40Some time later the king of Egypt’s wine steward and his chief baker offended the king. ²He was angry with these two officials ³and put them in prison in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same place where Joseph was being kept. ⁴They spent a long time in prison, and the captain assigned Joseph as their servant.

⁵One night there in prison the wine steward and the chief baker each had a dream, and the dreams had different meanings. ⁶When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were upset. ⁷He asked them, “Why do you look so worried today?”

⁸They answered, “Each of us had a dream, and there is no one here to explain what the dreams mean.”

“It is God who gives the ability to interpret dreams,” Joseph said. “Tell me your dreams.”

⁹So the wine steward said, “In my dream there was a grapevine in front of me ¹⁰with three branches on it. As soon as the leaves came out, the blossoms appeared, and the grapes ripened. ¹¹I was holding the king’s cup; so I took the grapes and squeezed them into the cup and gave it to him.”

¹²Joseph said, “This is what it means: the three branches are three days. ¹³In three days the king will release you, pardon you, and restore you to your position. You will give him his cup as you did before when you were his wine steward. ¹⁴But please remember me when everything is going well for you, and please be kind enough to mention me to the king and help me to get out of this prison. ¹⁵After all, I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here in Egypt I didn’t do anything to deserve being put in prison.”

¹⁶When the chief baker saw that the interpretation of the wine steward’s dream was favourable, he said to Joseph, “I had a dream too; I was carrying three bread baskets on my head. ¹⁷In the top basket there were all kinds of pastries for the king, and the birds were eating them.”

¹⁸Joseph answered, “This is what it means: the three baskets are three days. ¹⁹In three days the king will release you—and have your head cut off! Then he will hang your body on a pole, and the birds will eat your flesh.”

²⁰On his birthday three days later the king gave a banquet for all his officials; he released his wine steward and his chief baker and brought them before his officials. ²¹He restored the wine steward to his former position, ²²but he executed the chief baker. It all happened just as Joseph had said. ²³But the wine steward never gave Joseph another thought—he forgot all about him.

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