Genesis 41:9

9 Then the chief butler spoke to Pharaoh, saying: "I remember my faults this day.

Genesis 41:9 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 41:9

Then spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh
When the magicians and wise men could not interpret his dreams, he was in distress of mind on that account: saying, I do remember my faults this day;
which some interpret of his forgetfulness of Joseph and his afflictions, and of his ingratitude to him, and breach of promise in not making mention of him to Pharaoh before this time; but they seem rather to be faults he had committed against Pharaoh, and were the reason of his being wroth with him, as in ( Genesis 41:10 ) ; and these were either real faults, which the king had pardoned, or however such as he had been charged with, and cleared from; and which he now in a courtly manner takes to himself, and owns them, that the king's goodness and clemency to him might appear, and lest he should seem to charge the king with injustice in casting him into prison; which circumstance he could not avoid relating in the story he was about to tell.

Genesis 41:9 In-Context

7 And the seven thin heads devoured the seven plump and full heads. So Pharaoh awoke, and indeed, it was a dream.

8 Now it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. And Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them for Pharaoh.

9 Then the chief butler spoke to Pharaoh, saying: "I remember my faults this day.

10 When Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, both me and the chief baker,

11 we each had a dream in one night, he and I. Each of us dreamed according to the interpretation of his own dream.