Genesis 40–41

Joseph Interprets Two Prisoners’ Dreams

40Some time after this, the ^ecupbearer of the king of Egypt and his baker committed an offense against their lord the king of Egypt. ²And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, ^3fand he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison where Joseph was confined. ⁴The captain of the guard appointed Joseph to be with them, and he attended them. They continued for some time in custody.

⁵And one night they both dreamed—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison—each his own dream, and each dream with its own interpretation. ⁶When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled. ⁷So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in custody in his master’s house, ^g“Why are your faces downcast today?” ⁸They said to him, ^h“We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.” And Joseph said to them, ⁱ“Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me.”

⁹So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph and said to him, “In my dream there was a vine before me, ¹⁰and on the vine there were three branches. As soon as it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters ripened into grapes. ¹¹Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.” ¹²Then Joseph said to him, ^j“This is its interpretation: ^kthe three branches are three days. ¹³In three days Pharaoh will ^llift up your head and restore you to your office, and you shall place Pharaoh’s cup in his hand as formerly, when you were his cupbearer. ¹⁴Only remember me, when it is well with you, and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this house. ¹⁵For ^mI was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and ⁿhere also I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit.”

¹⁶When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream: there were three cake baskets on my head, ¹⁷and in the uppermost basket there were all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating it out of the basket on my head.” ¹⁸And Joseph answered and said, ^o“This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days. ^19pIn three days Pharaoh will lift up your head—from you!—and ^qhang you on a tree. And the birds will eat the flesh from you.”

²⁰On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s ^rbirthday, he made a feast for all his servants and ^slifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants. ^21tHe restored the chief cupbearer to his position, and ^uhe placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. ²²But he ^vhanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. ²³Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

Joseph Interprets Pharaoh’s Dreams

41After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile, ²and behold, there came up out of the Nile seven cows, attractive and plump, and they fed in the reed grass. ³And behold, seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile. ⁴And the ugly, thin cows ate up the seven attractive, plump cows. And Pharaoh awoke. ⁵And he fell asleep and dreamed a second time. And behold, seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing on one stalk. ⁶And behold, after them sprouted seven ears, thin and ^wblighted by the east wind. ⁷And the thin ears swallowed up the seven plump, full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream. ⁸So in the morning ^xhis spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the ^ymagicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh.

⁹Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “I remember my offenses today. ¹⁰When Pharaoh was ^zangry with his servants ^aand put me and the chief baker in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, ^11bwe dreamed on the same night, he and I, each having a dream with its own interpretation. ¹²A young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. When we told him, ^che interpreted our dreams to us, giving an interpretation to each man according to his dream. ¹³And ^das he interpreted to us, so it came about. I was restored to my office, and the baker was hanged.”

^14eThen Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they ^fquickly brought him ^gout of the pit. And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh. ¹⁵And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. ^hI have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” ¹⁶Joseph answered Pharaoh, ⁱ“It is not in me; ^jGod will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”^{1 17}Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Behold, ^kin my dream I was standing on the banks of the Nile. ¹⁸Seven cows, plump and attractive, came up out of the Nile and fed in the reed grass. ¹⁹Seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and thin, such as I had never seen in all the land of Egypt. ²⁰And the thin, ugly cows ate up the first seven plump cows, ²¹but when they had eaten them no one would have known that they had eaten them, for they were still as ugly as at the beginning. Then I awoke. ²²I also saw in my dream seven ears growing on one stalk, full and good. ²³Seven ears, withered, thin, and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them, ²⁴and the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears. And ^lI told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.”

²⁵Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; ^mGod has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁶The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years; the dreams are one. ²⁷The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty ears blighted by the east wind are also ⁿseven years of famine. ²⁸It is as I told Pharaoh; ^oGod has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁹There will come ^pseven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, ³⁰but after them there will arise ^qseven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. ^rThe famine will consume the land, ³¹and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of the famine that will follow, for it will be very severe. ³²And the doubling of Pharaoh’s dream means that the ^sthing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about. ³³Now therefore let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt. ³⁴Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land and take one-fifth of the produce of the land² of Egypt during the seven plentiful years. ³⁵And ^tlet them gather all the food of these good years that are coming and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it. ³⁶That food shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that are to occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish through the famine.”

Joseph Rises to Power

³⁷This proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants. ³⁸And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, ^uin whom is the Spirit of God?”^{3 39}Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are. ^40vYou shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command.⁴ Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.” ⁴¹And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, ^wI have set you over all the land of Egypt.” ⁴²Then Pharaoh ^xtook his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and ^yclothed him in garments of fine linen ^zand put a gold chain about his neck. ⁴³And he made him ride in his second chariot. ^aAnd they called out before him, “Bow the knee!”⁵ Thus he set him ^bover all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁴Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and ^cwithout your consent no one shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” ⁴⁵And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphenath-paneah. And he gave him in marriage Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On. So Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

⁴⁶Joseph was thirty years old when he ^dentered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁷During the seven plentiful years the earth produced abundantly, ⁴⁸and he gathered up all the food of these seven years, which occurred in the land of Egypt, and put the food in the cities. He put in every city the food from the fields around it. ⁴⁹And Joseph stored up grain in great abundance, ^elike the sand of the sea, until he ceased to measure it, for it could not be measured.

⁵⁰Before the year of famine came, ^ftwo sons were born to Joseph. Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore them to him. ⁵¹Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house.”^{6 52}The name of the second he called Ephraim, “For God has ^gmade me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”⁷

⁵³The seven years of plenty that occurred in the land of Egypt came to an end, ⁵⁴and ^hthe seven years of famine began to come, ⁱas Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. ⁵⁵When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do.”

⁵⁶So when the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses⁸ and ^jsold to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. ⁵⁷Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe ^kover all the earth.