The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot all about him.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yet the chief cup bearer didn’t remember Joseph, but forgot him.
- KJV Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.
- NKJV Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.
- NASB Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.
- NLT Pharaoh’s chief cup-bearer, however, forgot all about Joseph, never giving him another thought.
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
The restored cup bearer forgets Joseph, leaving him still imprisoned.
Overview
Despite Joseph's plea to be remembered, the cup bearer's neglect prolongs Joseph's unjust confinement. Human gratitude fails, but God's timing has not. This forgotten promise sets up the later moment when Joseph's deliverance will come at exactly the right hour, by God's hand rather than man's.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Job 19:14My kinsmen have failed me, and my friends have forgotten me.
- Ps 31:12I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind. I am like a broken vessel.
- Ps 105:19until his prediction came true and the word of the LORD proved him right.
- Amos 6:6You drink wine by the bowlful and anoint yourselves with the finest oils, but you fail to grieve over the ruin of Joseph.
- Eccl 9:15–16Now a poor wise man was found in the city, and he saved the city by his wisdom. Yet no one remembered that poor man.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 40:23 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
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