Joseph was one of Jacob’s younger sons. His older brothers saw that Joseph was their father’s favorite son. How do you think they felt about that? They were jealous of Joseph and hated him. When Joseph had some unusual dreams, he told his brothers about them. They thought the dreams meant that they would one day bow down to him. Now they hated him even more!

One day Joseph’s brothers were looking after sheep near the city of Shechem. Jacob sent Joseph to see how they were doing. From far away they saw Joseph coming and said to one another: ‘Here comes that dreamer. Let’s kill him!’ They grabbed him and threw him into a deep pit. But Judah, one of his brothers, said: ‘Don’t kill him! Let’s sell him as a slave instead.’ So they sold Joseph for 20 pieces of silver to Midianite merchants who were going to Egypt.

Then Joseph’s brothers dipped his coat in the blood of a goat, sent the coat to their father, and said: ‘Isn’t this your son’s coat?’ So Jacob thought that a wild animal had killed Joseph. He was heartbroken. No one could comfort him.

In Egypt, Joseph was sold as a slave to an important official named Potiphar. But Jehovah was with Joseph. Potiphar saw that Joseph was good at his work and that he could be trusted. Soon Joseph was put in charge of everything Potiphar owned.

Potiphar’s wife noticed that Joseph was handsome and strong. Day after day she asked Joseph to lie down with her. What would Joseph do? He refused and said: ‘No! This is wrong. My master trusts me, and you are his wife. If I lie down with you, I will sin against God!’

One day Potiphar’s wife tried to force Joseph to lie down with her. She grabbed him by his clothes, but he ran away. When Potiphar came home, she said that Joseph had attacked her. She was not telling the truth. Potiphar was very angry, and he threw Joseph into prison. But Jehovah did not forget about Joseph.

While Joseph was in prison, Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had dreams that no one could explain. One of his servants told Pharaoh that Joseph could tell him what his dreams meant. Pharaoh immediately sent for Joseph.

Pharaoh asked him: ‘Can you explain my dreams?’ Joseph told Pharaoh: ‘Egypt will have plenty of food for seven years, followed by seven years of famine. Choose someone wise to store up food so that your people will not starve.’ Pharaoh replied: ‘I choose you! You will be the second most powerful man in Egypt!’ How did Joseph know what Pharaoh’s dreams meant? Jehovah had helped Joseph.

Over the next seven years, Joseph stored up food. Then there was famine over all the earth, just as Joseph had said. People came from everywhere to buy food from Joseph. His father, Jacob, heard that there was food in Egypt, so he sent ten of his sons there to buy some.

Jacob’s sons went to Joseph, who immediately recognized them. But his brothers did not know that it was Joseph. They bowed down to him, just as he had dreamed when he was young. Joseph wanted to know if his brothers were still hateful. So he said to them: ‘You are spies. You want to find out where our country is weak.’ They said: ‘No! We are 12 brothers from Canaan. One of our brothers is dead, and the youngest is with our father.’ Joseph then said: ‘Bring your youngest brother to me, and I will believe you.’ So they went home to their father.

When the family ran out of food again, Jacob sent his sons back to Egypt. This time they took Benjamin, their youngest brother, with them. To test his brothers, Joseph hid his silver cup in Benjamin’s bag of grain and then accused his brothers of stealing it. When Joseph’s servants found the cup in Benjamin’s bag, his brothers were shocked. They begged Joseph to punish them instead of Benjamin.

Now Joseph knew that his brothers had changed. Joseph could not hold back his feelings any longer. He burst into tears and said: ‘I am your brother Joseph. Is my father still alive?’ His brothers were very surprised. He told them: ‘Don’t feel bad because of what you did to me. God sent me here to save your lives. Now hurry and bring my father here.’

They went home to tell their father the good news and to bring him to Egypt. After so many years, Joseph and his father were finally together again.