Genesis 40

1 And it came to pass after these things, that the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker had 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 furious with two of his officers, with the chief of the butlers, and with the chief of the bakers.

The king became angry with both of them.

3 And he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound.

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 guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them: and they continued a season 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, each man his dream in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were bound 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 to them in the morning, and looked upon 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 officers that were with him in the ward of his lord’s house, saying, Why look ye so sad to day?

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

8 And they said to him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said to them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, 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 And the chief butler 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 on the vine were three branches: and it was as though it budded, and its blossoms shot forth; and its clusters brought forth ripe 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 I 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 Yet within three days shall 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 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 think on me when it shall be well with thee, and show kindness to me, I pray thee, 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 away from 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 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three white baskets 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 was of all manner of baked goods for Pharaoh; 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 Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on 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 the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast to all his servants: and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among 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 he restored the chief butler to his butlership 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 But he hanged the chief baker: 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 Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

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