Vocabulary-in-context practice
Read the story of Joseph and choose the word or phrase that best completes each sentence.
Not many people have had as many ups and downs in their lifetime as did Joseph of the Old Testament. Joseph had eleven brothers, but he was his father's favorite son. The father, very , treated Joseph special in front of the others. He once bought Joseph an expensive colorful coat, something he had never done for the other brothers. Because Joseph was his father's favorite, Joseph's life was good.
But also because of Joseph's special , the brothers became . They decided to kill Joseph when he was about seventeen years old. They were all out in the fields working when they a deep . They threw Joseph down into the pit.
Fortunately for Joseph, a group of traveling was passing nearby. So the brothers decided to sell Joseph to the traders instead, for twenty pieces of silver. Joseph was now a slave and was taken abroad to Egypt. The brothers put animal blood on Joseph's coat and took it to his father and told him that a wolf had killed him.
But Joseph was always in his work, and soon the rich man he worked for, Potiphar, put Joseph in charge of his whole house and all his . Life was good again.
But one day, Potiphar's wife wanted to have an with Joseph. Joseph . The wife became angry and began screaming that Joseph was trying to rape her. Of course, everyone believed Potiphar's wife, and Joseph was thrown into .
In prison, Joseph with the , and the warden put Joseph the prison. Life was fairly good again, considering the situation. While Joseph was in charge of the prison, the warden discovered that Joseph was good at dreams.
One day the warden heard the pharaoh (king of Egypt) complaining about a bad dream. The warden told the king that he knew a man who could interpret dreams, so he Joseph to the pharaoh's house. Joseph told the king that his dream meant that there would be seven years of good for Egypt, but then, there would be seven years of (no rain).
The king trusted Joseph and put him in charge of storing food in order to prepare the country for the coming . Because Joseph was wise and responsible, the king later put him in charge of the entire kingdom. He made him over all the country. Only the pharaoh himself had more power than Joseph. So life was good again.
Even with his new position and riches, Joseph missed his family, and that is part two of this story.