Though Judah was the strongest among his brothers and a leader descended from him, ¹  the right of the firstborn belonged to Joseph.)

From the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asarelah. The sons of Asaph were supervised by Asaph, who prophesied under the king’s supervision. ¹ 

He decreed it as a regulation in Joseph, when he attacked the land of Egypt. ¹  I heard a voice I did not recognize. ² 

They drink wine from sacrificial bowls, ¹  and pour the very best oils on themselves. ²  Yet they are not concerned over ³  the ruin ⁴  of Joseph.

This is the account of Jacob. Joseph, his seventeen-year-old son, ¹  was taking care of ²  the flocks with his brothers. Now he was a youngster ³  working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. ⁴  Joseph brought back a bad report about them ⁵  to their father.

So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for their horses, the livestock of their flocks and herds, and their donkeys. ¹  He got them through that year by giving them food in exchange for livestock.

‘Tell Joseph this: Please forgive the sin of your brothers and the wrong they did when they treated you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sin of the servants of the God of your father.” When this message was reported to him, Joseph wept. ¹ 

The bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the part of the field that Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for one hundred pieces of money. ¹  So it became the inheritance of the tribe of Joseph. ² 

The man said, “They left this area, ¹  for I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

All his sons and daughters stood by ¹  him to console him, but he refused to be consoled. “No,” he said, “I will go to the grave mourning my son.” ²  So Joseph’s ³  father wept for him.

Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt. ¹  An Egyptian named Potiphar, an official of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard, ²  purchased him from ³  the Ishmaelites who had brought him there.

Joseph’s master took him and threw him into the prison, ¹  the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. So he was there in the prison. ² 

The warden did not concern himself ¹  with anything that was in Joseph’s ²  care because the Lord was with him and whatever he was doing the Lord was making successful.

When the chief baker saw that the interpretation of the first dream was favorable, ¹  he said to Joseph, “I also appeared in my dream and there were three baskets of white bread ²  on my head.

Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his own hand and put it on Joseph’s. He clothed him with fine linen ¹  clothes and put a gold chain around his neck.

Joseph ¹  collected all the excess food ²  in the land of Egypt during the seven years and stored it in the cities. ³  In every city he put the food gathered from the fields around it.

Then the seven years of famine began, ¹  just as Joseph had predicted. There was famine in all the other lands, but throughout the land of Egypt there was food.

When all the land of Egypt experienced the famine, the people cried out to Pharaoh for food. Pharaoh said to all the people of Egypt, ¹  “Go to Joseph and do whatever he tells you.”

Then Joseph gave orders to fill ¹  their bags with grain, to return each man’s money to his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. His orders were carried out. ² 

When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the servant who was over his household, “Bring the men to the house. Slaughter an animal and prepare it, for the men will eat with me at noon.”