40
The Wine Taster and the Baker
1Some time later, the Egyptian king’s baker and wine taster did something their master didn’t like. 2So Pharaoh became angry with his two officials, the chief wine taster and the chief baker. 3He put them in prison in the house of the captain of the palace guard. It was the same prison where Joseph was kept. 4The captain put Joseph in charge of those men. So Joseph took care of them.
Some time passed while they were in prison. 5Then each of the two men had a dream. The men were the Egyptian king’s baker and wine taster. They were being held in prison. Both of them had dreams the same night. Each of their dreams had its own meaning.
6Joseph came to them the next morning. He saw that they were sad. 7They were Pharaoh’s officials, and they were in prison with Joseph in his master’s house. So he asked them, “Why do you look so sad today?”
8“We both had dreams,” they answered. “But no one can tell us what they mean.”
Then Joseph said to them, “Only God knows what dreams mean. Tell me your dreams.”
9So the chief wine taster told Joseph his dream. He said to him, “In my dream I saw a vine in front of me. 10There were three branches on the vine. As soon as it budded, it flowered. And bunches of ripe grapes grew on it. 11Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand. I took the grapes. I squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup. Then I put the cup in his hand.”
12“Here’s what your dream means,” Joseph said to him. “The three branches are three days. 13In three days Pharaoh will let you out of prison. He’ll give your job back to you. And you will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand. That’s what you used to do when you were his wine taster. 14But when everything is going well with you, remember me. Do me a favor. Speak to Pharaoh about me. Get me out of this prison. 15I was taken away from the land of the Hebrews by force. Even here I haven’t done anything to be put in prison for.”
16The chief baker saw that Joseph had given a positive meaning to the wine taster’s dream. So he said to Joseph, “I had a dream too. There were three baskets of bread on my head. 17All kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh were in the top basket. But the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.”
18“Here’s what your dream means,” Joseph said. “The three baskets are three days. 19In three days Pharaoh will cut your head off. Then he will stick a pole through your body and set the pole up. The birds will eat your flesh.”
20The third day was Pharaoh’s birthday. He had a feast prepared for all his officials. He brought the chief wine taster and the chief baker out of prison. He did it in front of his officials. 21He gave the chief wine taster’s job back to him. Once again the wine taster put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand. 22But Pharaoh had a pole stuck through the chief baker’s body. Then he had the pole set up. Everything happened just as Joseph had told them when he explained their dreams.
23But the chief wine taster didn’t remember Joseph. In fact, he forgot all about him.