Two years passed after the cupbearer was released from prison. Joseph remained in the dungeon, forgotten. But God's time was coming.

One night, Pharaoh had two dreams. He saw himself standing by the banks of the river Nile. Seven fat, beautiful cows came up out of the river and began to graze in the meadow. After them came up seven thin, ugly cows, which devoured the seven fat ones. Pharaoh woke with a start.

He fell asleep again and had a second dream. He saw seven full, good ears of grain growing on a single stalk. Then seven thin ears sprouted, scorched by the east wind, and the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ones.

In the morning, Pharaoh was troubled. He summoned all the magicians and wise men of Egypt and told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them.

It was then that the chief cupbearer remembered Joseph, and he said to Pharaoh:

"Today I remember my faults. When Pharaoh was angry with his servants and had me and the chief baker imprisoned, we each had a dream on the same night. There was a young Hebrew with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams, and he gave each of us his own interpretation. And everything happened exactly as he had said."

Pharaoh sent for Joseph at once. They brought him quickly out of the dungeon; he shaved, changed his clothes, and was presented to Pharaoh.

Pharaoh said to Joseph:

"I have had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard it said that you know how to interpret dreams."

Joseph answered Pharaoh:

Joseph made it clear that the power was not his, but God's. Even after so much suffering, he was neither bitter nor proud. He still gave the glory to God.

Pharaoh told him his two dreams. After listening, Joseph explained:

"Pharaoh's dream is one and the same. God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do. The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years: it is one dream. The seven thin, ugly cows that came up afterward are seven years, and so are the seven thin ears scorched by the wind: they will be seven years of famine."

Joseph went on:

"Seven years of great plenty are coming throughout the land of Egypt. After them will come seven years of famine, and all that plenty will be forgotten, for the famine will consume the land. It will be a very heavy famine."

Then Joseph gave Pharaoh wise counsel:

"Let Pharaoh look for an intelligent and wise man and set him over the land of Egypt. During the seven years of plenty, let a fifth of every harvest be collected and the grain stored in the cities. Then there will be food in reserve for the seven years of famine that will come upon Egypt, and the land will not perish."

The counsel pleased Pharaoh and all his servants. Pharaoh asked those around him:

"Can we find anyone like this man, in whom is the Spirit of God?"

Then he said to Joseph:

"Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as intelligent and wise as you. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall obey your orders. Only on the throne will I be greater than you."

Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and placed it on Joseph's hand. He had him dressed in robes of fine linen, put a gold chain around his neck, and had him ride in the second chariot of the kingdom. Before him, heralds cried out for all to kneel. Thus Pharaoh set him over all the land of Egypt.

From the prison to the palace, in a single day. Joseph, who had been sold as a slave for twenty pieces of silver, now governed all of Egypt. The dreams he had dreamed as a boy were beginning to come true.

Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh. During the seven years of plenty, he traveled throughout the land, organizing the storehouses of grain. Joseph stored up grain like the sand of the sea, in amounts beyond measuring.

The seven years of plenty came to an end. Then the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had foretold. There was famine in every country, but throughout the land of Egypt there was bread. When the Egyptians began to feel the hunger, the people cried out to Pharaoh, and Pharaoh told them all to go to Joseph and do whatever he said. Joseph opened the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians.

The famine lay heavy over every land, and from every country people came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph.

The famine also reached the land of Canaan, where Jacob and his sons lived — the same brothers who had sold Joseph so many years before.

Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt and said to his sons:

"Why do you stand there, looking at one another? I have heard there is grain in Egypt. Go down and buy grain for us, so that we may live."

Ten of Joseph's brothers went down to Egypt to buy grain. But Jacob did not let Benjamin go, Joseph's youngest brother, for fear that some harm might come to him.

When Joseph's brothers arrived, they bowed down before him with their faces to the ground. It was exactly like the dream Joseph had dreamed so many years before, when their sheaves bowed down before his.

Joseph recognized his brothers at once, but they did not recognize him. More than twenty years had passed. Joseph had been a boy when they sold him; now he was dressed like an Egyptian prince, spoke the language of Egypt, and governed the country. They would never have imagined that this powerful man was their brother.

Joseph decided to test them, to find out whether they had changed. He spoke to them harshly:

"Where do you come from?"

"From the land of Canaan, to buy food," they answered.

"You are spies. You have come to see the weak points of the land."

They protested:

"No, my lord. Your servants have come only to buy food. We are all sons of one man. We are honest men; your servants are not spies."

Joseph put them in prison for three days. He wanted to know whether they were still the same hard-hearted men who had sold him. On the third day, he said to them:

"Do this and you shall live, for I fear God: if you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here in prison, while the rest of you carry grain home to your hungry families. But bring me your youngest brother, so that your words may be proven true."

The brothers spoke among themselves in Hebrew, not knowing that Joseph understood them:

"Surely we are guilty for what we did to our brother. We saw his anguish when he pleaded with us, and we would not listen. That is why this anguish has come upon us."

Reuben answered:

"Didn't I tell you not to harm the boy? You would not listen to me. Now his blood is being required of us."

Joseph turned away from them and wept. Twenty years had passed, and his brothers were finally feeling the weight of what they had done. There was hope that they had changed.

Joseph chose Simeon to stay behind, and had him bound before their eyes. Then he ordered his men to fill his brothers' sacks with grain, and to secretly return each man's money inside his sack.

When they got back to Canaan and told everything, Jacob was distraught:

"You are robbing me of my children. Joseph is no more, Simeon is gone, and now you want to take Benjamin."

But the famine went on, and they needed to return to Egypt. At last, Jacob agreed to let Benjamin go with them.

When they returned to Egypt with Benjamin, Joseph received them and asked:

"How is your elderly father, of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?"

"Your servant, our father, is well. He is still alive," they answered, bowing before him.

Joseph looked up and saw Benjamin, his own brother, his mother's son. He was so deeply moved that he had to hurry from the room, to weep where no one could see him.

Joseph prepared one last test. He had his silver cup hidden in Benjamin's sack and, when the brothers set out, he sent his servant to chase after them and accuse them of theft.

When the cup was found in Benjamin's sack, the brothers were in despair. They returned to the city and threw themselves down before Joseph.

Then Judah stepped forward and spoke from his heart. He told how their father loved Benjamin, how he had already lost one son, and how he would not survive losing the youngest as well. And he offered:

"Let me, your servant, stay as my lord's slave in the boy's place, and let him go back with his brothers."

This was the same Judah who, long ago, had suggested selling Joseph as a slave. Now he was offering to become a slave in his brother's place. Joseph's brothers had truly changed.

Joseph could hold back no longer. He ordered all the Egyptians out of the room and stayed alone with his brothers. Then, weeping, he revealed who he was:

His brothers could not answer, so frightened were they in his presence. Joseph said:

"Come closer to me."

They came closer, and he went on:

"I am Joseph, the brother you sold into Egypt. But do not be distressed, and do not blame yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. God sent me before you to preserve the life of our family, by a great deliverance. It was not you who sent me here, but God."

Joseph held no grudge. He saw the hand of God in everything that had happened: what his brothers had done out of malice, God had turned into good, to save many lives. Joseph kissed all his brothers and wept as he embraced them. Then they talked together for a long time, reconciled at last.

Joseph sent for his father and the whole family to come and live in Egypt. When Jacob learned that Joseph was alive, his spirit revived. He went down to Egypt and embraced the son he thought he had lost forever.

Joseph's dreams had come true, down to the last detail. And through the path of forgiveness and reconciliation, God saved not only Joseph, but his whole family — the family through which God would bless all the nations of the earth.