Genesis - Chapter 40

¹ It happened some time later that the king of Egypt's cup-bearer and his baker offended their master the king of Egypt.

² Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cup-bearer and the chief baker,

³ and put them in custody in the house of the commander of the guard, in the gaol where Joseph was a prisoner.

⁴ The commander of the guard assigned Joseph to them to attend to their wants, and they remained in custody for some time.

⁵ Now both of them had dreams on the same night, each with its own meaning for the cup-bearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were prisoners in the gaol.

⁶ When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they looked gloomy,

⁷ and he asked the two officials who were in custody with him in his master's house, 'Why these sad looks today?'

⁸ They replied, 'We have each had a dream, but there is no one to interpret it.' 'Are not interpretations God's business?' Joseph asked them. 'Tell me about them.'

⁹ So the chief cup-bearer described his dream to Joseph, telling him, 'In my dream there was a vine in front of me.

¹⁰ On the vine were three branches; no sooner had it budded than it blossomed, and its clusters became ripe grapes.

¹¹ I had Pharaoh's cup in my hand; I picked the grapes and squeezed them into Pharaoh's cup, and put the cup into Pharaoh's hand.'

¹² 'This is what it means,' Joseph told him. 'The three branches are three days.

¹³ In another three days Pharaoh will lift up your head by restoring you to your position. Then you will hand Pharaoh his cup, as you did before, when you were his cup-bearer.

¹⁴ But be sure to remember me when things go well with you, and keep faith with me by kindly reminding Pharaoh about me, to get me out of this house.

¹⁵ I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews in the first place, and even here I have done nothing to warrant being put in the dungeon.'

¹⁶ The chief baker, seeing that the interpretation had been favourable, said to Joseph, 'I too had a dream; there were three wicker trays on my head.

¹⁷ In the top tray there were all kinds of pastries for Pharaoh, such as a baker might make, and the birds were eating them off the tray on my head.'

¹⁸ Joseph replied as follows, 'This is what it means: the three trays are three days.

¹⁹ In another three days Pharaoh will lift up your head by hanging you on a gallows, and the birds will eat the flesh off your bones.'

²⁰ And so it happened; the third day was Pharaoh's birthday and he gave a banquet for all his officials. Of his officials he lifted up the head of the chief cup-bearer and the chief baker,

²¹ the chief cup-bearer by restoring him to his cup-bearing, so that he again handed Pharaoh his cup;

²² and by hanging the chief baker, as Joseph had explained to them.

²³ But the chief cup-bearer did not remember Joseph; he had forgotten him.

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