Genesis 40
Two Prisoners, One Raised and One Hanged
← Genesis 39 · Genesis: all chapters · Genesis 41 →
Read this chapter with the Hebrew and Greek compared →
The Divine Appointment
40:1After these things, the king of Egypt’s chief cupbearer and chief baker offended their lord, the king of Egypt.
40:2And Pharaoh was angry with his two eunuchs—with the chief cupbearer and with the chief baker.
40:3He put them in custody under the jailer, in the prison, in the place where Joseph had been taken.
40:4The chief jailer entrusted them to Joseph, and he attended them. They remained in custody for some time.
40:5Both saw a dream that same night, each his own dream and its vision: the king of Egypt’s chief cupbearer and chief baker, who were in prison.
40:6Joseph came to them in the morning and saw that they were troubled.
40:7So he questioned Pharaoh’s eunuchs who were with him in custody in his master’s house, saying, “Why are your faces so gloomy today?”
40:8They said to him, “We have seen a dream, and there is no one to interpret it.” Joseph said to them, “Does not their explanation come through God? Tell me, then.”
The Interpretation of Dreams
40:9Then the chief cupbearer recounted his dream to Joseph, and said to him, “In my dream, behold, a vine was before me,”
40:10“and on the vine were three branches. It was blooming, and it shot forth shoots, and its clusters of grapes became ripe.”
40:11“And Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes, squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and placed the cup into Pharaoh’s hands.”
40:12And Joseph said to him, “This is its interpretation: The three branches are three days.”
40:13“Within three days Pharaoh will remember your office and restore you to your cupbearing. You will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand as in your former office, when you were his cupbearer.”
40:14“Remember me yourself when it goes well with you. Show me mercy, mention me to Pharaoh, and bring me out of this fortress.”
40:15“I was indeed stolen from the land of the Hebrews, and here I have done nothing, yet they put me in this pit.”
40:16The chief baker saw that he had interpreted correctly and said to Joseph, “I too saw a dream, and I seemed to be carrying three baskets of coarse bread on my head.”
40:17“In the top basket were all kinds of food that King Pharaoh eats, a baker’s work, and the birds of heaven were eating it from the basket on my head.”
40:18And Joseph answered and said, “This is its interpretation: The three baskets are three days.”
40:19“Within three days, Pharaoh shall take away your head from you and hang you upon a tree; and the birds of the heavens shall eat your flesh from off you.”
The Fulfilled and the Forgotten
40:20On the third day, Pharaoh’s birthday, he held a drinking feast for all his servants and remembered the offices of the chief cupbearer and chief baker among his servants.
40:21And he restored the chief cupbearer to his office, and he placed the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.
40:22But he hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had interpreted for them.
40:23Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.
← Genesis 39 · Genesis: all chapters · Genesis 41 →
Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.