Single lesson
Joseph Interprets the Prisoners' Dreams
Genesis 40:1–23
Joseph is in prison when two of Pharaoh’s officers are placed there with him. This lesson helps students trace the account carefully, compare the two dreams and outcomes, and notice what Joseph says about God and what the ending leaves unresolved.
Before you teach
Pharaoh became angry with his chief cup bearer and chief baker and put them in custody where Joseph was bound. The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he cared for them. After many days, both officers had dreams in one night and were troubled because they had no interpreter.
Students will sequence Genesis 40:1–23, compare what Joseph, the cup bearer and the baker say and do, and explain from the text that Joseph says interpretations belong to God.
Welcome: Setting the scene in the prison
6 minWrite the three main names where everyone can see them: Joseph, chief cup bearer, chief baker. Explain that Pharaoh was angry with the two officers and placed them in custody where Joseph was bound. Joseph was assigned to care for them. Ask students to listen for actions they can observe in the text, not guesses about motives.
Genesis 40:2, Genesis 40:3, Genesis 40:4
Read and explain: Joseph notices and points to God
9 minRead verses 5 to 8 aloud. Both officers dreamed in one night, and Joseph noticed their sadness in the morning. He asked a direct question about their troubled faces. When they said there was no interpreter, Joseph answered, ‘Don’t interpretations belong to God?’ Pause there and underline that statement before discussing either dream.
Genesis 40:5, Genesis 40:6, Genesis 40:7, Genesis 40:8
Discuss the first dream and Joseph’s request
8 minRead the cup bearer’s dream and Joseph’s interpretation. List the dream details: vine, three branches, ripe grapes and Pharaoh’s cup. Then list Joseph’s explanation: the three branches are three days, and the cup bearer will be restored to his office. Notice Joseph’s request to be remembered before Pharaoh and his statement that he should not be in the dungeon.
Genesis 40:9, Genesis 40:10, Genesis 40:11, Genesis 40:12, Genesis 40:13, Genesis 40:14, Genesis 40:15
Compare the second dream and the outcomes
9 minRead the baker’s dream and Joseph’s interpretation with a sober tone. The dream also has a set of three, this time three baskets. Joseph says the three baskets are three days, but the outcome is judgement. Note carefully that the passage gives a serious and sad ending for the baker, and then shows both outcomes happening on the third day.
Genesis 40:16, Genesis 40:17, Genesis 40:18, Genesis 40:19, Genesis 40:20, Genesis 40:21, Genesis 40:22
Closing: The unresolved last verse
8 minFinish by reading verse 23 on its own after the class has summarised the third day. Ask students to add a fourth step to their summary: Joseph was forgotten. This keeps the ending accurate. Review the whole account as four stages: prison setting, two dreams, two interpretations, and Joseph not remembered.
Genesis 40:20, Genesis 40:21, Genesis 40:22, Genesis 40:23
Questions to explore
What does Joseph do before he says anything about interpreting dreams?
Look first at Joseph’s observable actions in the morning. He sees the men are sad and asks why they look sad that day.
Genesis 40:6, Genesis 40:7
What exact statement does Joseph make about interpretation, and why is that important in this account?
Use Joseph’s own words from the verse before either dream is explained.
Genesis 40:8
How are the two dreams similar, and how are their outcomes different?
Compare the repeated pattern of ‘three’ in both dreams, then compare restoration for the cup bearer with judgement for the baker, and include the final note that Joseph was forgotten.
Genesis 40:12, Genesis 40:13, Genesis 40:18, Genesis 40:19, Genesis 40:21, Genesis 40:22, Genesis 40:23
Make, think or respond
Dreams and Outcomes Comparison Chart
What you’ll need
- Bible
- plain paper
- pencils or pens
- ruler
Try it together
- Draw a chart with four headings: Cup Bearer’s Dream, Baker’s Dream, Joseph’s Interpretation, Outcome on the Third Day.
- Read the verses again and fill the chart with short phrases from the passage.
- Add a final line under the chart: ‘What happened to Joseph afterwards?’ and write the answer from verse 23.
- Use the completed chart to retell the account in order using only details found in the text.
This activity keeps the class focused on careful observation, helping students compare the two dreams, the two interpretations and the final unresolved detail in Genesis 40:23.
Adapt for your group
- For ages 12 to 13, provide the chart headings in advance and complete the first row together before students continue in pairs.
- For ages 15 to 17, ask students to mark each spoken statement in the passage by speaker and discuss how Joseph’s words in Genesis 40:8 shape the whole account.
An optional closing prayer
You may pray: ‘God, thank you that Joseph said interpretations belong to you. Please help us listen carefully to your word, speak truthfully, and remember what you have shown us in this passage.’
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Genesis 40
1 After these things, the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker offended their lord, the king of Egypt.
2 Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cup bearer and the chief baker.
3 He put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound.
4 The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he took care of them. They stayed in prison many days.
5 They both dreamed a dream, each man his dream, in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the cup bearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were bound in the prison.
6 Joseph came in to them in the morning, and saw them, and saw that they were sad.
7 He asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in custody in his master’s house, saying, “Why do you look so sad today?”
8 They said to him, “We have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it.” Joseph said to them, “Don’t interpretations belong to God? Please tell it to me.”
9 The chief cup bearer told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, “In my dream, behold, a vine was in front of me,
10 and in the vine were three branches. It was as though it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters produced ripe grapes.
11 Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.”
12 Joseph said to him, “This is its interpretation: the three branches are three days.
13 Within three more days, Pharaoh will lift up your head, and restore you to your office. You will give Pharaoh’s cup into his hand, the way you did when you were his cup bearer.
14 But remember me when it is well with you. Please show kindness to me, and make mention of me to Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house.
15 For indeed, I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.”
16 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.
17 In the uppermost basket there were all kinds of baked food for Pharaoh, and the birds ate them out of the basket on my head.”
18 Joseph answered, “This is its interpretation. The three baskets are three days.
19 Within three more days, Pharaoh will lift up your head from off you, and will hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat your flesh from off you.”
20 On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he made a feast for all his servants, and he lifted up the head of the chief cup bearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants.
21 He restored the chief cup bearer to his position again, and he gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand;
22 but he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them.
23 Yet the chief cup bearer didn’t remember Joseph, but forgot him.
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.