HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 409
G ENESIS 41
page 39
over everything that happened in the prison.
23 The warden had no more worries, because Joseph took care of everything. The Lord was with
him and caused everything he did to succeed.
Joseph Interprets Two Dreams
Some time later, Pharaoh’s chief cupbearer and chief baker offended their
royal master. 2 Pharaoh became angry with
these two officials, 3 and he put them in the
prison where Joseph was, in the palace of the
captain of the guard. 4 They remained in prison
for quite some time, and the captain of the
guard assigned them to Joseph, who looked
after them.
5 While they were in prison, Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker each had a dream one night,
and each dream had its own meaning. 6 When
Joseph saw them the next morning, he noticed
that they both looked upset. 7 “Why do you look
so worried today?” he asked them.
8 And they replied, “We both had dreams last
night, but no one can tell us what they mean.”
“Interpreting dreams is God’s business,”
Joseph replied. “Go ahead and tell me your
dreams.”
9 So the chief cup-bearer told Joseph his
dream first. “In my dream,” he said, “I saw a
grapevine in front of me. 10 The vine had three
branches that began to bud and blossom, and
soon it produced clusters of ripe grapes. 11 I was
holding Pharaoh’s wine cup in my hand, so
I took a cluster of grapes and squeezed the
juice into the cup. Then I placed the cup in
Pharaoh’s hand.”
12 “This is what the dream means,” Joseph
said. “The three branches represent three days.
13 Within three days Pharaoh will lift you up and
restore you to your position as his chief cupbearer. 14 And please remember me and do me a
favor when things go well for you. Mention me
to Pharaoh, so he might let me out of this place.
15 For I was kidnapped from my homeland,
the land of the Hebrews, and now I’m here in
prison, but I did nothing to deserve it.”
16 When the chief baker saw that Joseph had
given the first dream such a positive interpretation, he said to Joseph, “I had a dream, too.
In my dream there were three baskets of white
pastries stacked on my head. 17 The top basket
contained all kinds of pastries for Pharaoh, but
the birds came and ate them from the basket on
my head.”
18 “This is what the dream means,” Joseph
told him. “The three baskets also represent
three days. 19 Three days from now Pharaoh will
lift you up and impale your body on a pole. Then
birds will come and peck away at your flesh.”
20 Pha raoh’s birthday came three days
later, and he prepared a banquet for all his
40
40:20 Hebrew He lifted up the head of.
officials and staff. He summoned* his chief
cup-bearer and chief baker to join the other officials. 21 He then restored the chief cup-bearer
to his former position, so he could again hand
Pharaoh his cup. 22 But Pharaoh impaled the
chief baker, just as Joseph had predicted when
he interpreted his dream. 23 Pharaoh’s chief cupbearer, however, forgot all about Joseph, never
giving him another thought.
Pharaoh’s Dreams
Two full years later, Pharaoh dreamed
that he was standing on the bank of
the Nile River. 2 In his dream he saw seven fat,
healthy cows come up out of the river and begin
grazing in the marsh grass. 3 Then he saw seven
more cows come up behind them from the Nile,
but these were scrawny and thin. These cows
stood beside the fat cows on the riverbank.
4 Then the scrawny, thin cows ate the seven
healthy, fat cows! At this point in the dream,
Pharaoh woke up.
5 But he fell asleep again and had a second
dream. This time he saw seven heads of grain,
plump and beautiful, growing on a single stalk.
6 Then seven more heads of grain appeared, but
these were shriveled and withered by the east
wind. 7 And these thin heads swallowed up the
seven plump, well-formed heads! Then Pharaoh
woke up again and realized it was a dream.
8 The next morning Pharaoh was very disturbed by the dreams. So he called for all the
magicians and wise men of Egypt. When Pharaoh told them his dreams, not one of them
could tell him what they meant.
9 Finally, the king’s chief cup-bearer spoke
up. “Today I have been reminded of my failure,” he told Pharaoh. 10 “Some time ago, you
were angry with the chief baker and me, and
you imprisoned us in the palace of the captain
of the guard. 11 One night the chief baker and I
each had a dream, and each dream had its own
meaning. 12 There was a young Hebrew man with
us in the prison who was a slave of the captain
of the guard. We told him our dreams, and he
told us what each of our dreams meant. 13 And
everything happened just as he had predicted.
I was restored to my position as cup-bearer, and
the chief baker was executed and impaled on
a pole.”
14 Pharaoh sent for Joseph at once, and he
was quickly brought from the prison. After he
shaved and changed his clothes, he went in and
stood before Pharaoh. 15 Then Pharaoh said to
Joseph, “I had a dream last night, and no one
here can tell me what it means. But I have heard
that when you hear about a dream you can interpret it.”
16 “It is beyond my power to do this,” Joseph
replied. “But God can tell you what it means
and set you at ease.”
41