And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.
Parallel translations
- WEB Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “It isn’t in me. God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.”
- BSB “I myself cannot do it,” Joseph replied, “but God will give Pharaoh a sound answer.”
- NKJV So Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.”
- NASB Joseph then answered Pharaoh, saying, “It has nothing to do with me; God will give Pharaoh an answer for his own good.”
- NLT “It is beyond my power to do this,” Joseph replied. “But God can tell you what it means and set you at ease.”
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 humbly denies any power of his own, declaring that God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.
Overview
Joseph deflects all credit from himself and points to God as the true source of interpretation. His humility and faith shine in the highest court of Egypt. This God-centered confession models how believers should testify to the Lord's work rather than their own gifts.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- 2 Cor 3:5Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
- Gen 40:8And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you.
- Dan 2:47The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret.
- Acts 3:12And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?
- Num 12:6And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.
- Dan 2:18–23That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
- Dan 4:2I thought it good to shew the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me.
- Acts 3:7And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
- 1 Cor 15:10But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
- Dan 2:28–30But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;
- Acts 14:14–15Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out,
- 2 Kgs 6:27And he said, If the LORD do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress?
- Luke 19:42Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.
- Gen 37:14And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.
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 41:16 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.