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The Cupbearer and the Baker

¹ Some time later, the king’s cupbearer and baker offended their master, the king of Egypt.² Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker,³ and imprisoned them in the house of the captain of the guard, the same prison where Joseph was confined.⁴ The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he became their personal attendant. After they had been in custody for some time,

⁵ both of these men—the Egyptian king’s cupbearer and baker, who were being held in the prison—had a dream on the same night, and each dream had its own meaning.⁶ When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were distraught.⁷ So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why are your faces so downcast today?”⁸ “We both had dreams,” they replied, “but there is no one to interpret them.” Then Joseph said to them, “Don’t interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”⁹ So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream: “In my dream there was a vine before me,¹⁰ and on the vine were three branches. As it budded, its blossoms opened and its clusters ripened into grapes.¹¹ Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into his cup, and placed the cup into his hand.”¹² Joseph replied, “This is the interpretation: The three branches are three days.¹³ Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore your position. You will put Pharaoh’s cup into his hand, just as you did when you were his cupbearer.¹⁴ But when it goes well for you, please remember me and show me kindness by mentioning me to Pharaoh, that he might bring me out of this prison.¹⁵ For I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing for which they should have put me in this dungeon.”¹⁶ When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, “I too had a dream: There were three baskets of white bread on my head.¹⁷ In the top basket were all sorts of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.”¹⁸ Joseph replied, “This is the interpretation: The three baskets are three days.¹⁹ Within three days Pharaoh will lift your head off of you and hang you on a tree. Then the birds will eat the flesh of your body.”

²⁰ On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he held a feast for all his officials, and in their presence he lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker.²¹ Pharaoh restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.²² But Pharaoh hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had interpreted the dream to them.²³ The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot all about him.