Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you, that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.”
Parallel Translations
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Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you, that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.”
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And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it: and I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it.
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And Pharaoh said unto Joseph: 'I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it; and I have heard say of thee, that when thou hearest a dream thou canst interpret it.'
Cross-references (4)
Passages linked to Genesis 41:15 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Daniel 5:16 But I have heard of you, that you can give interpretations, and dissolve doubts. Now if you can read the writing, and make known to me its interpretation, you shall be clothed with purple, and have a chain of gold around your neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.”
- Daniel 5:12 because an excellent spirit, knowledge, understanding, interpreting of dreams, showing of dark sentences, and dissolving of doubts were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation.”
- Genesis 41:9-13 Then the chief cup bearer spoke to Pharaoh, saying, “I remember my faults today. Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, with the chief baker. We dreamed a dream in one night, he and I. Each man dreamed according to the interpretation of his dream. There was with us there a young man, a Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard, and we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams. He interpreted to each man according to his dream. As he interpreted to us, so it was. He restored me to my office, and he hanged him.”
- Psalms 25:14 The friendship of Yahweh is with those who fear him. He will show them his covenant.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (6 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 15. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph. We see that…
15. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph. We see that Pharaoh offers himself as a disciple to Joseph, being persuaded, by the statement of the butler, that he is a prophet of God. This is, indeed, a constrained humility; but it is expressly recorded, in order that, when the opportunity of learning is afforded us, we may not refuse reverently to honor the gifts of the Spirit. Now, though Joseph, in referring Pharaoh to God, seems to deny that he himself is about to interpret the dream, yet his answer bears on a different point: for, because he knew that he was conversing with a heathen addicted to superstitions, he wishes, above all things, to ascribe to God the glory due to him; as if he had said, I am able to do nothing in this matter, nor will I offer anything as from myself; but God alone shall be the interpreter of his own secret. Should any one object, that whenever God uses the agency of men, their office ought to be referred to in connection with his command: that indeed I acknowledge, but yet so that the whole glory may remain with God; according to the saying of St. Paul,
“Neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth.” (1 Corinthians 3:7.)
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Moreover, Joseph not only desires to imbue the mind of Pharaoh with some relish for piety, but, by ascribing the gift of interpreting dreams to God alone, confesses that he is destitute of it, until he obtains it from God. Wherefore, let us also learn, from the example of holy Joseph, to honor the grace of God even among unbelievers; and if they shut the door against the entire and full doctrine of piety; we must, at least, endeavor to instill some drops of it into their minds. Let us also reflect on this, that nothing is less tolerable than for men to arrogate to themselves anything as their own; for this is the first step of wisdom, to ascribe nothing to ourselves; but modestly to confess, that whatever in us is worthy of praise, flows only from the fountain of God’s grace. It is especially worthy of notice, that as the Spirit of understanding is given to any one from heaven, he will become a proper and faithful interpreter of God.
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.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 41:15 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have…
Gen 41:15 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and [there is] none that can interpret it: and I have heard say of thee, [that] thou canst understand a dream to interpret it.
Ver. 15. I have dreamed a dream, and there is none, &c.] So men send not for the minister till given up by the physician. Then they cry out with him in the gospel: "Sir, if thou canst do anything, help us," &c. {Mar 9:22} Whereunto what can we reply, but as that king of Israel did to the woman that cried to him for help, in the famine of Samaria; "If the Lord help thee not, whence shall I help thee? out of the barn floor, or out of the winepress?" {2Ki 6:27} Did not I forewarn you, saying, "touch not the unclean thing," &c., and ye would not hear? "Therefore is this thing come upon you." {Gen 42:21 2Co 6:17}
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And I have heard say, &c.] Pharaoh despiseth not wisdom, how meanly soever habited. Saepe sub attrita latitat sapientia veste: Paupertas est philosophiae vernacula, saith he in Apuleius: and Eumolpus in Petronius, being asked why he went so poorly apparelled, answered, "The study of wisdom never made any man wealthy." {a} And afterward he addeth, "However it comes to pass, poverty is the sister of piety, {b} and virtue is forsaken of fortune." Nudus opum, sed cui coelum terraeque paterent, saith Silius of Archimedes, that great mathematician. And Aelian observes, that the best of the Greeks, Aristides, Phocion, Pelopidas, Epaminondas, Socrates, were very poor men: Lactantius, that Christian Cicero, as Jerome calls him, {c} was so needy that he wanted necessaries. All that Calvin left behind him, books and all, came scarcely to three hundred French crowns, as Beza his colleague witnesseth.
{a} Amor ingenii neminem unquam divitem fecit. - Petron.
{b} Nescio quomodo bonae mentis soror est paupertas. - Ibid.
{c} Lactantius quasi quidam fluvius Tullianae eloquentiae. - Jerome.
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.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,...., Immediately, upon his being…
And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,...., Immediately, upon his being introduced to him:
I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it; that he could yet meet with; none of his magicians or wise men, who made great pretensions to skill in such matters:
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and I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it; it had been reported to him, particularly by the chief butler, that when he heard a dream told him, he had such knowledge and understanding, that he could interpret it, tell the meaning of it, what it portended, and what would be the events signified by it.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Pharaoh said, . . . I have dreamed a…
Pharaoh said, . . . I have dreamed a dream--The king's brief statement of the service required brought out the genuine piety of Joseph; disclaiming all merit, he ascribed whatever gifts or sagacity he possessed to the divine source of all wisdom, and he declared his own inability to penetrate futurity; but, at the same time, he expressed his confident persuasion that God would reveal what was necessary to be known.
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 15. Thou canst understand — Literally, thou hearest a…
15. Thou canst understand — Literally, thou hearest a dream to interpret it.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a…
And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it (literally, and interpreting it there is no one): and I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it literally, I have heard of thee, saying, thou hearest a dream to interpret it.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.