25 lines
2.7 KiB
Markdown
25 lines
2.7 KiB
Markdown
# Chapter 40
|
||
1 Some time later, Pharaoh’s chief cup-bearer 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 cup-bearer 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 cup-bearer.
|
||
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 Pharaoh’s birthday came three days later, and he prepared a banquet for all his 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 cup-bearer, however, forgot all about Joseph, never giving him another thought. |