Genesis 40

1 And it came to pass after these things, that the butler of the king of Egypt, and the baker, had sinned against 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 Then fell the wroth of Pharaoh upon his two courtiers, upon the chief of the butlers, and upon the chief of the bakers;

The king became angry with both of them.

3 so he delivered them up into the ward of the house of the chief of the royal executioners, into the prison, —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 chief of the royal executioners charged Joseph with them and he waited upon them, and they were some days in ward.

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 they two, each man, his dream in one night, each man, according to the interpretation of his dream, —the butler and the baker who belonged to the king of Egypt, who were imprisoned in the prison.

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 unto them in the morning, —and looked at them, and lo! they were sad.

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

7 So he asked Pharaoh’s courtiers who were with him in the ward of his lord’s house, saying, Why are your faces troubled to-day!

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

8 And they said unto him, A dream, have we dreamed, but there is none, to interpret, it. Then said Joseph unto them—Is it not unto God, that interpretations belong? Relate it. I pray you, to me.

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 And the chief of the butlers related his dream to Joseph, —and said to him, In my dream, then lo! a vine, 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, three shoots, —and the same at sprouting time, had shot up her blossom, and her clusters had brought to perfection ripe grapes.

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

11 Now, the cup of Pharaoh, being in my hand, I took the ripe grapes and pressed them out into the cup of Pharaoh, and set the cup upon Pharaoh’s palm.

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 thereof, —The three shoots 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 three days more, will Pharaoh lift up thy head, and restore thee to thine office, and thou shalt set the cup of Pharaoh in his hand, according to the former custom when thou wast his butler.

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 But if thou remember how I was with thee when it shall go well with thee, then wilt thou I pray thee do me a lovingkindness, —and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me forth out of this house;

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

15 For I was, stolen, out of the land of the Hebrews, —and, even here, had I done nothing, that they should have put me in 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 Then the chief of the bakers, seeing that he had well interpreted, said unto Joseph, I, too, was in my dream, when lo! three wicker baskets of fine 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, was some of every kind of food for Pharaoh that a baker could make, —but, the birds, kept eating them out of the basket from off 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 responded and said, This, is the interpretation thereof, 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 three days more, will Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and hang thee upon a tree, and the birds shall 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 on the third day the birthday of Pharaoh, that he made a banquet for all his servants, and uplifted the head of the chief of the butlers and the head of the chief of the bakers in the midst of his servants;

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 restored the chief of the butlers to his butlership, so that he set the cup upon the palm of Pharaoh;

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 but, the chief of the bakers, he hanged, —as, Joseph, had interpreted unto 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 Yet the chief of the butlers made no mention of Joseph but did forget him.

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