Genesis 40

¹ It happened some time later that the king of Egypt’s cup-bearer and his baker offended their master the king of Egypt.

² Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cup-bearer and the chief baker,

³ and put them under arrest in the house of the commander of the guard, in the gaol where Joseph was a prisoner.

⁴ The commander of the guard assigned Joseph to them to attend to their wants, and they remained under arrest for some time.

⁵ Now both of them had dreams on the same night, each with its own meaning for the cup-bearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were prisoners in the gaol.

⁶ When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they looked gloomy,

⁷ and he asked the two officials who were with him under arrest in his master’s house, ‘Why these black looks today?’

⁸ They answered him, ‘We have had a dream, but there is no one to interpret it’. ‘Are not interpretations God’s business?’ Joseph asked them. ‘Come, tell me.’

⁹ So the chief cup-bearer described his dream to Joseph, telling him, ‘In my dream I saw a vine in front of me.

¹⁰ On the vine were three branches; no sooner had it budded than it blossomed, and its clusters became ripe grapes.

¹¹ I had Pharaoh’s cup in my hand; I picked the grapes and squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.’

¹² ‘Here is the interpretation of it’ Joseph told him. ‘The three branches are three days.

¹³ In another three days Pharaoh will release you and restore you to your place. Then you will hand Pharaoh his cup, as you did before, when you were his cup-bearer.

¹⁴ But be sure to remember me when things go well with you, and do me the kindness of reminding Pharaoh about me, to get me out of this house.

¹⁵ I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews in the first place, and even here I have done nothing to warrant imprisonment.’

¹⁶ The chief baker, seeing that the interpretation had been favourable, said to Joseph, ‘I too had a dream; there were three trays of cakes on my head.

¹⁷ In the top tray there were all kinds of Pharaoh’s favourite cakes, but the birds ate them off the tray on my head.’

¹⁸ Joseph gave him this answer, Here is the interpretation of it: the three trays are three days.

¹⁹ In another three days Pharaoh will release you and hang you on a gallows, and the birds will eat the flesh off your bones.’

²⁰ And so it happened; the third day was Pharaoh’s birthday and he gave a banquet for all his officials, and he released the chief cup-bearer and the chief baker in the presence of his officials.

²¹ The chief cup-bearer he restored to his position as cup-bearer, to hand Pharaoh his cup;

²² the chief baker he hanged. It was as Joseph had said in his interpretation.

²³ But the chief cup-bearer did not remember Joseph: he forgot him.