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.”
Parallel translations
- WEB 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.”
- KJV Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee.
- NKJV Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head from you and hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat your flesh from you.”
- NASB within three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head from you and will hang you on a wooden post, and the birds will eat your flesh off you.”
- NLT Three days from now Pharaoh will lift you up and impale your body on a pole. Then birds will come and peck away at your flesh.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Joseph foretells that within three days the baker will be executed and his body left exposed to birds.
Overview
In contrast to the cup bearer's restoration, the baker faces death and public shame. Joseph's bold honesty reflects his role as a faithful messenger who does not flatter. The verse underscores that God's revealed word may bring judgment as well as mercy.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Gen 40:22But Pharaoh hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had described to them in his interpretation.
- Gen 40:13Within 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.
- Josh 8:29He hung the king of Ai on a tree until evening, and at sunset Joshua commanded that they take down the body from the tree and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And over it they raised a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day.
- 1 Sam 17:44“Come here,” he called to David, “and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”
- 1 Sam 17:46This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand. This day I will strike you down, cut off your head, and give the carcasses of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the creatures of the earth. Then the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.
- 2 Sam 21:10And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest until the rain from heaven poured down on the bodies, she did not allow the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.
- 2 Sam 21:6let seven of his male descendants be delivered to us so that we may hang them before the LORD at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the LORD.” “I will give them to you,” said the king.
- Prov 30:17As for the eye that mocks a father and scorns obedience to a mother, may the ravens of the valley pluck it out and young vultures devour it.
- Ezek 39:4On the mountains of Israel you will fall—you and all your troops and the nations with you. I will give you as food to every kind of ravenous bird and wild beast.
- Acts 20:27For I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole will of God.
- Gal 3:13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
- Gen 40:17In the top basket were all sorts of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.”
- Deut 21:22–23If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is executed, and you hang his body on a tree,
- Gen 41:13And it happened to us just as he had interpreted: I was restored to my position, and the other man was hanged.”
- Josh 10:26After this, Joshua struck down and killed the kings, and he hung their bodies on five trees and left them there until evening.
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 40:19 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.