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16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation of the first dream was favorable,[a] he said to Joseph, “I also appeared in my dream and there were three baskets of white bread[b] on my head. 17 In the top basket there were baked goods of every kind for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them from the basket that was on my head.”

18 Joseph replied, “This is its meaning: The three baskets represent[c] three days. 19 In three more days Pharaoh will decapitate you[d] and impale you on a pole. Then the birds will eat your flesh from you.”

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Footnotes

  1. Genesis 40:16 tn Heb “that [the] interpretation [was] good.” The words “the first dream” are supplied in the translation for clarity.
  2. Genesis 40:16 tn Or “three wicker baskets.” The meaning of the Hebrew noun חֹרִי (khori, “white bread, cake”) is uncertain; some have suggested the meaning “wicker” instead. Comparison with texts from Ebla suggests the meaning “pastries made with white flour” (M. Dahood, “Eblaite ḫa-rí and Genesis 40, 16 ḥōrî,” BN 13 [1980]: 14-16).
  3. Genesis 40:18 tn Heb “the three baskets [are].”
  4. Genesis 40:19 tn Heb “Pharaoh will lift up your head from upon you.” Joseph repeats the same expression from the first interpretation (see v. 13), but with the added words “from upon you,” which allow the statement to have a more literal and ominous meaning—the baker will be decapitated.