Genesis 40–41

Chapter 40

Joseph Interprets a Dream

¹Then it came about after these things, ^athe cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt.

²Pharaoh was ^afurious with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker.

³So he put them in confinement in the house of the ^acaptain of the bodyguard, in the jail, the same place where Joseph was imprisoned.

⁴The captain of the bodyguard put Joseph in charge of them, and he ¹took care of them; and they were in confinement for ²some time.

⁵Then the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt, who were confined in jail, both had a dream the same night, each man with his own dream and each dream with its own interpretation.

⁶¹When Joseph came to them in the morning and observed them, ²behold, they were dejected.

⁷He asked Pharaoh’s officials who were with him in confinement in his master’s house, “^1aWhy are your faces so sad today?”

⁸Then they said to him, “^aWe have ¹had a dream and there is no one to interpret it.” Then Joseph said to them, “^bDo not interpretations belong to God? Tell it to me, please.”

⁹So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, “In my dream, ¹behold, there was a vine in front of me;

¹⁰and on the vine were three branches. And as it was budding, its blossoms came out, and its clusters produced ripe grapes.

¹¹“Now Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; so I took the grapes and squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I put the cup into Pharaoh’s ¹hand.”

¹²Then Joseph said to him, “This is the ^ainterpretation of it: the three branches are three days;

¹³within three more days Pharaoh will ¹lift up your head and restore you to your ²office; and you will put Pharaoh’s cup into his hand according to your former custom when you were his cupbearer.

¹⁴“Only ¹keep me in mind when it goes well with you, and please ^ado me a kindness ²by mentioning me to Pharaoh and get me out of this house.

¹⁵“For ^aI was in fact kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing that they should have put me into the ¹dungeon.”

¹⁶When the chief baker saw that he had interpreted favorably, he said to Joseph, “I also saw in my dream, and behold, there were three baskets of white bread on my head;

¹⁷and in the top basket there were some of all ¹sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, and the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.”

¹⁸Then Joseph answered and said, “This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days;

¹⁹within three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head from you and will hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh off you.”

²⁰Thus it came about on the third day, which was ^aPharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants; ^band he lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants.

²¹He restored the chief cupbearer to his ¹office, and ^ahe put the cup into Pharaoh’s ²hand;

²²but ^ahe hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had interpreted to them.

²³Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but ^aforgot him.

Chapter 41

Pharaoh’s Dream

¹Now it happened at the end of two full years that Pharaoh had a dream, and behold, he was standing by the Nile.

²And lo, from the Nile there came up seven cows, sleek and ¹fat; and they grazed in the ^amarsh grass.

³Then behold, seven other cows came up after them from the Nile, ugly and ¹gaunt, and they stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile.

⁴The ugly and ¹gaunt cows ate up the seven sleek and fat cows. Then Pharaoh awoke.

⁵He fell asleep and dreamed a second time; and behold, seven ears of grain came up on a single stalk, plump and good.

⁶Then behold, seven ears, thin and scorched by the east wind, sprouted up after them.

⁷The thin ears swallowed up the seven plump and full ears. Then Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream.

⁸Now in the morning ^ahis spirit was troubled, so he sent and called for all the ^1bmagicians of Egypt, and all its ^cwise men. And Pharaoh told them his ²dreams, but ^dthere was no one who could interpret them to Pharaoh.

⁹Then the chief cupbearer spoke to Pharaoh, saying, “I would make mention today of ^amy own ¹offenses.

¹⁰“Pharaoh was ^afurious with his servants, and ^bhe put me in confinement in the house of the captain of the bodyguard, both me and the chief baker.

¹¹“^aWe had a dream ¹on the same night, ²he and I; each of us dreamed according to the interpretation of his own dream.

¹²“Now a Hebrew youth was with us there, a ^aservant of the captain of the bodyguard, and we related them to him, and ^bhe interpreted our dreams for us. To each one he interpreted according to his own dream.

¹³“And just ^aas he interpreted for us, so it happened; he restored me in my ¹office, but he hanged him.”

Joseph Interprets

¹⁴Then Pharaoh sent and ^acalled for Joseph, and they ^bhurriedly brought him out of the dungeon; and when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came to Pharaoh.

¹⁵Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, ^abut no one can interpret it; and ^bI have heard ¹it said about you, that ²when you hear a dream you can interpret it.”

¹⁶Joseph then answered Pharaoh, saying, “^1aIt is not in me; ^bGod will ²give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”

¹⁷So Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, “In my dream, behold, I was standing on the bank of the Nile;

¹⁸and behold, seven cows, ¹fat and sleek came up out of the Nile, and they grazed in the marsh grass.

¹⁹“Lo, seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and ¹gaunt, such as I had never seen for ²ugliness in all the land of Egypt;

²⁰and the lean and ¹ugly cows ate up the first seven fat cows.

²¹“Yet when they had ¹devoured them, it could not be ²detected that they had devoured them, ³for they were just as ugly as ⁴before. Then I awoke.

²²“I saw also in my dream, and behold, seven ears, full and good, came up on a single stalk;

²³and lo, seven ears, withered, thin, and scorched by the east wind, sprouted up after them;

²⁴and the thin ears swallowed the seven good ears. Then ^aI told it to the ¹magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.”

²⁵Now Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Pharaoh’s ¹dreams are one and the same; ^aGod has told to Pharaoh what He is about to do.

²⁶“The seven good cows are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years; the ¹dreams are one and the same.

²⁷“The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven thin ears scorched by the east wind ^awill be seven years of famine.

²⁸“¹It is as I have spoken to Pharaoh: ^aGod has shown to Pharaoh what He is about to do.

²⁹“Behold, ^aseven years of great abundance are coming in all the land of Egypt;

³⁰and after them ^aseven years of famine will ¹come, and all the abundance will be forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine will ²ravage the land.

³¹“So the abundance will be unknown in the land because of that subsequent famine; for it will be very severe.

³²“Now as for the repeating of the dream to Pharaoh twice, it means that ^athe matter is determined by God, and God will quickly bring it about.

³³“Now let Pharaoh look for a man ^adiscerning and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt.

³⁴“Let Pharaoh take action to appoint overseers ¹in charge of the land, and let him exact a fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt in the seven years of abundance.

³⁵“Then let them ^agather all the food of these good years that are coming, and store up the grain for food in the cities under Pharaoh’s authority, and let them guard it.

³⁶“Let the food become as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which will occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land will not perish during the famine.”

³⁷Now the ¹proposal seemed good ²to Pharaoh and to all his servants.

Joseph Is Made a Ruler of Egypt

³⁸Then Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, ^ain whom is a divine spirit?”

³⁹So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has informed you of all this, there is no one so ^adiscerning and wise as you are.

⁴⁰“^aYou shall be over my house, and according to your ¹command all my people shall ²do homage; only in the throne I will be greater than you.”

⁴¹Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you ^aover all the land of Egypt.”

⁴²Then Pharaoh ^atook off his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen and ^bput the gold necklace around his neck.

⁴³He had him ride in ¹his second chariot; and they proclaimed before him, “²Bow the knee!” And he set him over all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁴Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Though I am Pharaoh, yet ^awithout ¹your permission no one shall raise his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.”

⁴⁵Then Pharaoh named Joseph ¹Zaphenath-paneah; and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of ^2aOn, as his wife. And Joseph went forth over the land of Egypt.

⁴⁶Now Joseph was ^athirty years old when he ¹stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁷During the seven years of plenty the land brought forth ¹abundantly.

⁴⁸So he gathered all the food of these seven years which occurred in the land of Egypt and placed the food in the cities; he placed in every city the food from its own surrounding fields.

⁴⁹Thus Joseph stored up grain ¹in great abundance like the sand of the sea, until he stopped ²measuring it, for it was ³beyond measure.

The Sons of Joseph

⁵⁰Now before the year of famine came, ^atwo sons were born to Joseph, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of ¹On, bore to him.

⁵¹Joseph named the firstborn ¹Manasseh, “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.”

⁵²He named the second ¹Ephraim, “For,” he said, “^aGod has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

⁵³When the seven years of plenty which had been in the land of Egypt came to an end,

⁵⁴and ^athe seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had said, then there was famine in all the lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.

⁵⁵So when all…