Kejadian 41:9-24

41:9 Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “Today I recall my failures. ¹  41:10 Pharaoh was enraged with his servants, and he put me in prison in the house of the captain of the guards – me and the chief baker. 41:11 We each had a dream one night; each of us had a dream with its own meaning. ²  41:12 Now a young man, a Hebrew, a servant ³  of the captain of the guards, ⁴  was with us there. We told him our dreams, ⁵  and he interpreted the meaning of each of our respective dreams for us. ⁶  41:13 It happened just as he had said ⁷  to us – Pharaoh ⁸  restored me to my office, but he impaled the baker.” ⁹ 

41:14 Then Pharaoh summoned ¹⁰  Joseph. So they brought him quickly out of the dungeon; he shaved himself, changed his clothes, and came before Pharaoh. 41:15 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had a dream, ¹¹  and there is no one who can interpret ¹²  it. But I have heard about you, that ¹³  you can interpret dreams.” ¹⁴  41:16 Joseph replied to Pharaoh, “It is not within my power, ¹⁵  but God will speak concerning ¹⁶  the welfare of Pharaoh.” ¹⁷ 

41:17 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “In my dream I was standing ¹⁸  by the edge of the Nile. 41:18 Then seven fat and fine-looking cows were coming up out of the Nile, and they grazed in the reeds. ¹⁹  41:19 Then ²⁰  seven other cows came up after them; they were scrawny, very bad-looking, and lean. I had never seen such bad-looking cows ²¹  as these in all the land of Egypt! 41:20 The lean, bad-looking cows ate up the seven ²²  fat cows. 41:21 When they had eaten them, ²³  no one would have known ²⁴  that they had done so, for they were just as bad-looking as before. Then I woke up. 41:22 I also saw in my dream ²⁵  seven heads of grain growing on one stalk, full and good. 41:23 Then ²⁶  seven heads of grain, withered and thin and burned with the east wind, were sprouting up after them. 41:24 The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads of grain. So I told all this ²⁷  to the diviner-priests, but no one could tell me its meaning.” ²⁸ 

[41:9]  ¹ tn Heb “sins, offenses.” He probably refers here to the offenses that landed him in prison (see 40:1).

[41:11]  ² tn Heb “and we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he, each according to the interpretation of his dream we dreamed.”

[41:12]  ³ tn Or “slave.”

[41:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “a servant to the captain of the guards.” On this construction see GKC 419-20 §129.c.

[41:12]  ⁵ tn The words “our dreams” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[41:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “and he interpreted for us our dreams, each according to his dream he interpreted.”

[41:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “interpreted.”

[41:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Pharaoh) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[41:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “him”; the referent (the baker) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[41:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and Pharaoh sent and called,” indicating a summons to the royal court.

[41:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “dreamed a dream.”

[41:15]  ¹² tn Heb “there is no one interpreting.”

[41:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “saying.”

[41:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “you hear a dream to interpret it,” which may mean, “you only have to hear a dream to be able to interpret it.”

[41:16]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “not within me.”

[41:16]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “God will answer.”

[41:16]  ¹⁷ tn The expression שְׁלוֹם פַּרְעֹה (shÿlom par’oh) is here rendered “the welfare of Pharaoh” because the dream will be about life in his land. Some interpret it to mean an answer of “peace” – one that will calm his heart, or give him the answer that he desires (cf. NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[41:17]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “In my dream look, I was standing.” The use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) here (and also in vv. 18, 19, 22, 23) invites the hearer (within the context of the narrative, Joseph; but in the broader sense the reader or hearer of the Book of Genesis) to observe the scene through Pharaoh’s eyes.

[41:18]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and look, from the Nile seven cows were coming up, fat of flesh and attractive of appearance, and they grazed in the reeds.”

[41:19]  ²⁰ tn Heb “And look.”

[41:19]  ²¹ tn The word “cows” is supplied here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[41:20]  ²² tn Heb “the seven first fat cows.”

[41:21]  ²³ tn Heb “when they went inside them.”

[41:21]  ²⁴ tn Heb “it was not known.”

[41:22]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and I saw in my dream and look.”

[41:23]  ²⁶ tn Heb “And look.”

[41:24]  ²⁷ tn The words “all this” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[41:24]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and there was no one telling me.”