When Judah saw the Ishmaelites, he called to his brothers, "How can it profit us if we slay our brother and shed his blood? It is better for us to sell him to these Ishmaelites. He is our own brother, and of our own flesh. Let us not slay him."

The brothers agreed to this, and drawing Joseph out of the well, they sold him to the merchants for thirty pieces of silver, and Joseph was led away into Egypt.

At the time Joseph was sold, Reuben was not with the other brothers, but was tending his flock in another place. When he returned, he went to the well, and finding that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes in sorrow and cried out to his brethren, "The child, my brother, is not yonder. Where shall I go to find him?"

Then the brethren told Reuben that they had not slain Joseph, but they had sold him into Egypt, and all agreed not to tell their father what had happened. Instead, they slew a kid and dipped Joseph's coat in the blood and sent the coat to their father, saying, "Is not this coat, which we have found thus sprinkled with blood, the coat of your son Joseph, our brother?"

When Jacob saw the coat, he wept and said, "This is indeed my son's coat. Some evil beast must have devoured him." So Jacob, believing his boy to be dead, rent his clothes, donned sackcloth and threw ashes upon his head, while he wailed in sorrow for his son.

All the brethren gathered together to comfort their father and ease his sorrow, but Jacob would take no comfort, saying, “I shall die and go to my son and sorrow with him where he is."

The merchants carried Joseph with them away into Egypt, and sold him to Potiphar, master of Pharaoh's knights. Here God was always with Joseph and made him wise, ready, and prosperous in everything he undertook. He dwelt in Potiphar's house, and so well pleased his lord that he was given charge of the whole household, and ruled it wisely and well. Moreover, God blessed Egypt, and Pharaoh's flocks and herds increased, and wealth and plenty filled the land.

But after a time, the Egyptians grew jealous of Joseph, and Potiphar's wife, accusing him falsely, made her lord think that Joseph was a traitorous friend. So Potiphar threw Joseph into prison and kept him there for many days.

But still God was with Joseph and made him win favor in the eyes of the chief keeper of the prison to so great an extent that he was placed in charge of all the other prisoners, and here he acted wisely and ruled well.

After this, it happened that two of the king's officers, one a butler and the other a baker, fell into disgrace, and they were put into the prison where Joseph was.

One night, while they lay in prison, each officer had a dream which astonished him greatly, and which he could not in any way understand.

When Joseph came in the next morning to serve them, he noticed that they were troubled, and said, "Why are you more sad this morning than on other days?"

And they answered, "We have dreamed strange dreams, and there is no one who can interpret them to us."

Joseph replied, "Perhaps God will give me grace to interpret your dreams. Let me know what it was you saw in your sleep."

The butler told his dream first: "I thought I saw a vine that had three branches, and after they had flowered and the grapes were ripe, I took the cup of Pharaoh in my hand and wrung wine out of the grapes into the cup and gave it to Pharaoh.”

Joseph answered, "The three branches are three days, after which Pharaoh shall remember your service and restore you to your office, so that you may serve him as you were wont to do. Then, I pray you, remember me, and be so merciful as to beg Pharaoh to take me out of this prison, for I was stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and am innocent of the sin with which I am charged."

Then the baker told his dream, as follows: "I thought that I walked with three baskets upon my head, and in the one basket that was highest, I bore all the bread from the bakehouse, and the birds came and ate of it."

Joseph answered, "This is the interpretation of your dream: The three baskets are the three days that yet remain before Pharaoh shall come, take you from the prison and hang you on the cross. There shall the birds tear your flesh."

The third day after this, Pharaoh gave a great feast, and while he was eating he remembered the baker and the butler, whom he had cast into prison, and he summoned them to him. The butler he restored to office and permitted him again to serve the cup at the feast, but the baker he caused to be taken out and hanged, as Joseph had predicted. The butler, however, did not remember his promise to

Joseph, who still remained forgotten in prison for many long months.

Two years after Joseph was thrown into prison, Pharaoh himself had a dream. He thought he stood upon the river, from which he saw seven fair, fat oxen come up to the land and feed in a pasture. Then seven other poor and lean oxen came out of the river and were fed in the green pastures until they grew strong and devoured even the seven oxen that were so fat and fair at first.

At this he started cut of his sleep and wondered, but after a time slept again and saw another dream. This time there were seven ears of corn, each fair to see and full of kernels, all standing on one stalk; but there were also seven other ears, small and gnarly, smitten with drought, and these seven small ears destroyed the full ones and left them all barren and worthless.

In the morning, when Pharaoh arose, he was greatly troubled by his dreams, and sent for all the wise men and diviners of Egypt. When they were gathered together, he told them his dreams and asked them to interpret them for him, but there was no one of all the wise men who could tell what the strange dreams might mean.

At last the butler who had been in prison remembered Joseph, and said to the king, "Once, you remember, O king, you became angered at your serv ants and sent the master of the bakers and me into prison. There, one night, we dreamed strange dreams that foretold things coming. There was then in the prison a servant of the jailer, a child of the Hebrews, and when we told him our dreams he explained them to us and foretold what should happen. As he pre

dicted, I have been restored to my office, and the baker has been hanged upon the cross."

The king then sent straightway for Joseph, who, after being shaved, bathed, and clothed in fine raiment, was brought before Pharaoh.

To him Pharaoh said, "I saw a dream which I have told unto all the wise men of Egypt, and there is no one of them who can interpret it."

Joseph replied, "God shall tell to Pharaoh, through me, things that shall be greatly to his advantage."

Then Pharaoh told Joseph his dreams of the seven fat oxen and the seven lean ones, and how the lean devoured the fat, and also of the seven full ears and the seven poor ears, and how the latter destroyed the former.

Without any hesitation, Joseph then said, "Through these dreams God speaks to Pharaoh. The seven fat oxen and the seven full ears betoken that there will come seven years of great plenty in the land of Egypt. The seven poor oxen and the seven small ears mean that after the seven plentiful years shall come seven years of barrenness and famine, so severe that all the plentifulness of the seven fruitful years shall be forgotten, and Egypt shall be smitten with hunger and suffering.

"Now, therefore, let the king choose some wise and honest ruler who may appoint officers in all the towns of the kingdom. Let these officers gather into great barns and granaries the fifth part of all the corn and the fruits that shall grow during these first plenteous years that be to come, and store it there to be ready against the coming of the seven years of famine, so that Egypt may not perish from hunger."