Genesis 40:18

Gen 40:18 And Joseph answered and said, This [is] the interpretation thereof: The three baskets [are] three days:

Ver. 18. And Joseph answered, &c.] It is probable he used some preface to this sad destiny he reads him; as Philo brings him in saying, I would thou hadst not dreamed such a dream: {a} or as Daniel prefaced to Nebuchadnezzar; "My lord, the dream be to them that hate thee, and the interpretation to thine enemies." {Dan 4:19} If ministers, God’s interpreters, must be mannerly in the form, yet in the matter of their message they must be resolute. {a} Not only toothless, but bitter truths must be told, however they be taken. "If I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ." {Gal 1:10}

{a} Utinam tale somnium non vidisses.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He showeth that the ministers of God ought not to conceal that, which God revealeth unto them.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation--The purport was that in three days his execution should be ordered. The language of Joseph describes minutely one form of capital punishment that prevailed in Egypt; namely, that the criminal was decapitated and then his headless body gibbeted on a tree by the highway till it was gradually devoured by the ravenous birds.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

And Joseph answered and said,.... Immediately, directly, without any further thought and meditation, being divinely instructed:

this is the interpretation thereof; of the above dream:

the three baskets are three days; signify three days.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Vers. 18, 19. And Joseph answered and said (with what reluctance and pathos may be imagined), This is the interpretation thereof (the exposition was supplied by God, and, however willing or anxious Joseph might be to soften its meaning to his auditor, he could not deviate a hair"s-breadth from what he knew to be the mind of God): The three baskets are three days: yet within three days literally, in three days more (ut supra, ver. 13) shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee (i.e. deprive thee of life, the phrase containing a resemblance to that employed in ver. 13, and finding its explanation in the words that follow), and shall hang thee on a tree i.e. after decapitation (cf. Deu_21:22; Jos_10:26; 2Sa_4:12) which was probably the mode of execution at that time practiced in Egypt (Michaelis, Clarke, Keil, Murphy, Alford, Inglis, Bush), though some regard the clause as a description of the way in which the baker s life was to be taken from him, viz., either by crucifixion (Onkelos, Rosenm Ainsworth) or by hanging (Willst, Patrick, T. Lewis), and others view it as simply pointing to capital punishment, without indicating the instrument or method (Piscator, Lapide, Mercerus, "Speaker"s Commentary"). And the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee. "The terror of approaching death would be aggravated to the poor man by the prospect of the indignity with which his body was to be treated" (Lawson).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

This is the interpretation

"Here is what the dream means"

The three baskets are three days

"The three baskets represent three days"

will lift up your head from you

Joseph also used the phrase "will lift up your head" when he spoke to the cupbearer in Genesis 40:13. Here it has a different meaning. Possible meanings are 1) "will lift up your head to put a rope around your neck" or 2) "will lift up your head to cut it off."

flesh

Here "flesh" literally means the soft tissue on a person's body.

translationWords

Joseph (OT)

Pharaoh

flesh

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

ויען יוסף, he said that also what was forecast for the baker would occur in three days. The goods in the baskets are also of the type which are prepared in a hurry and which taste well only as long as they are fresh, and would not be served to Pharaoh when stale. The principal difference between the two dreams was that the baker did not see himself serving these pastries to Pharaoh, as opposed to the cup-bearer who featured so prominently in his dream. This detail convinced Joseph that the baker would not be restored to his position. Seeing that the alternative to a pardon was only execution, he said to the baker:

ישא פרעה את ראשך מעליך, i.e. he will separate your head from your body with a sword. Subsequently, he would be hung, and Joseph understood that he would not be given a burial from the fact that the baker had dreamt of the birds of prey. These birds feed on flesh which has not been buried.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.