Year of the Bible
Genesis 40
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Commentary on the Book of Genesis, Chapter 40:
Joseph’s gift of interpreting dreams comes to life again while he is in prison. Two key members of Pharaoh’s household are also imprisoned, and they each have symbolic dreams. Joseph credits God for his interpretations, and correctly explains that the chief butler will return to his position. Hoping to be able to be removed from his unjust confinement, Joseph asks the chief butler to remember him once he is reinstated. The chapter ends by explaining that the chief butler was reinstated, but also that he forgot Joseph.
The Book of Genesis, Chapter 40:
The Dreams of Two Prisoners
1 Some time after this, the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker offended their lord the king of Egypt. 2 And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief butler and the chief baker, 3 and he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison where Joseph was confined. 4 The captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he waited on them; and they continued for some time in custody. 5 And one night they both dreamed—the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison—each his own dream, and each dream with its own meaning. 6 When Joseph came to them in the morning and saw them, they were troubled. 7 So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in custody in his master’s house, “Why are your faces downcast today?” 8 They said to him, “We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.” And Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me, I beg you.”
9 So the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, “In my dream there was a vine before me, 10 and on the vine there were three branches; as soon as it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters ripened into grapes. 11 Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.” 12 Then Joseph said to him, “This is its interpretation: the three branches are three days; 13 within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office; and you shall place Pharaoh’s cup in his hand as formerly, when you were his butler. 14 But remember me, when it is well with you, and do me the kindness, I beg you, to make mention of me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this house. 15 For I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews; and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.”
16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream: there were three cake baskets on my head, 17 and in the uppermost basket there were all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating it out of the basket on my head.” 18 And Joseph answered, “This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days; 19 within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head—from you!—and hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat the flesh from you.”
20 On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he made a feast for all his servants, and lifted up the head of the chief butler and the head of the chief baker among his servants. 21 He restored the chief butler to his butlership, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand; 22 but he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. 23 Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.
*Daily Lectio Divina Question:
Have I shared my dreams with the Lord lately? Lord, help me to interpret the dreams you've placed in my heart. Give me the courage to share them with at least one other person, and to take a concrete step to achieve them.
Biblical Commentary provided by the Catholic Biblical School of Michigan. Join a Catholic Biblical School of Michigan class this September at Holy Family in Grand Blanc, or online.
Revised Standard Version; Second Catholic Edition. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006).
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Después de estos sucesos, el copero
y el panadero del rey de
Egipto ofendieron a su señor, el rey de
Egipto. 2 El faraón se llenó de ira contra
sus dos eunucos, el jefe de los coperos
y el jefe de los panaderos, 3 y los puso
bajo custodia en casa del capitán de los
guardias, en la cárcel donde José estaba
preso. 4 El capitán de los guardias se los
encargó a José para que los sirviera, y
estuvieron algún tiempo bajo custodia.
5 Ambos, el copero y el panadero del
rey de Egipto, que estaban presos en
la cárcel, tuvieron sendos sueños en la
misma noche, y cada sueño con un sentido.
6 Por la mañana José entró a donde
estaban ellos y los vio abatidos. 7 Entonces
preguntó a los eunucos del faraón
que estaban con él en la cárcel bajo custodia:
–¿Por qué tenéis hoy tan mala cara?
8 Le contestaron:
–Hemos tenido un sueño, y no hay
nadie que lo interprete.
José les replicó:
–¿No pertenecen a Dios las interpretaciones?
Por favor, contádmelos.
9 El jefe de los coperos contó a José
su sueño. Le dijo:
–En mi sueño había una vid delante
de mí, 10 y en la vid tres sarmientos; entonces
echaba yemas, florecía y sus racimos
se convertían en uvas maduras.
11 Yo tenía en la mano la copa del faraón,
tomaba las uvas, las exprimía en la copa
del faraón y ponía la copa en la mano
del faraón.
12 José le respondió:
–Ésta es su interpretación: Los tres
sarmientos son tres días. 13 Al cabo de
tres días el faraón te levantará la condena
y te repondrá en tu cargo; pondrás la
copa del faraón en su mano, como acostumbrabas
antes cuando eras copero.
14 Y si te acuerdas de mí cuando te vaya
bien, ten la bondad de hablarle de mí al
faraón para que me saque de esta cárcel.
15 Pues fui arrebatado del país de los
hebreos, y nada he hecho aquí para que
me metieran al calabozo.
16 Al ver el jefe de los panaderos que
había interpretado favorablemente, dijo
a José:
–También yo he soñado que llevaba
tres cestas de pan sobre la cabeza; 17 y en
la cesta de arriba estaba toda la repostería
que come el faraón; pero los pájaros
se la comían de la cesta que llevaba
en la cabeza.
18 Respondió José:
–Ésta es la interpretación: Las tres
cestas son tres días; 19 al cabo de tres días
el faraón te levantará la condena, te colgará
de un árbol, y los pájaros comerán
tu carne.
20 Al tercer día era el cumpleaños del
faraón, y preparó un banquete para todos
sus servidores. Entonces levantó la
condena del jefe de los coperos y la del
jefe de los panaderos, en medio de sus
siervos. 21 Restableció al jefe de los coperos
en su cargo de copero, y éste puso la
copa en la mano del faraón. 22 En cambio
al jefe de los panaderos le colgó,
como les había interpretado José. 23 El
jefe de los coperos no se acordó de José,
sino que se olvidó de él
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La Biblia de Navarra
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para el Año de la Biblia del Obispo
dado por Ediciones Universidad de Navarra, S.A. (EUNSA).