The Prisoners’ Dreams

40 It came to pass after these things that the ^(A)butler and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt. ² And Pharaoh was ^(B)angry with his two officers, the chief butler and the chief baker. ^3 (C)So he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison, the place where Joseph was confined. ⁴ And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them; so they were in custody for a while.

⁵ Then the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison, ^(D)had a dream, both of them, each man’s dream in one night and each man’s dream with its own interpretation. ⁶ And Joseph came in to them in the morning and looked at them, and saw that they were ^[a]sad. ⁷ So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in the custody of his lord’s house, saying, ^(E)“Why do you look so sad today?”

⁸ And they said to him, ^(F)“We each have had a dream, and there is no interpreter of it.”

So Joseph said to them, ^(G)“Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me, please.”

⁹ Then the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, “Behold, in my dream a vine was before me, ¹⁰ and in the vine were three branches; it was as though it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and its clusters brought forth ripe grapes. ¹¹ Then Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.”

¹² And Joseph said to him, ^(H)“This is the interpretation of it: The three branches ^(I)are three days. ¹³ Now within three days Pharaoh will ^(J)lift up your head and restore you to your ^[b]place, and you will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand according to the former manner, when you were his butler. ¹⁴ But ^(K)remember me when it is well with you, and ^(L)please show kindness to me; make mention of me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this house. ¹⁵ For indeed I was ^(M)stolen away from the land of the Hebrews; ^(N)and also I have done nothing here 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 there were three ^[c]white baskets on my head. ¹⁷ In the uppermost basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, and the birds ate them out of the basket on my head.”

¹⁸ So Joseph answered and said, ^(O)“This is the interpretation of it: The three baskets are three days. ^19 (P)Within three days Pharaoh will lift ^[d]off your head from you and ^(Q)hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat your flesh from you.”

²⁰ Now it came to pass on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s ^(R)birthday, that he ^(S)made a feast for all his servants; and he ^(T)lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. ²¹ Then he ^(U)restored the chief butler to his butlership again, and ^(V)he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. ²² But he ^(W)hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. ²³ Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but ^(X)forgot him.