Chapter 40
A Prophet in Suffering.[a] 1 Some time later, the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master. 2 Pharaoh was angry with his two eunuchs, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, 3 and he put them in prison in the care of the captain of the guard in the prison where Joseph was being held. 4 The captain of the guard assigned Joseph to their service. They thus remained in prison for a while.
5 Now, the same night, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were in prison, both had a dream, each one having his own dream that had its own meaning.
6 The next morning Joseph came to them and saw that they were troubled. 7 He asked the eunuchs of Pharaoh who were with him in prison, in the house of his master, “Why are you so sad today?”
8 They said, “We had a dream, but no one can interpret it.”
Joseph said to them, “Does not God have the power of interpreting? Tell your dreams to me.”
9 The chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph and said, “In my dream I was standing in front of a vine 10 on which there were three branches. As soon as it sprouted, the flowers bloomed, and it brought forth clusters of grapes. 11 I was holding Pharaoh’s cup in my hand. I took the grapes and squeezed their juice into Pharaoh’s cup. I then gave Pharaoh the cup.”
12 Joseph told him, “Here is the interpretation. The three branches are three days. 13 In three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office, and you will give Pharaoh his cup just as you once did when you were his cupbearer. 14 When you are happy again, please remember that I was with you. Do me this favor: speak of me to Pharaoh and get me out of here. 15 I was unjustly carried away from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing for which I should have been placed in this dungeon.”
16 The chief baker, seeing that Joseph had given a favorable interpretation, said to him, “As for me, in my dream I was standing with three baskets of white bread on my head. 17 In the baskets on my head were all different kinds of food for Pharaoh that would be prepared by a baker. But birds ate the food from the baskets that I had on my head.”
18 Joseph answered and said, “Here is the interpretation: the three baskets are three days. 19 In three days, Pharaoh will lift off your head and have you impaled; and the birds will eat away your flesh.”
20 Three days later, it was the birthday of Pharaoh, and there was a banquet for all his ministers. He lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and lifted off the head of the chief baker before all his ministers. 21 He restored the chief cupbearer to his office as cupbearer, so that he would hand the cup to Pharaoh. 22 He had the chief baker impaled, just as Joseph had said in his interpretation.
23 But the cupbearer did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.
Footnotes
- Genesis 40:1 The ancients regarded dreams as a way in which the divinity came in contact with human beings and revealed the future; God alone, however, could make known the meaning of these dreams.