Chapter 40

¹After this, it came to pass, that two eunuchs, the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, offended their lord. ²And Pharao being angry with them (now the one was chief butler, the other chief baker) ³He sent them to the prison of the commander of the soldiers, in which Joseph also was prisoner, ⁴But the keeper of the prison delivered them to Joseph, and he served them. Some little time passed, and they were kept in custody. ⁵And they both dreamed a dream the same night, according to the interpretation agreeing to themselves: ⁶And when Joseph was come in to them in the morning, and saw them sad, ⁷He asked them, saying: Why is your oountenance sadder to day than usual? ⁸They answered: We have dreamed a dream, and there is nobody to interpret it to us. And Joseph said to them: Doth not interpretation belong to God? Tell me what you have dreamed. ⁹ The chief butler first told his dream: I saw before me a vine, ¹⁰On which were three branches, which by little and little sent out buds, and after the blossoms brought forth ripe grapes : ¹¹And the cup of Pharao was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into the cup which I held, and I gave the cup to Pharao. ¹²Joseph answered: This is the interpretation of the dream: The three branches are yet three days: ¹³After which Pharao will remember thy service, and will restore thee to thy former place: and thou shalt present him the cup according to thy office, as before thou wast wont to do. ¹⁴Only remember me, when it shall be well with thee, and do me this kindness: to put Pharao in mind to take me out of this prison: ¹⁵For I was stolen away out of the land I of the Hebrews, and here without any fault was cast into the dungeon. ¹⁶The chief baker seeing that he had wisely interpreted the dream, said: I also dreamed a dream, That I had three baskets of meal upon my head: ¹⁷And that in one basket which was uppermost, I carried all meats that are made by the art of baking, and that the birds ate out of it. ¹⁸Joseph answered: This is the interpretation of the dream: The three baskets are yet three days: ¹⁹After which Pharao will take thy hand from thee, and hang thee on a cross, and the birds shall tear thy flesh. ²⁰The third day after this was the birthday of Pharao: and he made a. great feast for his servants, and at the banquet remembered the chief butler, and the chief baker. ²¹And he restored the one to his place to present him the cup: ²²The other he hanged on a gibbet, that the truth of the interpreter might be shewn. ²³But the chief butler, when things prospered with him, forgot his interpreter.