Genesis

Dreams of the Royal Cupbearer and the Royal Baker

Some time later it happened that the cupbearer of the king of Egypt, who prepared the drinks for Pharaoh, and his chief baker offended their lord.

Pharaoh was angry with his two officers

and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison where Joseph was kept.

So the captain of the guard appointed Joseph to attend to their needs, for they had been under arrest for some time.

One night, both of them dreamed, each one his own dream, and each dream had its meaning. As the two officers were with Joseph in custody in his master’s house,

when Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw they were troubled.

So he questioned them: “Why do you look sad today?”

They answered: “Both of us have had a dream, but there is no one to interpret them.” Then Joseph said to them: “Is it not God who interprets dreams? Tell me what they were.”

Then the chief cupbearer told Joseph about his dream. “In my dream, there was a vine in front of me,

and on the vine, there were three branches. As it grew and flowered, its clusters ripened into grapes.

Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I pressed the grapes into Pharaoh’s cup and placed the cup in his hand.”

Joseph said to him: “Here’s the interpretation: the three branches are three days.

Within three days, Pharaoh will release you and restore you to your office, and you will place Pharaoh’s cup in his hand as before when you were his cupbearer.

But when things go well with you, remember me and be kind enough to speak my name to Pharaoh and get me out of this place,

for I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing to deserve imprisonment.”

The chief baker, seeing that the interpretation was favorable, said to Joseph: “In my dream, I had three baskets of cakes on my head.

In the top basket were all kinds of baked food for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating it from the basket above my head.”

Joseph said: “The three baskets are three days,

and before three days have passed, Pharaoh will take off your head and hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh.”

It so happened that on the third day, Pharaoh’s birthday, he held a feast for all his officers and remembered the chief cupbearer and the chief baker.

The cupbearer was restored to his office and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand;

but the chief baker was hanged, as Joseph had interpreted to them.

Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.