Genesis 40

The Cupbearer and the Baker

¹Some time later, the king’s cupbearer and baker offended their master, the king of Egypt. ²Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, ³and imprisoned them in the house of the captain of the guard, the same prison where Joseph was confined. ⁴The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he became their personal attendant.

After they had been in custody for some time, ⁵both of these men—the Egyptian king’s cupbearer and baker, who were being held in the prison—had a dream on the same night, and each dream had its own meaning.

⁶When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were distraught. ⁷So he asked the officials of Pharaoh who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why are your faces so downcast today?”

⁸“We both had dreams,” they replied, “but there is no one to interpret them.”

Then Joseph said to them, “Don’t interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”

⁹So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream: “In my dream there was a vine before me, ¹⁰and on the vine were three branches. As it budded, its blossoms opened and its clusters ripened into grapes. ¹¹Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into his cup, and placed the cup in his hand.”

¹²Joseph replied, “This is the interpretation: The three branches are three days. ¹³Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore your position. You will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, just as you did when you were his cupbearer. ¹⁴But when it goes well for you, please remember me and show me kindness by mentioning me to Pharaoh, that he might bring me out of this prison. ¹⁵For I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing for which they should have put me in this dungeon.”

¹⁶When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, “I too had a dream: There were three baskets of white bread on my head. ¹⁷In the top basket were all sorts of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.”

¹⁸Joseph replied, “This is the interpretation: The three baskets are three days. ¹⁹Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head and hang you on a tree.^a Then the birds will eat the flesh of your body.”

²⁰On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he held a feast for all his officials, and in their presence he lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker. ²¹Pharaoh restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. ²²But Pharaoh hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had described to them in his interpretation.^b

²³The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot all about him.