Kejadian 40:19

40:19 In three more days Pharaoh will decapitate you ¹  and impale you on a pole. Then the birds will eat your flesh from you.”

Kejadian 40:1

The Cupbearer and the Baker

40:1 After these things happened, the cupbearer ²  to the king of Egypt and the royal baker ³  offended ⁴  their master, the king of Egypt.

1 Samuel 17:44

17:44 The Philistine said to David, “Come here to me, so I can give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the field!” ⁵ 

[40:19]  ¹ tn Heb “Pharaoh will lift up your head from upon you.” Joseph repeats the same expression from the first interpretation (see v. 13), but with the added words “from upon you,” which allow the statement to have a more literal and ominous meaning – the baker will be decapitated.

[40:1]  ² sn The Hebrew term cupbearer corresponds to the Egyptian wb’, an official (frequently a foreigner) who often became a confidant of the king and wielded political power (see K. A. Kitchen, NBD³ 248). Nehemiah held this post in Persia.

[40:1]  ³ sn The baker may be the Egyptian retehti, the head of the bakers, who had privileges in the royal court.

[40:1]  ⁴ sn The Hebrew verb translated offended here is the same one translated “sin” in 39:9. Perhaps there is an intended contrast between these officials, who deserve to be imprisoned, and Joseph, who refused to sin against God, but was thrown into prison in spite of his innocence.

[17:44]  ⁵ tc Many medieval Hebrew mss have “the earth” here, instead of the MT’s “the field.”