1 The king’s chief cupbearer and his chief baker made the king angry.

2 Pharaoh was furious with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker.

3 So he put them in confinement in the house of the captain of the bodyguard. It was the same place where Joseph was imprisoned.

4 The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph. He took care of them. After they had been confined for some time,

5 both prisoners, the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt, had dreams one night. Each man had a dream with its own special meaning.

6 Joseph saw that they were upset when he came to them in the morning.

7 He asked these officials of Pharaoh who were with him in his master’s prison: »Why do you look so unhappy today?«

8 »We both had dreams,« they answered him, »but there is no one to tell us what they mean.« »Is it not God who can tell what dreams mean?« Joseph asked them. »Tell me all about them.«

9 So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream. He said: »In my dream a grapevine with three branches appeared in front of me.

10 »Soon after it sprouted it blossomed. Then its clusters ripened into grapes.

11 »Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand. I took the grapes and squeezed them into it. I put the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.«

12 »This is what it means,« Joseph said to him. »The three branches are three days.

13 »In the next three days Pharaoh will release you and restore you to your position. You will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand as you used to do when you were his cupbearer.

14 »Remember me when things go well for you. Please do me a favor. Mention me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this prison.

15 »I was in fact kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews. And here I have done nothing that they should have put me into the dungeon.«

16 When the chief baker saw that he had interpreted favorably, he said to Joseph: »I also saw in my dream three baskets of white bread on my head.

17 »The top basket contained all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh. The birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.«

18 Joseph answered: »This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days.

19 »In three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head from you. He will hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh off you.«

20 It happened on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday that he made a feast for all his servants. He lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants.

21 He restored the chief cupbearer to his office, and he put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.

22 He did indeed hang the chief baker, just as Joseph had interpreted to them.

23 Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph. In fact he forgot him.