Genesis 40

1 And it came to pass after these things, [that] the cup-bearer of the king of Egypt and the baker offended their lord the king of Egypt.

Some time later, two of the king of Egypt’s officials did things that displeased him. One was his chief (drink-server/man who prepared the wine and served it to the king), and the other was his chief (baker/man who baked bread for the king).

2 And Pharaoh was wroth with his two chamberlains — with the chief of the cup-bearers and with the chief of the bakers;

The king became angry with both of them.

3 and he put them in custody into the house of the captain of the life-guard, into the tower-house, into the place where Joseph was imprisoned.

So he had them put in prison, in the house of the captain of the palace guards. That was the place where Joseph was being kept.

4 And the captain of the life-guard appointed Joseph to them, that he should attend on them. And they were [several] days in custody.

The two men were in prison for a long time. And during that time the captain of the palace guards appointed Joseph to be their servant, to take care of their needs.

5 And they dreamed a dream, both of them in one night, each his dream, each according to the interpretation of his dream, the cup-bearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were imprisoned in the tower-house.

One night while the king’s drink-server and his baker were there in the prison, each of them had a dream. Each dream had a different meaning.

6 And Joseph came in to them in the morning, and looked on them, and behold, they were sad.

The next morning, when Joseph came to them, he saw that both of them were dejected/worried.

7 And he asked Pharaoh's chamberlains that were with him in custody in his lord's house, saying, Why are your faces [so] sad to-day?

So he asked them, “Why do you look so sad today?”

8 And they said to him, We have dreamt a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said to them, [Do] not interpretations [belong] to God? tell me [your dreams], I pray you.

One of them answered, “We both had dreams last night, but there is no one who can tell us the meaning of the dreams.” Joseph said to them, “God is the only one who can [RHQ] tell the meaning of dreams. So tell me what you dreamed, and God will tell me the meaning.”

9 Then the chief of the cup-bearers told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine was before me;

So the king’s chief drink-server told his dream to Joseph. He said, “In my dream I saw a grapevine in front of me.

10 and in the vine were three branches; and it was as though it budded: its blossoms shot forth, its clusters ripened into grapes.

On the vine there were three branches. After the branches budded, they blossomed, and then they produced clusters of grapes.

11 And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand.

I was holding the king’s cup, so I took the grapes and squeezed the juice into the cup. Then I gave the cup to the king to drink the juice.”

12 And Joseph said to him, This is the interpretation of it: the three branches are three days.

[God immediately told Joseph what the dream meant]. So Joseph said to him, “This is the meaning of your dream: The three branches of the vine represent three days.

13 In yet three days will Pharaoh lift up thy head and restore thee to thy place, and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his cup-bearer.

Within three days the king will release you from prison. He will let you do the work that you did before. You will take cups of wine to the king as you did before, when you were his drink-server.

14 Only bear a remembrance with thee of me when it goes well with thee, and deal kindly, I pray thee, with me, and make mention of me to Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house;

But when you are out of prison and everything goes well for you, please do not forget me.

15 for indeed I was stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.

People took me away forcefully from the land where my fellow Hebrews live. [I did nothing wrong there], and also while I have been here in Egypt, I have done nothing for which I deserved to be put in prison. So be kind to me and tell the king about me, so that he will release me from this prison!”

16 And when the chief of the bakers saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, I also was in my dream, and behold, three baskets of white bread were on my head.

When the chief baker heard that the meaning of the dream of the king’s drink-server was very favorable, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream. In the dream I was surprised to see three baskets of bread stacked on my head.

17 And in the uppermost basket there were all manner of victuals for Pharaoh that the baker makes, and the birds ate them out of the basket upon my head.

In the top basket there were many kinds of baked goods for the king, but birds were eating them from the top basket that was on my head!”

18 And Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation of it: the three baskets are three days.

God again told Joseph what the dream meant, so he said, “The three baskets also represent three days.

19 In yet three days will Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and hang thee on a tree; and the birds will eat thy flesh from off thee.

Within three days the king will command that your head be cut off. Then your body will be hung on a tree, and vultures will come and eat your flesh.”

20 And it came to pass the third day — Pharaoh's birthday — that he made a feast to all his bondmen. And he lifted up the head of the chief of the cup-bearers, and the head of the chief of the bakers among his bondmen.

The third day after that was the (king’s birthday/day they celebrated when the king became one year older). On that day the king invited all his officials to celebrate his birthday. During the celebration, while they were all gathered there, the king summoned his chief drink-server and chief baker from the prison.

21 And he restored the chief of the cup-bearers to his office of cup-bearer again; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand.

He said that his chief drink-server could have his previous job again, so that again he took cups of wine to the king.

22 And he hanged the chief of the bakers, as Joseph had interpreted to them.

But he commanded that the chief baker should be killed by being hanged, just as Joseph had said would happen when he told the two men the meaning of their dreams.

23 But the chief of the cup-bearers did not remember Joseph, and forgot him.

But the chief drink-server did not think about Joseph. He forgot to do what Joseph asked him to do.