Genesis 40

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'The cupbearer' (mashqeh) — literally 'the one who gives drink.' This was a position of extraordinary trust in the ancient Near East. The royal cupbearer tasted the king's wine to ensure it was not poisoned and had intimate access to the monarch. The position conferred significant political influence — far more than the English word 'butler' (KJV) suggests.
2. 'The baker' (ha'ofeh) — from the root afah ('to bake'). Like the cupbearer, the royal baker held a position of trust, responsible for the king's food. Both men had direct access to what Pharaoh consumed, making any 'offense' potentially a matter of life and death — poisoning was a constant fear of ancient rulers.
3. 'Offended' (chat'u) — the verb chata means 'to sin, to miss the mark, to offend.' The same word used for sin against God is here used for an offense against Pharaoh. The nature of their offense is not specified — the narrator's interest lies in the consequences, not the crime.

Translator Notes

1. 'Was angry' (vayiqtsof) — from qatsaf, a strong verb for wrath, often used of royal or divine fury. Pharaoh's anger is decisive and consequential — it results in imprisonment and ultimately in the execution of one of the two men.
2. 'His two officers' (shenei sarisav) — the word saris ('officer') is the same term used of Potiphar in 39:1. These are high-ranking court officials, not minor servants. Their titles — 'chief cupbearer' (sar hamashqim) and 'chief baker' (sar ha'ofim) — indicate they headed entire departments of the royal household.

Translator Notes

1. 'In custody' (bemishmar) — from shamar ('to guard, to keep'). The word denotes a place of guarded confinement, a holding facility under the authority of the captain of the guard.
2. 'The house of the captain of the guard' (bet sar hattabbachim) — this is Potiphar's jurisdiction (cf. 39:1). The prison where Joseph is held falls under the authority of his former master. The narrator connects the two stories explicitly: the same household that unjustly imprisoned Joseph now places Pharaoh's disgraced officers in Joseph's care.
3. 'The place where Joseph was confined' (maqom asher Yosef asur sham) — the narrator ensures the reader understands this is no coincidence. Divine providence arranges for these specific officials — men with direct access to Pharaoh — to be placed in the exact location where Joseph can serve them and demonstrate his God-given gift.

Translator Notes

1. 'Assigned Joseph to attend them' (vayyifqod... et-Yosef ittam) — from paqad, the same root used in 39:4 when Potiphar appointed Joseph overseer. Joseph's role continues to be one of trusted service, even in prison. The captain of the guard (Potiphar himself, or his successor) assigns Joseph to personally attend these high-ranking prisoners.
2. 'They remained for some time' (vayyihyu yamim) — literally 'they were days.' The Hebrew yamim ('days') is deliberately vague, suggesting an indefinite period — perhaps weeks or months. The ambiguity mirrors the uncertainty of the prisoners' situation: they do not know what Pharaoh will decide.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Both of them dreamed a dream on the same night' — the simultaneity of the dreams signals divine orchestration. In the ancient Near East, dreams were widely regarded as messages from the divine realm. That both officials dream on the same night, and that both dreams prove to be prophetically accurate, points to a sovereign hand behind the events.
2. 'Each his own dream with its own interpretation' (ish chalomo... ish kefitron chalomo) — the Hebrew emphasizes individuality: each man had his own dream, and each dream carried its own distinct interpretation. Though they dream on the same night, their fates will diverge dramatically — one to restoration, one to death.
3. The theme of dreams connects this passage to Joseph's own dreams in chapter 37 and anticipates Pharaoh's dreams in chapter 41. Dreams function throughout the Joseph narrative as vehicles of divine revelation, accessible only through divine interpretation.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'They were troubled' (vehinnam zo'afim) — the verb za'af means 'to be troubled, to be agitated, to look dejected.' It describes not mere sadness but visible distress — the kind of inner turmoil that shows on the face. Joseph notices their condition, demonstrating his attentiveness to those in his care. Even in prison, Joseph is not consumed by self-pity but remains alert to the needs of others.

Translator Notes

1. 'Why are your faces downcast today?' (maddua peneikhem ra'im hayyom) — literally 'why are your faces evil/bad today?' The adjective ra'im (from ra, 'bad, evil') is used here in its sense of 'troubled, unhappy, grim.' The same word that describes moral evil can describe the appearance of distress on a human face.
2. 'In his master's house' (bet adonav) — the reference to 'his master' (adonav) recalls the setting: Joseph is still under the authority of Potiphar (or his successor as captain of the guard). The detail reinforces the irony of Joseph's situation — serving faithfully in the very household where he was falsely condemned.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'There is no one to interpret it' (ufoter ein oto) — in Egypt, dream interpretation was a professional discipline practiced by trained magicians and wise men (cf. 41:8). In prison, the officials have no access to these professional interpreters, leaving them in despair. Their helplessness creates the opening for Joseph — and for God.
2. 'Do not interpretations belong to God?' (halo l'Elohim pitronot) — this is Joseph's theological thesis: the ability to interpret dreams is not a human skill but a divine gift. The rhetorical question (introduced by halo, 'is it not?') expects an affirmative answer: yes, interpretations belong to God alone. Joseph uses Elohim (the universal name for God) rather than YHWH, appropriate when speaking to Egyptians. Yet the claim is radical: Joseph asserts that the God of the Hebrews holds the key to Egyptian dreams.
3. 'Please, tell them to me' (sapperu-na li) — having directed all credit to God, Joseph then offers himself as the human instrument. The na ('please, I pray') is a particle of courteous request. Joseph does not claim personal authority; he positions himself as a conduit of divine revelation.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'A vine' (gefen) — the grapevine is a rich symbol in the Hebrew Bible, later associated with Israel itself (cf. Psalm 80:8; Isaiah 5:1–7). In this Egyptian context, the vine represents the cupbearer's occupation and serves as the medium of divine communication. The dream speaks in the language of the dreamer's own life and work.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Three branches' (sheloshah sarigim) — the number three is the interpretive key to the dream: three branches correspond to three days (v. 12). The word sarig ('branch, tendril') occurs only here and in Joel 1:7 in the Hebrew Bible, a rare botanical term that adds vividness to the dream's imagery.
2. 'As it budded, its blossoms came up, and its clusters ripened into grapes' — the dream compresses an entire growing season into a single, accelerating sequence: budding → blossoming → ripening. The rapid progression suggests speed and inevitability — the events foretold will unfold swiftly and surely.

Translator Notes

1. 'Pressed them into Pharaoh's cup' (va'eschat otam el-kos Par'oh) — the verb sachat means 'to squeeze, to press.' The cupbearer dreams of performing his characteristic duty: preparing and serving Pharaoh's drink. The dream's content reflects his professional role, and the act of placing the cup 'on Pharaoh's palm' (al-kaf Par'oh) symbolizes the direct, personal service that defines the cupbearer's relationship with the king.
2. The threefold repetition of 'Pharaoh' in this single verse (Pharaoh's cup... Pharaoh's cup... Pharaoh's palm) underscores the cupbearer's entire identity as bound to royal service — and foreshadows his restoration to that service.

Translator Notes

1. 'This is its interpretation' (zeh pitrono) — Joseph speaks with confident authority, grounded not in his own wisdom but in God's gift (cf. v. 8). He does not hedge or speculate; he declares. The interpretive method is symbolic correspondence: three branches equal three days.
2. The interpretive key — elements in the dream correspond to units of time — anticipates Pharaoh's dreams in chapter 41, where seven cows and seven ears of grain will correspond to seven years.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Pharaoh will lift up your head' (yissa Par'oh et-roshekha) — this idiom means to show favor, to grant an audience, to elevate someone's status. In ancient Near Eastern court protocol, a prisoner or supplicant would bow low; to 'lift up the head' was to grant recognition and restoration. This exact phrase will be used with devastating irony in v. 19 for the baker, with the devastating addition 'from upon you.'
2. 'Restore you to your position' (vahashivekha al-kannekha) — from shuv ('to return') in the Hiphil: 'to cause to return.' The word ken (literally 'base, stand, pedestal') metaphorically refers to one's established position or office. The cupbearer will be returned to his former station.
3. 'According to the former practice' (kamishpat harishon) — mishpat here means 'custom, manner, established procedure' rather than 'judgment.' The cupbearer will resume his duties exactly as before, as if the imprisonment never happened.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Remember me' (zekhartani) — the verb zakhar ('to remember') is loaded with theological weight in the Hebrew Bible. To remember is not merely to recall cognitively but to act on that recollection. When God 'remembers' Noah (8:1) or Rachel (30:22), it means He acts on their behalf. Joseph asks the cupbearer not just to think of him but to act for him. The tragic irony of v. 23 — 'he did not remember' (lo-zakhar) — reverberates against this plea.
2. 'Show kindness to me' (ve'asita-na immadi chesed) — Joseph uses the word chesed, the same term used of God's steadfast love toward Joseph in 39:21. He asks for human chesed — faithful, loyal kindness — from a fellow prisoner. The request is modest and reasonable; its failure (v. 23) will be devastating.
3. 'Mention me to Pharaoh' (vehizkartani el-Par'oh) — another form of zakhar ('to remember, to mention, to bring to remembrance'). Joseph asks for two acts: internal remembering and external mentioning. He needs the cupbearer both to recall his situation and to speak on his behalf.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'I was stolen — stolen away' (gunnov gunnabti) — the infinitive absolute construction (gunnov gunnabti) intensifies the verb: 'I was indeed stolen, utterly stolen.' Joseph uses this emphatic form to underscore the injustice of his situation. He does not name his brothers or describe the specifics of his sale — a notable restraint. He simply states the fact of his kidnapping.
2. 'The land of the Hebrews' (erets ha'Ivrim) — this is the earliest biblical reference to Canaan as 'the land of the Hebrews.' Joseph identifies himself with his people and their land, even after years in Egypt. He has not assimilated; he knows where he belongs.
3. 'The pit' (bor) — the same word used for the cistern into which his brothers threw him (37:24). The linguistic echo connects Joseph's two unjust imprisonments: the cistern in Canaan and the dungeon in Egypt. In both cases, he is innocent; in both cases, he is cast into a bor. The word also evokes the grave or Sheol, deepening the sense of Joseph's descent.
4. 'I have done nothing' (lo asiti me'umah) — Joseph protests his total innocence. He was stolen from Canaan (not sold as a criminal); he did nothing in Potiphar's house to deserve imprisonment. Joseph stands before God and men as blameless — yet he suffers. The narrative raises the question of theodicy without resolving it, trusting the reader to see God's hidden hand.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Saw that the interpretation was favorable' (vayyar... ki tov patar) — the baker is encouraged by the positive outcome of the cupbearer's dream and steps forward to share his own, hoping for a similar verdict. The word tov ('good, favorable') reveals his motive: he speaks because the first interpretation was favorable, not because he trusts the interpreter. This is a fateful miscalculation.
2. 'Three baskets of white bread' (sheloshah sallei chori) — the word chori is debated. It may mean 'white bread' (from chur, 'white'), 'perforated bread' (from chor, 'hole'), or 'baked goods' in a general sense. The traditional rendering 'white baskets' (KJV) takes chori as describing the baskets rather than their contents, but the context of a baker's dream suggests the adjective modifies the bread. The three baskets, like the three branches, will correspond to three days.

Translator Notes

1. 'All kinds of baked food for Pharaoh' (mikkol ma'akhal Par'oh ma'aseh ofeh) — literally 'from every food of Pharaoh, the work of a baker.' The top basket contained the finest royal provisions — the baker's own handiwork. Yet in the dream, this food is devoured by birds, signifying that the baker will no longer serve Pharaoh.
2. 'The birds were eating them from the basket on my head' — the birds consuming the food from the baker's head is the ominous element. In the cupbearer's dream, the dreamer actively serves Pharaoh (pressing grapes, placing the cup); in the baker's dream, the dreamer is passive while birds consume what should be served to Pharaoh. The baker cannot protect or deliver his goods — he has lost control. The birds foreshadow the fate described in v. 19: birds will eat his flesh.

Translator Notes

1. 'Joseph answered and said' (vayya'an Yosef vayyomer) — the paired verbs 'answered and said' (a common Hebrew narrative formula) here carry weight: Joseph must deliver news he knows the baker does not want to hear. He does not soften or delay — he interprets faithfully, whether the message brings joy or doom. The interpreter's fidelity to the divine message transcends personal preference.
2. The interpretive framework is identical to the cupbearer's dream: three objects (baskets) equal three days. The structural parallel heightens the contrast between the two outcomes.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Pharaoh will lift up your head from upon you' (yissa Par'oh et-roshekha me'alekha) — this is one of the most chilling wordplays in all of Scripture. The phrase begins identically to v. 13 — 'Pharaoh will lift up your head' — raising the baker's hope for a split second before the devastating addition: 'from upon you' (me'alekha). The same idiom that meant 'to show favor' now means 'to decapitate' or 'to remove your head from your body.' The reader who heard the first interpretation now hears the same words twisted into a death sentence.
2. 'Hang you on a tree' (vetalah otekha al-ets) — impalement or public display of the body after execution was a common practice in the ancient Near East. The 'tree' (ets) could be a stake or a wooden pole. The public display served as a deterrent and a sign of royal power.
3. 'The birds will eat your flesh' — this gruesome detail connects back to the dream: the birds that ate baked goods from the basket on the baker's head will eat his flesh from his body. The dream's symbolism resolves with horrifying literalness. What seemed like a minor nuisance (birds eating bread) proves to be a portent of death.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Pharaoh's birthday' (yom hulledet et-Par'oh) — literally 'the day of the bearing of Pharaoh.' This is one of the earliest references to a birthday celebration in ancient literature. Egyptian records confirm that Pharaohs celebrated their birthdays with feasts and acts of royal clemency (or judgment). The birthday feast provides the occasion for the fulfillment of Joseph's interpretations.
2. 'He lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker' — the narrator uses the ambiguous phrase 'lifted up the head' (vayyissa et-rosh) for both men simultaneously, maintaining the tension for one more verse. Only in vv. 21–22 will the reader learn which lifting was restoration and which was execution. The narrator masterfully sustains the wordplay from vv. 13 and 19.

Translator Notes

1. 'He restored the chief cupbearer to his position' (vayyashev et-sar hamashqim al-mashqehu) — the verb shuv ('to return, to restore') in the Hiphil, exactly as Joseph predicted in v. 13. The cupbearer is returned to 'his cupbearing' (mashqehu), the very office from which he was removed.
2. 'He placed the cup on Pharaoh's palm' (vayyitten hakkos al-kaf Par'oh) — this detail echoes the cupbearer's dream (v. 11) almost verbatim. The dream is fulfilled with precise literalness, confirming Joseph's interpretation and, more fundamentally, confirming the divine source of that interpretation.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'But the chief baker he hanged' (ve'et sar ha'ofim talah) — the sentence is stark and unadorned. No details of the execution are given beyond the single verb talah ('to hang, to impale'). The contrast with the cupbearer's restoration is absolute: one returns to life at court, the other is publicly executed.
2. 'Just as Joseph had interpreted to them' (ka'asher patar lahem Yosef) — the narrator's summary verdict. Both dreams were fulfilled exactly as Joseph had said, validating his claim that interpretations belong to God (v. 8). This phrase also prepares the reader for chapter 41, where Joseph will again interpret dreams — this time for Pharaoh — and again be proven correct.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Did not remember... forgot him' (lo-zakhar... vayyishkachehu) — the chapter's devastating final note. Two verbs of forgetting hammer the point: the cupbearer neither remembered (zakhar) nor failed to forget — he actively forgot (shakach). The double expression is emphatic redundancy: the cupbearer's failure is complete and thoroughgoing.
2. The wordplay with Joseph's plea in v. 14 is pointed and painful. Joseph asked: 'remember me' (zekhartani) and 'mention me' (vehizkartani). The cupbearer does neither. The verb zakhar that Joseph used in hope is now negated: lo-zakhar. The word Joseph used as a plea becomes the word of his continued imprisonment.
3. Theologically, the cupbearer's forgetfulness extends Joseph's suffering but also extends the divine timetable. Joseph will not leave prison through human remembrance but through divine orchestration — when Pharaoh himself dreams (chapter 41). Human faithlessness cannot thwart divine purpose; it can only delay and redirect the path by which that purpose is fulfilled.
4. The chapter ends with Joseph still in prison, still forgotten, still waiting. The reader is left in suspense — a narrative strategy that mirrors Joseph's own experience of prolonged, unexplained suffering. The resolution will come, but not yet.