New International Reader s Version - NIrV - 1996
Genesis 40
1
Some time later, the Egyptian king's baker and wine taster did something their master didn't like.
Reference
Parallel theme
Genesis 40:13
2
So Pharaoh became angry with his two officials, the chief wine taster and the chief baker.
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Parallel theme
Proverbs 16:14
3
He put them in prison in the house of the captain of the palace guard. It was the same prison where Joseph was kept.
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Genesis 39:20
4
The captain put Joseph in charge of those men. So Joseph took care of them. Some time passed while they were in prison.
5
Then each of the two men had a dream. The men were the Egyptian king's baker and wine taster. They were being held in prison. Both of them had dreams the same night. Each of their dreams had its own meaning.
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Parallel theme
Genesis 41:11
6
Joseph came to them the next morning. He saw that they were sad.
7
They were Pharaoh's officials, and they were in prison with Joseph in his master's house. So he asked them, "Why do you look so sad today?"
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8
"We both had dreams," they answered. "But no one can tell us what they mean." Then Joseph said to them, "Only God knows what dreams mean. Tell me your dreams."
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9
So the chief wine taster told Joseph his dream. He said to him, "In my dream I saw a vine in front of me.
10
There were three branches on the vine. As soon as it budded, it flowered. And bunches of ripe grapes grew on it.
11
"Pharaoh's cup was in my hand. I took the grapes. I squeezed them into Pharaoh's cup. Then I put the cup in his hand."
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12
"Here's what your dream means," Joseph said to him. "The three branches are three days.
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13
In three days Pharaoh will let you out of prison. He'll give your position back to you. And you will put Pharaoh's cup in his hand. That's what you used to do when you were his wine taster.
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14
"But when everything is going well with you, remember me. Do me a favor. Speak to Pharaoh about me. Get me out of this prison.
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15
I was taken away from the land of the Hebrews by force. Even here I haven't done anything to be put in prison for."
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Parallel theme
Genesis 39:20
16
The chief baker saw that Joseph had given a positive meaning to the wine taster's dream. So he said to Joseph, "I had a dream too. There were three baskets of bread on my head.
17
All kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh were in the top basket. But the birds were eating them out of the basket that was on my head."
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Parallel theme
Genesis 49:20
18
"Here's what your dream means," Joseph said. "The three baskets are three days.
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Genesis 40:12
19
In three days Pharaoh will cut your head off. Then he will stick a pole through your body and set the pole up. The birds will eat up your body."
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Genesis 40:22
20
The third day was Pharaoh's birthday. He had a big dinner prepared for all of his officials. He brought the chief wine taster and the chief baker out of prison. He did it in front of his officials.
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21
He gave the chief wine taster's position back to him. Once again the wine taster put the cup into Pharaoh's hand.
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22
But Pharaoh had a pole stuck through the chief baker's body. Then he had the pole set up. Everything happened exactly as Joseph had told them when he explained their dreams.
Reference
Parallel theme
Genesis 40:19
Summary of Genesis 40
Genesis chapter forty finds Joseph sitting in prison after being falsely accused by Potiphar's wife, but it is here that his story begins to change on its way up, even though it does not feel that way at first.
The chapter opens by finding the cupbearer and the baker offending the king of Egypt. It does not say what they did wrong but whatever it was, both of them receive their punishments in the same prison in which Joseph is being kept, under the custody of the captain of the guard. The captain puts Joseph in charge of them, and they spend some time in custody together.
After one night, the two men have a dream, each with their own meaning, and the next morning Joseph finds them to be troubled and dejected. He asks them what has happened so that they are so forlorn, and they tell him that both of them have had dreams but that there is no one to interpret those dreams. Joseph's reply is worth noting, because it shows him where he is placing his confidence even in these bleak circumstances, saying, don't interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.
The cupbearer begins by telling Joseph that in his dream, he saw a vine in front of him with three branches, and as soon as it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters ripened into grapes. He was holding Pharaoh's cup, so he took the grapes, squeezed them into the cup, and put it in Pharaoh's hand. Joseph interprets the dream with a quickness and sureness that indicate his understanding of its meaning. In his dream, he says, the three branches represent three days, and within three days, Pharaoh will lift up his head and restore him to his position by putting the cup back in his hand as he used to do.
Joseph then makes a personal request, which shows the reader how much he is hoping for any kind of way out of his precarious situation. He asks the cupbearer to remember him once things have gone well for him, to show him kindness and mention him to Pharaoh so he might get him out of this prison. Joseph explains a little of his story, saying he was forcibly brought from the land of the Hebrews, and that even here in Egypt, he has done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon.
The chief baker, seeing that the interpretation given to the cupbearer was good news, decides to share his dream as well. In his dream, he had three baskets of bread on his head, and in the top basket, were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on his head. Joseph's interpretation this time carries much more bad news, that the three baskets also mean three days, but within three days, Pharaoh will lift off the baker's head and impale his body on a pole, and the birds will eat away his flesh. There is an absence of cushioning in the interpretation that Joseph gives, and it is a devastating message to deliver to the man standing in front of him.
Three days later, it turns out to be Pharaoh's birthday, and he held a feast for all his officials. In the midst of the celebration, Pharaoh lifted the heads of both the cupbearer and the baker up before all of them, restoring the chief cupbearer to his position so that he once again placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand, but he had the chief baker impaled on a pole, just as Joseph had interpreted.
And so comes along a line to finish off the chapter on a genuinely deflating note, that the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph and forgot him.
That line is an important one to the story after seeing Joseph survive the betrayal of his brothers, the false accusation of Potiphar's wife, and years of unjust imprisonment to be put right back into a new set of circumstances with an apparent opportunity for someone with real influence to get him out. Joseph interprets the dreams accurately, asking for only one small favor in return, being remembered and mentioned to Pharaoh, and instead, he is simply forgotten, left sitting in prison with no idea of how much longer his situation might drag out for him.
What makes this particular chapter effective, even though it ends on an anticlimactic note, is that it quietly sets things up for the reader to see how everything that will follow is going to happen to Joseph. His ability to interpret dreams, which was first hinted at in his own dreams in chapter thirty-seven, has been proven to be accurate in a real-world situation, and it has only begun to take effect. The same gift has not gone anywhere either, but is waiting on the right moment to matter to a much larger extent. The cupbearer forgetting him for now, is really only a setup for later, a seed planted that is going to sprout at exactly the right time, even though Joseph has yet to realize that at this point. For now, the chapter closes with Joseph still sitting in prison, just where he was at the beginning, waiting for his one hope for release to come walking away and forget he was ever there.
The chapter opens by finding the cupbearer and the baker offending the king of Egypt. It does not say what they did wrong but whatever it was, both of them receive their punishments in the same prison in which Joseph is being kept, under the custody of the captain of the guard. The captain puts Joseph in charge of them, and they spend some time in custody together.
After one night, the two men have a dream, each with their own meaning, and the next morning Joseph finds them to be troubled and dejected. He asks them what has happened so that they are so forlorn, and they tell him that both of them have had dreams but that there is no one to interpret those dreams. Joseph's reply is worth noting, because it shows him where he is placing his confidence even in these bleak circumstances, saying, don't interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.
The cupbearer begins by telling Joseph that in his dream, he saw a vine in front of him with three branches, and as soon as it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters ripened into grapes. He was holding Pharaoh's cup, so he took the grapes, squeezed them into the cup, and put it in Pharaoh's hand. Joseph interprets the dream with a quickness and sureness that indicate his understanding of its meaning. In his dream, he says, the three branches represent three days, and within three days, Pharaoh will lift up his head and restore him to his position by putting the cup back in his hand as he used to do.
Joseph then makes a personal request, which shows the reader how much he is hoping for any kind of way out of his precarious situation. He asks the cupbearer to remember him once things have gone well for him, to show him kindness and mention him to Pharaoh so he might get him out of this prison. Joseph explains a little of his story, saying he was forcibly brought from the land of the Hebrews, and that even here in Egypt, he has done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon.
The chief baker, seeing that the interpretation given to the cupbearer was good news, decides to share his dream as well. In his dream, he had three baskets of bread on his head, and in the top basket, were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on his head. Joseph's interpretation this time carries much more bad news, that the three baskets also mean three days, but within three days, Pharaoh will lift off the baker's head and impale his body on a pole, and the birds will eat away his flesh. There is an absence of cushioning in the interpretation that Joseph gives, and it is a devastating message to deliver to the man standing in front of him.
Three days later, it turns out to be Pharaoh's birthday, and he held a feast for all his officials. In the midst of the celebration, Pharaoh lifted the heads of both the cupbearer and the baker up before all of them, restoring the chief cupbearer to his position so that he once again placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand, but he had the chief baker impaled on a pole, just as Joseph had interpreted.
And so comes along a line to finish off the chapter on a genuinely deflating note, that the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph and forgot him.
That line is an important one to the story after seeing Joseph survive the betrayal of his brothers, the false accusation of Potiphar's wife, and years of unjust imprisonment to be put right back into a new set of circumstances with an apparent opportunity for someone with real influence to get him out. Joseph interprets the dreams accurately, asking for only one small favor in return, being remembered and mentioned to Pharaoh, and instead, he is simply forgotten, left sitting in prison with no idea of how much longer his situation might drag out for him.
What makes this particular chapter effective, even though it ends on an anticlimactic note, is that it quietly sets things up for the reader to see how everything that will follow is going to happen to Joseph. His ability to interpret dreams, which was first hinted at in his own dreams in chapter thirty-seven, has been proven to be accurate in a real-world situation, and it has only begun to take effect. The same gift has not gone anywhere either, but is waiting on the right moment to matter to a much larger extent. The cupbearer forgetting him for now, is really only a setup for later, a seed planted that is going to sprout at exactly the right time, even though Joseph has yet to realize that at this point. For now, the chapter closes with Joseph still sitting in prison, just where he was at the beginning, waiting for his one hope for release to come walking away and forget he was ever there.