Genesis 40
Big idea: Two of Pharaoh's officers land in Joseph's prison and wake one morning with troubled faces. Joseph — a slave, a convict, a foreigner — notices, asks why, and gives the answer that governs everything he will do with dreams: don't interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me. He reads both dreams truly, one to restoration and one to death, and makes one small request of the man who will go free: remember me. Three days later the cupbearer is restored, exactly as Joseph said. And the chapter ends on the flattest, most painful sentence in the Joseph story: yet the chief cupbearer didn't remember Joseph, but forgot him.
Chapter 40 ends with Joseph forgotten in a dungeon for two more years. Chapter 41 begins with Pharaoh dreaming — and a cupbearer suddenly remembering.
40:1–8 — Don't interpretations belong to God?
Pharaoh's chief cupbearer and chief baker offend him and are put in custody in the same place Joseph is held; the captain of the guard assigns Joseph to attend them. Both dream a dream on the same night, each with its own meaning, and in the morning Joseph sees that they are sad and asks why. They tell him: we have dreamed, and there is no one to interpret it. Joseph answers, don't interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me.
1 After these things, the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker offended their lord, the king of Egypt. 2 Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cup bearer and the chief baker. 3 He put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound. 4 The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he took care of them. They stayed in prison many days. 5 They both dreamed a dream, each man his dream, in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the cup bearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were bound in the prison. 6 Joseph came in to them in the morning, and saw them, and saw that they were sad. 7 He asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in custody in his master’s house, saying, “Why do you look so sad today?” 8 They said to him, “We have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it.” Joseph said to them, “Don’t interpretations belong to God? Please tell it to me.”
40:9–19 — Three branches, three baskets
The cupbearer describes a vine with three branches that bud, blossom and ripen, and himself pressing the grapes into Pharaoh's cup. Joseph reads it: three days, and Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office — and then makes his one request: remember me when it is well with you, mention me to Pharaoh, for I was stolen out of the land of the Hebrews and have done nothing to deserve this dungeon. The baker, encouraged that the interpretation was good, describes three baskets of baked goods on his head with birds eating out of the top one. Joseph's reading uses the same phrase to the opposite end: in three days Pharaoh will lift up your head — from off you.
9 The chief cup bearer told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, “In my dream, behold, a vine was in front of me, 10 and in the vine were three branches. It was as though it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters produced ripe grapes. 11 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.” 12 Joseph said to him, “This is its interpretation: the three branches are three days. 13 Within three more days, Pharaoh will lift up your head, and restore you to your office. You will give Pharaoh’s cup into his hand, the way you did when you were his cup bearer. 14 But remember me when it is well with you. Please show kindness to me, and make mention of me to Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house. 15 For indeed, I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.” 16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, “I also was in my dream, and behold, three baskets of white bread were on my head. 17 In the uppermost basket there were all kinds of baked food for Pharaoh, and the birds ate them out of the basket on my head.” 18 Joseph answered, “This is its interpretation. The three baskets are three days. 19 Within three more days, Pharaoh will lift up your head from off you, and will hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat your flesh from off you.”
40:20–23 — Yet he forgot him
On the third day, Pharaoh's birthday, he makes a feast and lifts up the heads of both officers among his servants: he restores the cupbearer to his office, and hangs the baker — exactly as Joseph had interpreted. And then the chapter's last line: yet the chief cupbearer didn't remember Joseph, but forgot him.
20 On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he made a feast for all his servants, and he lifted up the head of the chief cup bearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants. 21 He restored the chief cup bearer to his position again, and he gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand; 22 but he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. 23 Yet the chief cup bearer didn’t remember Joseph, but forgot him.
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).