Genesis 40:8

8 And they said to him, "We each have had a dream, and there is no interpreter of it." So Joseph said to them, "Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me, please."

Genesis 40:8 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 40:8

And they said unto him, we have dreamed a dream
Each of them: and [there is] no interpreter of it;
in that place in which they were, the prison; otherwise there were persons enough in the land that pretended to the interpretation of dreams, ( Genesis 41:8 ) ; but they could not come at them, being in prison: and Joseph said unto them, [do] not interpretations [belong] to God?
that is, of dreams, and to him only, meaning the true God whom he worshipped; for as dreams themselves, which are of importance, and predict things to come, are of God; for none can foretell future events but he, and such to whom he imparts the gift of prophecy; so none can interpret dreams with any certainty but God himself, and those to whom he gives the faculty of interpretation of them; this Joseph said to take off their minds from the magicians and wise men, and interpreters of dreams among the Egyptians, these officers were hankering after, and wished they had them with them to interpret their dreams to them; and to suggest unto them, that though he did not arrogate such a power to himself, as having it of himself, yet intimates that he doubted not, but upon an address to his God, he would favour him with the interpretation of their dreams, and therefore encourages them to relate them to him: tell me [them], I pray you;
or "now" ^F26, directly, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; signifying, that he would immediately interpret them to them; no doubt Joseph said this under a divine impulse.

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 (an) "nunc", Drusius.

Genesis 40:8 In-Context

6 And Joseph came in to them in the morning and looked at them, and saw that they were sad.

7 So he asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in the custody of his lord's house, saying, "Why do you look so sad today?"

8 And they said to him, "We each have had a dream, and there is no interpreter of it." So Joseph said to them, "Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me, please."

9 Then the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, "Behold, in my dream a vine was before me,

10 and in the vine were three branches; it was as though it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and its clusters brought forth ripe grapes.