Genesis 40 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 Later on the cupbearer and the baker committed some offense against their master, the king of Egypt.
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 these two royal officials—the chief cupbearer and chief baker—
2 Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cup bearer and the chief baker.
3 and imprisoned them in the house of the commander of the guard, the same prison where Joseph was.
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 commander of the guard assigned Joseph to them as their personal attendant. They were kept in prison for some time.
4 The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he took care of them. They stayed in prison many days.
5 One night while they were in prison the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt each had a dream. They were different dreams, each with its own meaning.
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 When Joseph arrived the next morning he noticed they both looked depressed.
6 Joseph came in to them in the morning, and saw them, and saw that they were sad.
7 So he asked Pharaoh's officials who were imprisoned with him in his master's house, “Why are you looking so depressed?”
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 “We've both had dreams but can't find anyone to explain what they mean,” they said. So Joseph told them, “Isn't God the one who can interpret the meaning of dreams? Tell me your dreams.”
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.”
9 So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream. “In my dream there was a vine right in front of me,” he explained.
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 “The vine had three branches. As soon as it budded, it flowered, and produced clusters of ripe grapes.
10 and in the vine were three branches. It was as though it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters produced ripe grapes.
11 I was holding Pharaoh's wine cup, so I picked the grapes and squeezed them into the cup and gave it to Pharaoh.”
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 “This is the meaning,” Joseph told him. “The three branches represent three days.
12 Joseph said to him, “This is its interpretation: the three branches are three days.
13 In three days' time Pharaoh will take you out of prison and give you back your job, and you will hand Pharaoh his cup as you used to.
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 when things go well for you, please remember me with kindness and speak to Pharaoh on my behalf, and please get me out of this prison.
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 I was cruelly kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and now I'm here in this pit even though I've done nothing wrong.”
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 positive, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream. I had three baskets of cakes on my head.
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 top basket were all the cakes and pastries for Pharaoh to eat, and the birds were eating them from the basket 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 “This is the meaning,” Joseph told him. “The three baskets represent three days.
18 Joseph answered, “This is its interpretation. The three baskets are three days.
19 In three days' time Pharaoh will take you out of prison and hang you on a pole, and birds will eat your flesh.”
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.”
20 Three days later it happened to be Pharaoh's birthday, and he arranged a banquet for all his officials. He had the chief cupbearer and the chief baker released from prison and brought there before his officials.
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 gave the chief cupbearer his job back, and he returned to his duties of handing Pharaoh his cup.
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 just as Joseph had said when he interpreted their dreams.
22 but he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them.
23 But the chief cupbearer didn't remember to say anything about Joseph—in fact he forgot all about him.
23 Yet the chief cup bearer didn’t remember Joseph, but forgot him.
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Joseph
Betrayed and enslaved, he rose to rule Egypt and saved his family from famine.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 37; 39–50
Cross references (22)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Genesis 40:13; Nehemiah 1:11–2:2; Esther 6:1; Genesis 39:20–23
- 2 Proverbs 16:14; Acts 12:20; Proverbs 19:12; 1 Chronicles 27:27; Proverbs 27:4
- 3 Genesis 39:20; Genesis 39:23
- 4 Psalm 37:5; Genesis 37:36; Genesis 39:1; Genesis 39:21–23
- 5 Genesis 41:11; Judges 7:13–14; Daniel 4:5; Esther 6:1; Genesis 12:1–7
- 6 Genesis 40:8; Daniel 2:1–3; Genesis 41:8; Daniel 7:28; Daniel 8:27
- 7 Nehemiah 2:2; 1 Samuel 1:8; 2 Samuel 13:4; Judges 18:24; Luke 24:17
- 8 Daniel 2:47; Genesis 41:15–16; Daniel 2:28; Amos 3:7; 1 Corinthians 12:10–11
- 9 Daniel 4:8; Judges 7:13–15; Genesis 37:5–10; Daniel 4:10–18; Daniel 2:31
- 11 Nehemiah 1:11–2:1; 1 Kings 10:5; 2 Chronicles 9:4; Leviticus 10:9; Proverbs 3:10
- 12 Judges 7:14; Genesis 41:12; Genesis 40:18; Genesis 41:25–26; Daniel 4:19–33
- 13 Psalm 3:3; Jeremiah 52:31; 2 Kings 25:27; Genesis 7:4; Genesis 40:19–22
- 14 Joshua 2:12; Luke 23:42; 1 Samuel 20:14–15; 1 Kings 2:7; 1 Samuel 25:31
- 15 Genesis 39:20; 1 Peter 3:17–18; John 15:25; Acts 25:10–11; Genesis 39:8–12
- 16 Genesis 40:1–2
- 17 Genesis 49:20
- 18 Genesis 40:12; 1 Corinthians 11:24; Genesis 41:26; 1 Corinthians 10:4
- 19 Genesis 40:22; Genesis 40:13; 2 Samuel 21:10; Proverbs 30:17; Ezekiel 39:4
- 20 Genesis 40:19; Matthew 14:6; Genesis 40:13; Mark 6:21; 2 Kings 25:27
- 21 Genesis 40:13; Nehemiah 2:1
- 22 Genesis 40:19; Daniel 2:30; Acts 5:30; Genesis 41:11–13; Genesis 40:8
- 23 Psalm 31:12; Job 19:14; Psalm 105:19; Amos 6:6
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
As, for instance, Adam says, "I have gotten a man through God," meaning to say the same as from God; and in another passage "Moses commanded...Israel through the word of the Lord," and, again, "Is not the interpretation through God?" Joseph, discoursing about dreams to the prisoners, instead of saying "from God" says plainly "through God." Inversely Paul uses the …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 8 (1895)