Genesis 40:1–22

The Cupbearer and the Baker

40Some time later, the cupbearer^m and the bakerⁿ of the king of Egypt offended their master, the king of Egypt. ²Pharaoh was angry^o with his two officials,^p the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, ³and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard,^q in the same prison where Joseph was confined. ⁴The captain of the guard^r assigned them to Joseph,^s and he attended them.

After they had been in custody^t for some time, ⁵each of the two men—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were being held in prison—had a dream^u the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own.^v

⁶When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected. ⁷So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were in custody^w with him in his master’s house, “Why do you look so sad today?”^x

⁸“We both had dreams,” they answered, “but there is no one to interpret them.”^y

Then Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God?^z Tell me your dreams.”

⁹So the chief cupbearer^a told Joseph his dream. He said to him, “In my dream I saw a vine in front of me, ¹⁰and on the vine were three branches. As soon as it budded, it blossomed,^b and its clusters ripened into grapes. ¹¹Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup and put the cup in his hand.”

¹²“This is what it means,^c” Joseph said to him. “The three branches are three days.^{d 13}Within three days^e Pharaoh will lift up your head^f and restore you to your position, and you will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, just as you used to do when you were his cupbearer.^{g 14}But when all goes well with you, remember me^h and show me kindness;ⁱ mention me to Pharaoh^j and get me out of this prison. ¹⁵I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews,^k and even here I have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon.”^l

¹⁶When the chief baker^m saw that Joseph had given a favorable interpretation,ⁿ he said to Joseph, “I too had a dream: On my head were three baskets^o of bread.^{a 17}In the top basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.”

¹⁸“This is what it means,” Joseph said. “The three baskets are three days.^{p 19}Within three days^q Pharaoh will lift off your head^r and impale your body on a pole.^s And the birds will eat away your flesh.”^t

²⁰Now the third day^u was Pharaoh’s birthday,^v and he gave a feast for all his officials.^w He lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker^x in the presence of his officials: ²¹He restored the chief cupbearer^y to his position,^z so that he once again put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand^a—²²but he impaled the chief baker,^b just as Joseph had said to them in his interpretation.^c