Genesis 40

The Prisoners’ Dreams

40It came to pass after these things that the ^abutler and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt. ²And Pharaoh was ^bangry with his two officers, the chief butler and the chief baker. ^3cSo he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison, the place where Joseph was confined. ⁴And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them; so they were in custody for a while.

⁵Then the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison, ^dhad a dream, both of them, each man’s dream in one night and each man’s dream with its own interpretation. ⁶And Joseph came in to them in the morning and looked at them, and saw that they were ¹sad. ⁷So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in the custody of his lord’s house, saying, ^e“Why do you look so sad today?”

⁸And they said to him, ^f“We each have had a dream, and there is no interpreter of it.”

So Joseph said to them, ^g“Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me, please.”

⁹Then the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, “Behold, in my dream a vine was before me, ¹⁰and in the vine were three branches; it was as though it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and its clusters brought forth ripe grapes. ¹¹Then Pharaoh’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.”

¹²And Joseph said to him, ^h“This is the interpretation of it: The three branches ⁱare three days. ¹³Now within three days Pharaoh will ^jlift up your head and restore you to your ²place, and you will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand according to the former manner, when you were his butler. ¹⁴But ^kremember me when it is well with you, and ^lplease show kindness to me; make mention of me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this house. ¹⁵For indeed I was ^mstolen away from the land of the Hebrews; ⁿand also I have done nothing here that they should put me into the dungeon.”

¹⁶When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, “I also was in my dream, and there were three ³white baskets on my head. ¹⁷In the uppermost basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, and the birds ate them out of the basket on my head.”

¹⁸So Joseph answered and said, ^o“This is the interpretation of it: The three baskets are three days. ^19pWithin three days Pharaoh will lift ⁴off your head from you and ^qhang you on a tree; and the birds will eat your flesh from you.”

²⁰Now it came to pass on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s ^rbirthday, that he ^smade a feast for all his servants; and he ^tlifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. ²¹Then he ^urestored the chief butler to his butlership again, and ^vhe placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. ²²But he ^whanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. ²³Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but ^xforgot him.