Selected story
Joseph
Read the cited context and compare 19 documented textual points.
Comparison 1 of 34
Joseph
The two accounts at a glance
Bible
World English BibleJoseph is sold by brothers, resists Potiphar's wife, interprets dreams, rises in Egypt, and is reconciled with his family.
Qur'an
Sahih InternationalThe Qur'an's longest sustained narrative recounts Joseph's betrayal, testing, imprisonment, vindication, power, and reunion.
These are concise account summaries with exact references. Open the complete texts at these passages →
19 documented comparison points
The comparison covers Joseph's complete life narrative in Genesis and the complete sustained account in Surah 12, not only the well episode. Labels use one standard: agreement means both texts state the point; additional detail means one adds a non-conflicting detail; omission means one is silent; ambiguity means an identity or meaning is not explicit; contradiction means both texts state mutually exclusive claims. Stylistic wording alone is not counted.
Joseph's opening dreams
Joseph reports two dreams: sheaves bow to his sheaf, then the sun, moon, and eleven stars bow to him.
Joseph reports one dream of eleven stars, the sun, and the moon bowing to him; the sheaf dream is not included.
Joseph's special garment
Jacob gives Joseph a special long or multicolored robe, which intensifies his brothers' hatred and is later bloodied as evidence of death.
No gift of a special robe begins the conflict. A shirt becomes evidence in several later scenes, including the false blood and Jacob's restored sight.
Which brothers intervene
Reuben argues against killing Joseph and plans a rescue; Judah proposes selling him rather than killing him.
The brothers are not named. One speaker proposes putting Joseph into the well so a caravan may pick him up.
Who finds and sells Joseph
The brothers place Joseph in a pit and sell him to passing Ishmaelite or Midianite traders. The chapter's wording alternates between those group labels.
A caravan's water drawer discovers Joseph, and they conceal him as merchandise. The next verse says "they sold him" for a reduced price, but the pronoun does not name the sellers explicitly.
The sale price
The stated price is twenty pieces or shekels of silver.
The price is described as a few dirhams and of little value, without the number twenty.
Joseph's Egyptian master
Potiphar is named as an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.
The buyer is called the Egyptian or the Aziz in the narrative, but no personal name equivalent to Potiphar is supplied.
Evidence after the attempted seduction
The woman keeps Joseph's garment and uses it to accuse him before the household and her husband.
Joseph's shirt is torn from behind as both run to the door. A witness proposes that the direction of the tear will identify who is truthful.
The banquet of the Egyptian women
Genesis contains no banquet at which women see Joseph and cut their hands.
The official's wife invites women who had gossiped about her, gives them knives, and they cut their hands when Joseph appears.
Joseph's relationship to imprisonment
Potiphar becomes angry at the accusation and has Joseph placed in prison.
Joseph prays that prison would be preferable to yielding to the women's pressure; the authorities imprison him despite seeing the signs of his innocence.
The two prisoners
The prisoners are Pharaoh's chief cupbearer and chief baker. They had offended Pharaoh; one is restored and the other executed.
Two young men enter prison and describe dreams of wine and bread. Their court offices are not identified in the Qur'anic text.
The Egyptian ruler's title
The ruler is consistently called Pharaoh.
The ruler in Joseph's story is called the king, unlike the Qur'an's Moses narratives, which call Egypt's ruler Pharaoh.
How Joseph is cleared before release
Pharaoh summons Joseph after hearing of his ability to interpret dreams, and Joseph is quickly brought from prison and promoted.
Joseph refuses to leave until the king investigates the women. The official's wife then confesses that she attempted to seduce him.
Joseph's office in Egypt
Pharaoh places Joseph over his house and Egypt, gives him the signet ring, clothes, an Egyptian name, and a wife.
The king grants Joseph a trusted position, and Joseph asks to be placed over the storehouses because he can guard them with knowledge. No Egyptian name or marriage is narrated.
Who remains in Egypt after the first grain visit
Joseph binds Simeon before the brothers and keeps him as security until Benjamin is brought.
The narrative does not identify Simeon or describe one brother being bound; Joseph instead refuses a future measure unless the younger brother is brought.
The hidden cup and the law applied
Joseph orders his silver cup placed in Benjamin's sack, and Judah later offers himself as a slave in Benjamin's place.
The king's drinking cup is placed in the brother's bag. The brothers state the penalty under their own law, allowing Joseph to retain him; they offer another brother, but Joseph refuses.
Jacob's sight and Joseph's shirt
Jacob grieves deeply but is not said to become blind or to regain sight through Joseph's garment.
Jacob's eyes become white with grief. Joseph sends his shirt, which is placed over Jacob's face and restores his sight.
Where the family settles
Joseph's family settles in Goshen, and the narrative details their audience with Pharaoh and their survival through the famine.
Joseph welcomes his parents and family into Egypt and seats his parents on the throne; Goshen and the audience with Pharaoh are not narrated.
How Joseph's story ends
Genesis continues through Jacob's blessings and burial, Joseph's reassurance of his brothers, and Joseph's death and embalming at age 110.
The sustained account ends with the dream fulfilled, Joseph's prayer, and a lesson about revelation; Jacob's blessings, both burials, Joseph's age, and embalming are not included.
Joseph's parents at the reunion
Genesis says Joseph's mother Rachel died before his sale, and Jacob later travels to Egypt; it does not say both of Joseph's parents greet him there.
Joseph welcomes his parents and later seats both parents on the throne.
What do both texts share?
- Joseph is betrayed by his brothers and taken to Egypt.
- Joseph resists sexual pressure, is imprisoned, and interprets dreams.
- Joseph rises to authority and is reconciled with his family.