A/N: I would like to apologize to all my readers who been waiting for an update on a new chapter, but I don't spend all my time writing, in fact it is harder than many may think may believe, especially since this is my first fanfic and have to worry about high school still. I thank all my viewers though for so far reading and don't worry I'm not finishing this story until it's done. I also like to thank all of you who have been reading and following this story, as well as Catori Simone Winston, autumnrose2010, PurpleDucks5 and Jyoti who been reviewing and telling their thoughts of how they think the story is coming along now. Alright, no more further delays here's a brand new chapter...

Disclaimer: I don't own "The Jesus Storybook Bible" or anything, all the credit goes to Sally Lloyd-Jones. This is to help others understand the Bible easily for free.

Chapter 9

The Forgiving Prince

Joseph and his brothers, from Genesis 37 - 46

JACOB HAD TWELVE SONS but of all his sons, Joseph was his favorite.

One day, Jacob gave Joseph a splendid new robe. It was beautiful and rich with all the colors of the rainbow, but it made Joseph's brothers jealous - they wanted rich rainbow robes, too.

God himself also loved Joseph, he even gave special dreams to him that actually became real. This news just only made Joseph's brothers even more jealous and made them even hate him a bit.

Then to make matters worse, Joseph kept on having these special dreams: "I dreamed I was the greatest! I was King!" Joseph told his brothers. "And you all bowed down to me!"

Now I'm sure you know, even if Joseph didn't, that telling your brothers things like that isn't a very good idea. Joseph's brothers hated him even more. They wanted to kill Joseph and his dreams

And one day that'd exactly what they tried to do.

"Joseph, go check on your brothers and my sheep" said Jacob.

So Joseph took a long journey.

They tore Joseph's rainbow robe off him and sold him to slave traders - for 20 pieces of silver.

The traders took Joseph to Egypt and made him into a slave. The brothers went home and lied to their father, telling him that Joseph was dead.

'That's the end of that dreamer!' they thought. But they were wrong. God had a magnificent dream for Joseph's life and even when it looked like everything had gone wrong, God would use it all to help make the dream come true. God would use everything that was happening to Joseph to do something good.

Meanwhile though, things were not looking good for Joseph in Egypt. He was far from home and from his dad. Then he got blamed for something he didn't do, and, even though he had done nothing wrong, he was punished and thrown in jail. But God was with Joseph.

One night, Pharaoh (king of Egypt) had a scary dream about seven thin cows gobbling up seven fat cows but the cows still remained thin. And afterwards he dreamed of seven fresh crops of grain and then 7 destroyed crops of grain. What on earth did it mean? He didn't know and no one could interpret his dream. But Joseph was a dream expert whom the forgetful baker finally remembered how Joseph interpreted his own dream which became true and told Pharaoh who immediately afterwards sent for him.

"They say you are able of interpreting others dreams"

"Apologies Pharaoh but the interpretation comes from God" Joseph stated.

"God? My wise men and great wizards could not interpret my dream, what makes your God any different?" said Pharaoh.

"Tell me about this dream"

After hearing what Pharaoh dreamed of, Joseph responded to everyone "Pharaoh's dreams are one and the same, they are a warning to Pharaoh from God, it means a famine is coming," Joseph explained. "There won't be enough food, Egypt might not survive"

"Can this be stopped, what can be done?" said Pharaoh

"You must find someone you can trust, during the years of plenty, have him collect one-fifth of the plain from every field and store it under guard, than during the years of famine give it back to the people"

Pharaoh was so pleased by Joseph's skill that he immediately took Joseph out of jail and made him prince.
Now back home, Joseph's brothers had run out of food and everyone was hungry. God's special family was in danger - if they didn't get food soon they would starve to death. So Joseph's brothers traveled to Egypt to buy food.

The only food in the land was in Egypt, and Joseph was in charge!

They came and knelt before the prince. His brothers didn't know that the prince was Joseph. But Joseph knew who they were. Joseph's dream, the one that his brothers did not like to hear from him, where they would bow down to him, was coming true!

"It's me!" Joseph cried.

When they saw it was Joseph, his brothers were afraid. They had broken their father's heart. They had wronged Joseph. They had sinned and they knew it. Now Joseph would certainly punish them.
But Joseph looked at his brothers and his eyes filled with tears. Even though his brothers had hurt him and hated him and wanted him dead - in spite of everything - he couldn't stop loving them.

His heart, which they had broken, filled up with love, and Joseph three his arms around them. "Don't be afraid," he said. "Behind what you were doing, underneath everything that was happening, God was doing something good. God was making everything right again."
Joseph didn't punish them, he rescued them - he brought God's special family to live safely with him in Egypt.
One day, God would send another Prince, a young Prince whose heart would break. Like Joseph, he would leave his home and his Father. His brothers would hate him and want him dead. He would be sold for pieces of silver. He would be punished even though he had done nothing wrong.
But God would use everything that happened to this young Prince - even the bad things - to do something good:
To forgive the sins of the whole world.

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Next chapter:

God to the rescue!

(Moses and the Great Escape from Egypt, from Exodus 3-13)