Moreover, he changed his name with reference to his interpretation of dreams, giving him an appellation according to the language of the country, and he gave him for his wife the most beautiful and noble of all the women in Egypt, the daughter of the priest of the sun. These things happened when Joseph was about thirty years of age.

And such is the end of pious persons; for, even if they stumble they do not wholly fall, but rise again after an interval, and are re-established in a firm and solid manner, so as not to be completely prostrated.

For who would ever have expected that in one day the same man would become a master from having been a slave, and from having been a prisoner would rise up the most illustrious of men, and that the under turnkey of the keeper of the prison would become the king’s lieutenant, and that he would dwell in the king’s palace instead of in the gaol, having the highest honour in the whole land instead of being held in the greatest disrepute?

Nevertheless these things really did come to pass, and similar things often will come to pass when it seems good to God. Only let there be one single spark of excellence and virtue implanted in the soul, and that must some day or other be fanned into a flame and shine forth.