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Genesis 40:21

in Genesis 40

Pharaoh restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand:

KJV

And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand:

This verse in Genesis 40

Commentary

4 notes on this verse
And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again,.... Put him into the same office he was in before: and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand; ministered to him in his office the same day, according to his dream and the interpretation of it: the Targum of Jonathan adds this as a reason of his being restored,"because he found that he was not in that counsel,''in which it was consulted to poison Pharaoh; see Gill on Gen 40:1.

This site's exposition

which was Pharaoh’s birthday

on Genesis 40:20-22

Both readings come true on the third day. Clarke notes the first birthday feast in Scripture, and the only other the Bible reports is Herod's. Gill passes on a Jewish tradition that the cupbearer was cleared of a plot to poison Pharaoh and the baker held guilty.

This site's exposition

Pharaoh restored the chief cupbearer to his position

The cupbearer takes up the office he held before, and the dream is fulfilled to the letter. At Genesis 41:9 to 13 he tells Pharaoh this very outcome, his own restoration and the baker's hanging. The fulfilled dream becomes Joseph's reference.

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday--This was a holiday season, celebrated at court with great magnificence and honored by a free pardon to prisoners.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

The words behind it

11 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיָּ֛שֶׁבand he restored

    vaiyashevH7725 →1056 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • שַׂ֥ר[the] chief of

    sarH8269 →421 times

  • הַמַּשְׁקִ֖יםthe cup bearers

    hamashkimH4945 →19 times

  • עַל־to

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • מַשְׁקֵ֑הוּcup bearing his

    mashkehuH4945 →19 times

  • וַיִּתֵּ֥ןand he put

    vaiyitenH5414 →2011 times

  • הַכּ֖וֹסthe cup

    hakosH3563 →34 times

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • כַּ֥ף[the] palm of

    kafH3709 →192 times

  • פַּרְעֹֽה׃Pharaoh

    parohH6547 →274 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Nehemiah 2:1

    Now in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was set before him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had never been sad…

    it leads to

    • Ezra 7:1

      Many years later, during the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,

    • Nehemiah 1:11

      O Lord, may Your ear be attentive to my prayer and to the prayers of Your servants who delight to revere Your name. Give Your servant success this day, I pray, and grant him…

    • Nehemiah 1:1

      These are the words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah: In the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa,

  • Through

    Genesis 40:13

    Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore your position. You will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, just as you did when you were his cupbearer.

    it leads to

    • 2 Kings 25:27

      On the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Judah’s King Jehoiachin, in the year Evil-merodach became king of Babylon, he released King Jehoiachin of Judah from…

    • Jeremiah 52:31

      On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the first year of the reign of Evil-merodach king of Babylon, he pardoned…

    • Psalms 3:3

      But You, O LORD, are a shield around me, my glory, and the One who lifts my head.

    • Genesis 40:19–22

      Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head and hang you on a tree. Then the birds will eat the flesh of your body.”

    • Genesis 7:4

      For seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living thing I have made.”

Where this verse is studied

About Genesis

The Tower of Babel, Pieter Brueghel the Elder, 1563. Public domain.
The Tower of Babel, Pieter Brueghel the Elder, 1563. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.