Sold to Egypt

So Joseph became a slave in Egypt, in the house of Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh’s guard. But the Lord was with Joseph, and everything he did went well. Potiphar saw that the Lord was with him, and made him master over his whole house — and the Lord blessed the whole house because of Joseph. But then trouble came. Potiphar’s wife wanted Joseph to do something wrong. Day after day Joseph said no — he would not sin against his master, or against God. So she grew angry, and told a lie about Joseph, saying he had done the very wrong he refused to do. Potiphar believed the lie, and he threw Joseph into the king’s prison. Sold by his brothers, and now locked up for something he did not do! But even in prison, the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy. The keeper of the prison came to trust Joseph so much that he put all the prisoners in Joseph’s care.

Some time later, two of Pharaoh’s own servants were thrown into that prison: his chief cupbearer, who used to hand the king his cup, and his chief baker, who baked the king’s bread. One night they each had a dream, and in the morning their faces were sad and troubled. Joseph asked them why, and they said, “We each dreamed a dream, and there is no one to tell us what it means.” And Joseph said, “Doesn’t the meaning of dreams belong to God? Tell them to me.” The cupbearer told his dream: a vine with three branches, full of ripe grapes, which he pressed into Pharaoh’s cup. Joseph said, “The three branches are three days. In three days Pharaoh will remember you and give you back your place, and you will hand him his cup again. But when it goes well with you — remember me. Tell Pharaoh about me, and bring me out of this prison. For I was stolen away from the land of the Hebrews, and here too I have done nothing to deserve this pit.” Then the baker told his dream — but its meaning was bad news: in three days, Pharaoh would take his life. And it all happened just as Joseph had said. On the third day, Pharaoh gave a feast: the cupbearer got his place back and set the cup in Pharaoh’s hand — and for the baker, the king’s judgment came, just as Joseph had said. But the cupbearer forgot all about Joseph. And Joseph stayed in the prison — waiting, and waiting, for two more long years.