56 The famine continued over all the surface of the earth. Then Joseph began to open up all the granaries that were among them and to sell to the Egyptians, as the famine had a strong grip on the land of Egypt.
41.57 Moreover, people of all the earth came to Egypt to buy from Joseph, because the famine had a strong grip on all the earth.
42.1 When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons: “Why do you just keep looking at one another?”
42.2 He added: “I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may stay alive and not die.”
42.3 So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.
42.4 But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with his other brothers, for he said: “Perhaps a fatal accident may befall him.”
42.5 So Israel’s sons came along with the others who were coming to buy, because the famine had extended to the land of Canaan.
42.6 Joseph was the man in authority over the land, and he was the one who sold grain to all the people of the earth. So Joseph’s brothers came and bowed low to him with their faces to the ground.
42.7 When Joseph saw his brothers, he immediately recognized them, but he concealed his identity from them. So he spoke harshly with them and said: “Where have you come from?” to which they said: “From the land of Canaan to buy food.”
42.8 Thus Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him.
42.9 Joseph immediately remembered the dreams that he had dreamed about them, and he said to them: “You are spies! You have come to see the vulnerable areas of the land!”
42.10 Then they said to him: “No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food.
42.11 We are all sons of but one man. We are upright men. Your servants do not act as spies.”
42.12 But he said to them: “Not so! You have come to see the vulnerable areas of the land!”
42.13 At this they said: “Your servants are 12 brothers. We are the sons of but one man in the land of Canaan, and the youngest is now with our father, whereas the other one is no more.”
42.14 However, Joseph said to them: “It is just as I said to you—‘You are spies!’
42.15 By this you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place until your youngest brother comes here.
42.16 Send one of you to bring your brother while you remain in bondage. In this way, your words may be tested out to see if you are telling the truth. And if not, then, as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies.”
42.17 With that he put them together in custody for three days.
42.18 Joseph said to them on the third day: “Do this and live, for I fear God.
42.19 If you are upright, let one of your brothers remain in bondage in your house of custody, but the rest of you may go and take grain to alleviate the famine in your households.
42.20 Then bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words will be found trustworthy and you will not die.” And they did so.
42.21 And they said to one another: “We are surely being punished on account of our brother, because we saw his distress when he begged us to show compassion, but we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.”
42.22 Then Reuben answered them: “Did I not say to you, ‘Do not sin against the child,’ but you would not listen? Now his blood is certainly being asked back.”
42.23 But they did not know that Joseph understood, for there was an interpreter between them.
42.24 So he turned away from them and began to weep. When he returned and spoke to them again, he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.
42.25 Joseph then gave the command to fill up their bags with grain and to return each man’s money to his own sack and to give them provisions for the journey. This was done for them.
42.26 So they loaded their grain on their donkeys and left from there.
42.27 When one of them opened his sack to give fodder to his donkey at the lodging place, he saw his money there in the mouth of his bag.
42.28 At that he said to his brothers: “My money has been returned, and now here it is in my bag!” Then their hearts sank, and trembling, they turned to one another and said: “What is this that God has done to us?”
42.29 When they came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan, they told him all the things that had befallen them, saying:
42.30 “The man who is the lord of the country spoke harshly with us and accused us of spying on the country.
42.31 But we said to him, ‘We are upright men. We are not spies.
42.32 We are 12 brothers, the sons of our father. One is no more, and the youngest is now with our father in the land of Canaan.’
42.33 But the man who is the lord of the country said to us, ‘By this I will know that you are upright: Leave one of your brothers with me. Then take something to alleviate the famine in your households and go.
42.34 And bring your youngest brother to me, so that I may know that you are not spies but upright men. I will then give your brother back to you, and you may carry on trade in the land.’”
42.35 As they were emptying their sacks, here was each one’s bag of money in his sack. When they and their father saw their bags of money, they became afraid.
42.36 Jacob their father exclaimed to them: “It is I you have bereaved! Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and you are going to take Benjamin! It is upon me that all these things have come!”
42.37 But Reuben said to his father: “You may put to death my own two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Give him over to my care, and I will return him to you.”
42.38 However, he said: “My son will not go down with you, because his brother is dead and he alone is left. If a fatal accident should befall him on the journey you would make, then you would certainly bring down my gray hairs to the Grave in grief.”