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Joseph

The favoured son of Jacob and Rachel, given a coat that marked him out and dreams that set his brothers against him. Sold into Egypt and bought by Potiphar, he was imprisoned on a false accusation, interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh's servants, and finally read Pharaoh's own dreams of famine — and was raised to govern all Egypt. When his brothers came begging for grain he tested them, then revealed himself weeping and brought the whole family down to Goshen. His verdict on the whole affair is one of the great lines of scripture: 'You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.'

Lived: c. 1745 BC – ?

Belonged to: Israelites (Hebrews), Tribe of Joseph

Tribe/lineage: Joseph

What we know — and how we know it

Bible — stated in scripture (with verse) · 1 Scholarly — supported scholarly belief · 1

Life, role & deeds

BibleSold into Egypt by his brothers, he rose to govern the land and saved his family from famine.

Genesis 41:41; 45:7

↳ Egypt

Death & legacy

ScholarlyNo direct trace of Joseph survives, but Semitic officials did rise to power in Egypt (notably in the Hyksos period), and the story's Egyptian court details are strikingly authentic.

Egyptological scholarship

↳ Egypt

Where in scripture

Genesis

The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.
Genesis 35:23 — Among the sons of Jacob

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, a public-domain translation.

Genesis 35:23

Family

In their own words — 36 recorded sayings

“And he said to them, Let me give you the story of my dream. We were in the field, getting the grain stems together, and my grain kept upright, and yours came round and went down on the earth before mine.” — Genesis 37:6-7

“Then he had another dream, and gave his brothers an account of it, saying, I have had another dream: the sun and the moon and eleven stars gave honour to me.” — Genesis 37:9

“And Israel said to Joseph, Are not your brothers with the flock in Shechem? come, I will send you to them. And he said to him, Here am I.” — Genesis 37:13

“And he said, I am looking for my brothers; please give me word of where they are keeping their flock.” — Genesis 37:16

“But he would not, and said to her, You see that my master keeps no account of what I do in his house, and has put all his property in my control; So that no one has more authority in this house than I have; he has kept nothing back from me but you, because you are his wife; how then may I do this great wrong, sinning against God?” — Genesis 39:8-9

“And he said to the servants of Pharaoh who were in prison with him, Why are you looking so sad?” — Genesis 40:7

“Then they said to him, We have had a dream, and no one is able to give us the sense. And Joseph said, Does not the sense of dreams come from God? what was your dream?” — Genesis 40:8

“Then Joseph said, This is the sense of your dream: the three branches are three days; After three days Pharaoh will give you honour, and put you back into your place, and you will give him his cup as you did before, when you were his wine-servant. But keep me in mind when things go well for you, and be good to me and say a good word for me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison: For truly I was taken by force from the land of the Hebrews; and I have done nothing for which I might be put in prison.” — Genesis 40:12-15

…and 28 more recorded sayings.

Speaker attribution: Clear Bible MACULA (CC BY 4.0). Wording: Bible in Basic English (public domain).