Genesis 40

The Cupbearer and the Bakerⓘ

Two royal officials join Joseph in prison¹Some time later, the kingʼs cupbearer and baker offended their master, the king of Egypt. ²Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, ³and imprisoned them in the house of the captain of the guard, the same prison where Joseph was confined. ⁴The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he became their personal attendant.

After they had been in custody for some time, ⁵both of these men—the Egyptian kingʼs cupbearer and baker, who were being held in the prison—had a dream on the same night, and each dream had its own meaning.

⁶When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were distraught. ⁷So he asked the officials of Pharaoh who were in custody with him in his masterʼs house, “Why are your faces so downcast today?”

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

Then Joseph said to them, “Donʼt interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”

The cupbearer's dream and its meaning⁹So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream: “In my dream there was a vine before me, ¹⁰and on the vine were three branches. As it budded, its blossoms opened and its clusters ripened into grapes. ¹¹Pharaohʼs cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into his cup, and placed the cup in his hand.”

¹²Joseph replied, “This is the interpretation: The three branches are three days. ¹³Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore your position. You will put Pharaohʼs cup in his hand, just as you did when you were his cupbearer. ¹⁴But when it goes well for you, please remember me and show me kindness by mentioning me to Pharaoh, that he might bring me out of this prison. ¹⁵For I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing for which they should have put me in this dungeon.”

The baker's dream and the outcomes¹⁶When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, “I too had a dream: There were three baskets of white bread on my head. ¹⁷In the top basket were all sorts of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.”

¹⁸Joseph replied, “This is the interpretation: The three baskets are three days. ¹⁹Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head and hang you on a tree.^a Then the birds will eat the flesh of your body.”

²⁰On the third day, which was Pharaohʼs birthday, he held a feast for all his officials, and in their presence he lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker. ²¹Pharaoh restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again placed the cup in Pharaohʼs hand. ²²But Pharaoh hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had described to them in his interpretation.^b

²³The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot all about him.