< בראשית 40 >
ויהי אחר הדברים האלה חטאו משקה מלך מצרים והאפה--לאדניהם למלך מצרים | 1 |
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).
ויקצף פרעה על שני סריסיו--על שר המשקים ועל שר האופים | 2 |
The king became angry with both of them.
ויתן אתם במשמר בית שר הטבחים--אל בית הסהר מקום אשר יוסף אסור שם | 3 |
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.
ויפקד שר הטבחים את יוסף אתם--וישרת אתם ויהיו ימים במשמר | 4 |
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.
ויחלמו חלום שניהם איש חלמו בלילה אחד--איש כפתרון חלמו המשקה והאפה אשר למלך מצרים אשר אסורים בבית הסהר | 5 |
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.
ויבא אליהם יוסף בבקר וירא אתם והנם זעפים | 6 |
The next morning, when Joseph came to them, he saw that both of them were dejected/worried.
וישאל את סריסי פרעה אשר אתו במשמר בית אדניו--לאמר מדוע פניכם רעים היום | 7 |
So he asked them, “Why do you look so sad today?”
ויאמרו אליו--חלום חלמנו ופתר אין אתו ויאמר אלהם יוסף הלוא לאלהים פתרנים--ספרו נא לי | 8 |
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.”
ויספר שר המשקים את חלמו ליוסף ויאמר לו--בחלומי והנה גפן לפני | 9 |
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.
ובגפן שלשה שריגם והוא כפרחת עלתה נצה הבשילו אשכלתיה ענבים | 10 |
On the vine there were three branches. After the branches budded, they blossomed, and then they produced clusters of grapes.
וכוס פרעה בידי ואקח את הענבים ואשחט אתם אל כוס פרעה ואתן את הכוס על כף פרעה | 11 |
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.”
ויאמר לו יוסף זה פתרנו שלשת השרגים--שלשת ימים הם | 12 |
[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.
בעוד שלשת ימים ישא פרעה את ראשך והשיבך על כנך ונתת כוס פרעה בידו כמשפט הראשון אשר היית משקהו | 13 |
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.
כי אם זכרתני אתך כאשר ייטב לך ועשית נא עמדי חסד והזכרתני אל פרעה והוצאתני מן הבית הזה | 14 |
But when you are out of prison and everything goes well for you, please do not forget me.
כי גנב גנבתי מארץ העברים וגם פה לא עשיתי מאומה כי שמו אתי בבור | 15 |
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!”
וירא שר האפים כי טוב פתר ויאמר אל יוסף אף אני בחלומי והנה שלשה סלי חרי על ראשי | 16 |
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.
ובסל העליון מכל מאכל פרעה--מעשה אפה והעוף אכל אתם מן הסל--מעל ראשי | 17 |
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!”
ויען יוסף ויאמר זה פתרנו שלשת הסלים--שלשת ימים הם | 18 |
God again told Joseph what the dream meant, so he said, “The three baskets also represent three days.
בעוד שלשת ימים ישא פרעה את ראשך מעליך ותלה אותך על עץ ואכל העוף את בשרך מעליך | 19 |
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.”
ויהי ביום השלישי יום הלדת את פרעה ויעש משתה לכל עבדיו וישא את ראש שר המשקים ואת ראש שר האפים--בתוך עבדיו | 20 |
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.
וישב את שר המשקים על משקהו ויתן הכוס על כף פרעה | 21 |
He said that his chief drink-server could have his previous job again, so that again he took cups of wine to the king.
ואת שר האפים תלה כאשר פתר להם יוסף | 22 |
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.
ולא זכר שר המשקים את יוסף וישכחהו | 23 |
But the chief drink-server did not think about Joseph. He forgot to do what Joseph asked him to do.