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.
Josef tyder drømme i fængslet
1Nogen tid senere skete det, at kongen blev vred på sin hofbager og sin mundskænk. 2Han blev så vred, 3at han satte dem i fængsel, det samme fængsel, hvor Josef var. 4De sad inde i nogen tid, og fængselsinspektøren satte Josef til at have opsyn med dem.
5En nat havde både hofbageren og mundskænken en drøm, og hver drøm havde sin egen betydning. 6Næste morgen, da Josef kom ind til dem, bemærkede han, at de to mænd virkede mere mismodige end normalt.
7„Hvorfor er I så triste i dag?” spurgte han.
8„Vi havde nogle underlige drømme i nat,” forklarede de, „men der er ingen, som kan tyde dem for os.”
„Drømmetydning er Guds sag!” sagde Josef. „Fortæl mig, hvad I drømte.”
9Først fortalte mundskænken sin drøm: „I drømmen så jeg en vinstok. 10Den havde tre grene, som begyndte at skyde knopper, og senere fik den blomster. Snart var der også klaser af modne druer på den. 11Jeg stod med Faraos vinbæger i hånden, så jeg tog drueklaserne og pressede saften ud i bægeret, og rakte det til Farao.”
12„Jeg ved godt, hvad den drøm betyder,” sagde Josef. „De tre grene betyder tre dage. 13Inden tre dage vil Farao føre dig ud af fængslet og give dig dit gamle job tilbage, så du igen rækker ham bægeret som før, da du var hans mundskænk. 14Når det så går dig godt igen, vil jeg bede dig om at huske mig og lægge et godt ord ind for mig hos Farao, så jeg kan komme ud herfra. 15Jeg har ikke gjort noget forkert. Jeg blev kidnappet fra hebræernes land, og her i Egypten har jeg heller ikke gjort noget, man kunne sætte mig i fængsel for.”
16Da hofbageren hørte den positive tydning af den første drøm, fortalte han også sin drøm til Josef. „I drømmen bar jeg tre kurve med brød på hovedet,” sagde han. 17„I den øverste kurv var der alle mulige slags bagværk til Faraos bord, men fuglene kom og spiste det hele!”
18„Nu skal jeg sige dig, hvad den drøm betyder,” sagde Josef. „De tre kurve betyder tre dage. 19Inden tre dage vil Farao føre dig ud af fængslet—men så vil han hugge hovedet af dig og hænge dig op på en pæl, så fuglene kan komme og æde din krop.”
20To40,20 På hebraisk: „den tredje dag”, hvilket svarer til „to dage efter” på dansk. dage efter var det Faraos fødselsdag, og han holdt en fest for sine hoffolk. Da lod han sin mundskænk og sin hofbager komme ud fra fængslet. 21Mundskænken fik sit tidligere embede tilbage, så han igen rakte Farao bægeret. 22Men bageren lod han henrette, som Josef havde forudsagt. 23Mundskænken glemte imidlertid alt om Josef i fængslet.
