Joseph (Biblical patriarch)

Joseph (Hebrew: יוֹסֵף; Arabic: يوسف‎; Ancient Greek: Ἰωσήφ) is an important figure in the Bible's Book of Genesis, chapters 37-50.

In the biblical narrative, Joseph was an Israelite shepherd, sold into slavery in Egypt by his jealous brothers. Due to his cleverness and gifts from God, Joseph rose from slavery to become vizier, the second most powerful man in Egypt next to Pharaoh, where his presence and office caused the Israelites to leave Canaan and settle in Egypt. Pharaoh gave him the name "Zaphnath-Paaneah" (Hebrew צָפְנַת פַּעְנֵחַ, Greek Ψονθομφανήχ, Genesis 41:45). Although the story is set at an unspecified date between 2000 and 1600 BC, its composition has not been proven to predate 700 BC. There is no extra-biblical attestation for the existence of Joseph and other characters in the narrative.

Joseph is the central character of the musical play Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1970) by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.

Joseph in "The Great White Way"
Joseph was one of the more prominent Andrew Lloyd Webber characters given virtual reality life by Brent Birley for the cyber battle against Trina Hutchinson's army of Stephen Sondheim characters.