When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, “I also was in my dream, and behold, three baskets of white bread were on my head.
Parallel Translations
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When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, “I also was in my dream, and behold, three baskets of white bread were on my head.
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When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three white baskets on my head:
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When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said unto Joseph: 'I also saw in my dream, and, behold, three baskets of white bread were on my head;
Cross-references (1)
Passages linked to Genesis 40:16 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 40:1-2 After these things, the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker offended their lord, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cup bearer and the chief baker.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 16. When the chief baker saw He does not…
16. When the chief baker saw He does not care respecting the skill and fidelity of Joseph as an interpreter; but because Joseph had brought good and useful tidings to his companion, he also desires an interpretation, which he hopes will prove according to his mind. So, many, with ardor and alacrity, desire the word of God, not because they simply wish to be governed by the Lord, and to know what is right, but because they dream of mere enjoyment. When, however, the doctrine does not correspond with their wishes, they depart sorrowful and wounded. Now, although the explanation of the dream was about to prove unpleasant and severe; yet Joseph, by declaring, without ambiguity, what had been revealed unto him, executed with fidelity the office divinely committed to him. This freedom must be maintained by prophets and teachers, that they may not hesitate, by their teaching, to inflict a wound on those whom God has sentenced to death. All love to be flattered. Hence the majority of teachers, in desiring to yield to the corrupt wishes of the world, adulterate the word of God. Wherefore, no one is a sincere minister of God’s word, but he, who despising reproach, and being ready, as often as it may be necessary, to attack various offenses, will frame his method of teaching according to the command of God. Joseph would, indeed, have preferred to augur well concerning both; but since it is not in his power to give a prosperous fortune to any one, nothing remains for him but frankly to pronounce whatever he has received from the Lord. So, formerly, although the people chose for themselves prophets who would promise them abundance of wine and oil and corn, while they exclaimed loudly against the holy prophets, because they let fall nothing but threatening, (for these complaints are related in Micah,) yet it was the duty of the servants of the Lord, who had been sent to denounce vengeance, to proceed with severity, although they brought upon themselves hatred and danger.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That is made of white twigs, or as some…
That is made of white twigs, or as some read, baskets full of holes.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 40:16 When the chief baker saw that the…
Gen 40:16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said unto Joseph, I also [was] in my dream, and, behold, [I had] three white baskets on my head:
Ver. 16. When the chief baker saw.] So when hypocrites hear good to be spoken, in the word, to God’s children, they also listen, and fasten upon the comforts, as pertaining to them: they "receive the word with joy": {Mat 13:20} they laugh, as men use to do in some merry dream; they catch at the deserts as children, and conclude with Haman, that they are the men whom the king means to honour. But when they must practise duty, or bear the cross, they depart "sad"; {Mar 10:22} and Christ may keep his heaven to himself, if it be had on no other conditions.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain White baskets; so called from the colour, either of…
White baskets; so called from the colour, either of the baskets, which were made of pilled, and so white twigs, or of the things contained in them, as white bread, &c.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was…
When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good,.... Meaning not that it was right and just, though it was; but that it was agreeable and pleasing, and portended good in the event; and therefore hoped a like interpretation would be given of his dream, and this encouraged him to tell it, which perhaps otherwise he would not have done:
he said unto Joseph, I also was in a dream; or had a dream, and in it things were represented to his mind as follows:
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and, behold, I had three white baskets on my head; which were made of wicker, of rods that had the bark pulled off, and so were white; or which had holes in them, baskets wrought with holes, after the manner of network; though some think this denotes not the colour or form of the basket, but of the bread in them, and interpret the words, baskets of white bread, as Saadiah Gaon, and so the Targum of Jonathan, baskets of most pure bread, and the Targum of Jerusalem, baskets of hot bread; this dream was very agreeable to his office and business as a baker.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Of meal. Hebrew may also mean "white, full of…
Of meal. Hebrew may also mean "white, full of holes," &c.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain THE BAKER'S DREAM. (Gen 40:16-23)
THE BAKER'S DREAM. (Gen 40:16-23)
I had three white baskets--The circumstances mentioned exactly describe his duties, which, notwithstanding numerous assistants, he performed with his own hands.
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white--literally, "full of holes"; that is, wicker baskets. The meats were carried to table upon the head in three baskets, one piled upon the other; and in the uppermost, the bakemeats. And in crossing the open courts, from the kitchen to the dining rooms, the removal of the viands by a vulture, eagle, ibis, or other rapacious bird, was a frequent occurrence in the palaces of Egypt, as it is an everyday incident in the hot countries of the East still. The risk from these carnivorous birds was the greater in the cities of Egypt, where being held sacred, it was unlawful to destroy them; and they swarmed in such numbers as to be a great annoyance to the people.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 16. Three white baskets — Rather, three baskets of…
16. Three white baskets — Rather, three baskets of white bread. On my head — The monuments illustrate this method of carrying baskets in ancient Egypt.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 16. I also] The chief baker is encouraged to…
16. I also] The chief baker is encouraged to relate his dream. There are certain conspicuous similarities in the two dreams: (1) each man is discharging his own special office; (2) the number “3” is a feature in both.
of white bread] LXX τρία κανᾶ χονδριτῶν, Lat. tria canistra farinae. Instead of “white bread,” some scholars prefer the rendering “baskets of open wicker-work,” viz. “baskets shewing their contents” (so Rashi). Symmachus, βαϊνά = “baskets of palm-branches.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (16, 17) Three white baskets.—Rashi explains the phrase of…
(16, 17) Three white baskets.—Rashi explains the phrase of baskets of wicker-work, but most commentators agree in rendering it “baskets of white bread.” The “bakemeats” were all preparations of pastry and confectionery, as throughout the Bible meat does not mean flesh, but food. (Comp. Luk_24:41; Joh_21:5.)
On my head.—The Egyptian men carried Burdens on their heads; the women on their shoulders (Herod. ii. 35).
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Bakemeats.—Heb., All sorts of work for Pharaoh the work of a baker.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 16, 17. When (literally, and) the chief baker…
Vers. 16, 17. When (literally, and) the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he (literally, and he, encouraged by the good fortune predicted to his fellow-prisoner) said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three (literally, and behold three) white baskets literally, baskets of white bread; LXX, kana condritwn; Vulgate, canistra farince; Aquila, kofinoi gurewv (Onkolos, Pererius, Gesenius, Furst, Keil, Kalisch, Murphy, et alii); though the rendering "baskets of holes," i.e. wicker baskets, is preferred by some (Symmachus Datbius, Rosenm and others), and accords with the evidence of the monuments, which frequently exhibit baskets of wickerwork (vide Wilkinson"s "Ancient Egyptians," 2:34, ed. 1878)on my head. According to Herodotus (2:35), Egyptian men commonly carried on their heads, and Egyptian women, like Hagar, (Gen_21:14) on their shoulders. And in the uppermost basket (whose contents alone are described, since it alone was exposed to the depredations of the birds) there was of all manner of bake-meats for Pharaoh literally, all kinds of food for Pharaoh, the work of a baker. The monuments show that the variety of confectionery used in Egypt was exceedingly extensive (Hengstenberg, p. 27). And the birds literally, the bird; a collective, as Gen_1:21, 30 (cf. ver. 19)did eat them out of the basket upon my head.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 the chief of the bakers
the chief of the bakers
This refers to the leading person who made food for the king. See how this was translated in Genesis 40:2.
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I also had a dream, and
"I also had a dream, and in my dream,"
behold, three baskets of bread were on my head
"there were three baskets of bread on my head!" The baker uses word "behold" here to show that he was surprised by what he saw in his dream and to alert Joseph to pay attention.
baked goods for Pharaoh
"baked foods for Pharaoh"
translationWords
favor
dream
bread
Pharaoh
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.