Genesis 40–41

Chapter 40

¹And it came to pass after these things, that the cup-bearer of the king of Egypt and the baker offended their lord the king of Egypt. ²And Pharaoh was wroth with his two chamberlains—with the chief of the cup-bearers and with the chief of the bakers; ³and he put them in custody into the house of the captain of the life-guard, into the tower-house, into the place where Joseph was imprisoned. ⁴And the captain of the life-guard appointed Joseph to them, that he should attend on them. And they were several days in custody.

⁵And they dreamed a dream, both of them in one night, each his dream, each according to the interpretation of his dream, the cup-bearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were imprisoned in the tower-house. ⁶And Joseph came in to them in the morning, and looked on them, and behold, they were sad. ⁷And he asked Pharaoh’s chamberlains that were with him in custody in his lord’s house, saying, Why are your faces so sad to-day? ⁸And they said to him, We have dreamt a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said to them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me your dreams, I pray you. ⁹Then the chief of the cup-bearers told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine was before me; ¹⁰and in the vine were three branches; and it was as though it budded: its blossoms shot forth, its clusters ripened into grapes. ¹¹And Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand. ¹²And Joseph said to him, This is the interpretation of it: the three branches are three days. ¹³In yet three days will Pharaoh lift up thy head and restore thee to thy place, and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh’s cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his cup-bearer. ¹⁴Only bear a remembrance with thee of me when it goes well with thee, and deal kindly, I pray thee, with me, and make mention of me to Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house; ¹⁵for indeed I was stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon. ¹⁶And when the chief of the bakers saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, I also was in my dream, and behold, three baskets of white bread were on my head. ¹⁷And in the uppermost basket there were all manner of victuals for Pharaoh that the baker makes, and the birds ate them out of the basket upon my head. ¹⁸And Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation of it: the three baskets are three days. ¹⁹In yet three days will Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and hang thee on a tree; and the birds will eat thy flesh from off thee.

²⁰And it came to pass the third day—Pharaoh’s birthday—that he made a feast to all his bondmen. And he lifted up the head of the chief of the cup-bearers, and the head of the chief of the bakers among his bondmen. ²¹And he restored the chief of the cup-bearers to his office of cup-bearer again; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand. ²²And he hanged the chief of the bakers, as Joseph had interpreted to them. ²³But the chief of the cup-bearers did not remember Joseph, and forgot him.

Chapter 41

¹And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed, and behold, he stood by the river. ²And behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fine-looking and fat-fleshed, and they fed in the reed-grass. ³And behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, bad-looking and lean-fleshed, and stood by the kine on the bank of the river. ⁴And the kine that were bad-looking and lean-fleshed ate up the seven kine that were fine-looking and fat. And Pharaoh awoke. ⁵And he slept and dreamed the second time; and behold, seven ears of corn grew up on one stalk, fat and good. ⁶And behold, seven ears, thin and parched with the east wind, sprung up after them. ⁷And the thin ears devoured the seven fat and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke; and behold, it was a dream. ⁸And it came to pass in the morning, that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the scribes of Egypt, and all the sages who were therein, and Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none to interpret them to Pharaoh.

⁹Then spoke the chief of the cup-bearers to Pharaoh, saying, I remember mine offences this day. ¹⁰Pharaoh was wroth with his bondmen, and put me in custody into the captain of the life-guard’s house, me and the chief of the bakers. ¹¹And we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he; we dreamed each according to the interpretation of his dream. ¹²And there was there with us a Hebrew youth, a bondman of the captain of the life-guard, to whom we told them, and he interpreted to us our dreams; to each he interpreted according to his dream. ¹³And it came to pass, just as he interpreted to us, so it came about: me has he restored to my office, and him he hanged. ¹⁴Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph; and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon. And he shaved himself, and changed his clothes, and came in to Pharaoh. ¹⁵And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have dreamt a dream, and there is none to interpret it. And I have heard say of thee, thou understandest a dream to interpret it. ¹⁶And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.

¹⁷And Pharaoh said to Joseph, In my dream, behold, I stood on the bank of the river. ¹⁸And behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fat-fleshed and of fine form, and they fed in the reed-grass. ¹⁹And behold, seven other kine came up after them, poor, and very ill-formed, and lean-fleshed—such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for badness. ²⁰And the lean and bad kine ate up the seven first fat kine; ²¹and they came into their belly, and it could not be known that they had come into their belly; and their look was bad, as at the beginning. And I awoke. ²²And I saw in my dream, and behold, seven ears came up on one stalk, full and good. ²³And behold, seven ears, withered, thin, parched with the east wind, sprung up after them; ²⁴and the thin ears devoured the seven good ears. And I told it to the scribes; but there was none to make it known to me. ²⁵And Joseph said to Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one. What God will do he has made known to Pharaoh. ²⁶The seven fine kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one. ²⁷And the seven lean and bad kine that came up after them are seven years; and the seven empty ears, parched with the east wind, will be seven years of famine. ²⁸This is the word which I have spoken to Pharaoh: what God is about to do he has let Pharaoh see. ²⁹Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout the land of Egypt. ³⁰And there will arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine will waste away the land. ³¹And the plenty will not be known afterwards in the land by reason of that famine; for it will be very grievous. ³²And as regards the double repetition of the dream to Pharaoh, it is that the thing is established by God, and God will hasten to do it.

³³And now let Pharaoh look himself out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt. ³⁴Let Pharaoh do this: let him appoint overseers over the land, and take the fifth part of the land of Egypt during the seven years of plenty, ³⁵and let them gather all the food of these coming good years, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, for food in the cities, and keep it. ³⁶And let the food be as store for the land for the seven years of famine, which will be in the land of Egypt, that the land perish not through the famine. ³⁷And the word was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his bondmen. ³⁸And Pharaoh said to his bondmen, Shall we find one as this, a man in whom the Spirit of God is? ³⁹And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Since God has made all this known to thee, there is none so discreet and wise as thou. ⁴⁰Thou shalt be over my house, and according to thy commandment shall all my people regulate themselves; only concerning the throne will I be greater than thou. ⁴¹And Pharaoh said to Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. ⁴²And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it on Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in clothes of byssus, and put a gold chain on his neck. ⁴³And he caused him to ride in the second chariot that he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee! and he set him over all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁴And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh; and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁵And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnath-paaneah, and gave him as wife Asnath the daughter of Potipherah the priest in On. And Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

⁴⁶And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from Pharaoh, and passed through the whole land of Egypt. ⁴⁷And in the seven years of plenty the land brought forth by handfuls. ⁴⁸And he gathered up all the food of the seven years that was in the land of Egypt, and put the food in the cities; the food of the fields of the city, which were round about it, he laid up in it. ⁴⁹And Joseph laid up corn as sand of the sea exceeding much, until they left off numbering; for it was without number. ⁵⁰And to Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, whom Asnath the daughter of Potipherah the priest in On bore to him. ⁵¹And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh—For God has made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house. ⁵²And the name of the second he called Ephraim—For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction. ⁵³And the seven years of plenty that were in the land of Egypt were ended; ⁵⁴and the seven years of the dearth began to come, according as Joseph had said. And there was dearth in all lands; but in all…