Genesis 40:8

Gen 40:8 And 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.

Ver. 8. And there is no interpreter.] The superstitious Egyptians did curiously observe their dreams; and commonly repaired to the soothsayers for an interpretation. {Gen 41:8} Joseph calls these idolaters from their superstitions vanities to the living God; as Isaiah did those of his time, {Isa 8:19-20} and Daniel those of his. {Dan 2:28; Dan 5:18} He had consulted with God by prayer, and with the Scripture, which revealed sufficient direction to him, {Eze 31:1-12} and so soon despatched the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. {Dan 4:10} So Joseph here; he suffered "troubles as an evildoer, even unto bonds: but the word of God is not bound." {2Ti 2:9}

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.

Gen 40:8. Do not interpretations belong to God? — He means the God whom he worshipped, to the knowledge of whom he endeavours hereby to lead them. And if interpretations belong to God, he is a free agent, and may communicate the power to whom he pleases, therefore tell me your dreams.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Cannot God raise up such as shall interpret such things?

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

Verse 8. There is no interpreter] They either had access to none, or those to whom they applied could give them no consistent, satisfactory meaning.

Do not interpretations belong to God?] God alone, the Supreme Being, knows what is in futurity; and if he have sent a significant dream, he alone can give the solution.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(8) There is no interpreter.—In Egypt it was the business of men trained for the purpose, called in Gen_41:8, magicians and wise men, to interpret dreams, and to such the butler and baker could have no access from their prison. But Joseph denies that art and training can really avail, and claims that the interpretation belongs to God.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. none that can interpret it] The Egyptians regarded the interpretation of dreams as a science requiring special study; or as a department of magic needing special initiation. Had the two officials been at liberty, they would have each repaired to their special soothsayer or dream-interpreter for an explanation of the dream that had so greatly disturbed them.

belong to God] Joseph claims that the interpretation of dreams is neither science nor magic. The man, to whom God reveals His secrets, alone can interpret them. He himself does not pretend to interpret. But, possibly, God may make use of His servant to make known His mind, cf. Gen_41:16; Gen_41:38-39 and Dan_2:19; Dan_2:28; Dan_2:47.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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, Gen 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" (z), 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.

(z) "nunc", Drusius.

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

Doth not interpretation belong to God? When dreams are from God, as these were, the interpretation of them is a gift of God. But the generality of dreams are not of this sort; but either proceed from the natural complexions and dispositions of persons, or the roving of their imaginations in the day on such objects as they are much affected with, or from their mind being disturbed with cares and troubles, and oppressed with bodily infirmities: or they are suggested by evil spirits, to flatter, or to terrify weak minds; in order to gain belief, and so draw them into error or superstition; or at least to trouble them in their sleep, whom they cannot move while they are awake: so that the general rule, with regard to dreams, is not to observe them, nor to give any credit to them. (Challoner) --- Physicians indeed, sometimes from some judgment of the nature of a distemper from dreams; on which subject, Hippocrates and Galen have written. But to pretend to discover by them the future actions of free agents, would be superstitious, Deuteronomy xviii. 10. (Tirinus) --- Justin (xxxvi. 2,) says, "Joseph was the first interpreter of dreams, and often gave proofs of his knowledge," &c.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

There is no interpreter of it, to wit, with us, or to whom we can now resort; for otherwise there were many in Egypt of that profession, Gen 41:8.

Do not interpretations belong to God? In vain do you expect such things from your wise men, for it is only that God who sends these dreams that can interpret them, and to him you should seek for it.

Tell me, who am the servant of the true God, who useth to communicate his secrets to his people, and who, I doubt not, will hear my prayers for this mercy. This he spoke by special direction and instinct from God, who had given this gift to him.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

8. Do not interpretations belong to God — He who had been visited with prophetic dreams in childhood, (Gen_37:5; Gen_37:9,) believed that God alone could interpret them. Comp. Gen_41:16; Gen_41:25; Gen_41:32. In his imprisonment and loneliness he might well have despaired of any fulfilling of his own dreams, but he trusts in God.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And they said unto him, We hays dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it literally, a dream have we dreamt, and interpreting it there is none. This must be noted as a third peculiarity connected with these dreams, that both of their recipients were similarly affected by them, though there was much in the butler s dream to inspire hope rather than dejection. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? literally, Are not interpretations to Elohim? i.e. the Supreme Being (cf. Gen_41:16; Dan_2:11, Dan_2:28, Dan_2:47) The Egyptians believed oti ajnqrwpwn men oujdenietai hJ tecnh mantikh twn deroise (Herod., 2:83). Tell me them, I pray you. Joseph"s request implies that the consciousness of his Divine calling to be a prophet had begun to dawn upon him, and that he was now speaking from an inward conviction, doubtless produced within his mind by Elohim, that he could unfold the true significance of the dreams.

HOMILIES BY J.F. MONTGOMERY Ver. 8.

The interpreter of God"s message.

We cannot but notice the importance often assigned in the Bible to dreams, as channels of revelation from God. The dreams of Jacob and of Pharaoh, and passages such as Deu_13:1 and Joe_2:28, show this.It may be that in the absence of the written word, which in its completeness is our heritage, God"s message was thus given to them in portions. Applying this thought to the circumstances of the text, we see men who had received a message from God which they believed was of importance; but they could not understand it, and they are sad because there is no interpreter.

I THE DEEP IMPORTANCE OF GOD"S MESSAGE. How many questions does life present! What and where are we? Whither going? What lies beyond the present? I see that all things decay; yet on all sides life from death. Is there such revival for me? Can the active, thinking spirit be as though it had never been passed from existence ere the frail body began to decay? And if there be a life beyond the present, what is its nature? and what the preparation for it? Vainly does human wisdom try to answer these questions. He who made all things alone can explain his works, (Psa_94:9-12) and the Bible is his answer to our questions, wherein he tells us what we are, for what created, and how to fulfill the object of our being. (Psa_119:105)

II But WE NEED AN INTERPRETER. It may be asked, Why? The Bible is open. Its words are such as any one can understand. This is true, as far as regards facts, and precepts, and doctrines. There is a knowledge of the word which the natural man can attain to; but the Holy Spirit alone can so open it as to make it "the power of God." It is one thing to know the doctrines of sin and of salvation, and quite another to know ourselves as sinners, and Christ as the Savior. The one puffs up with pride of knowledge, the other leads to the one Foundation. There is no more dangerous snare than of ignoring this work of the Holy Spirit. Too often men do not believe their need of it, and do not believe in his help. And thus the Bible is found dull, and its teaching departed from in daily life.

III How TO GET THE INTERPRETER"S HELP. "Tell me." Think of our Lord watching his disciples in the boat. So he watches over thee, ready to help. Hast thou found it so? Has the light of God"s love entered thy heart? It is the special work of the Holy Spirit to guide into all truth; (Joh_16:13) not in solving mysteries and hard questions, but in revealing Christ to the heart. Have you sought this; sought with expectation the full gift; sought to know Christ, (Php_3:10) and the transforming power of belief in his love? Will you seek? There lies the difficulty the want of earnestness. Men seem afraid of being earnest. But it is the earnest (Mat_11:12, biastai) who enter the kingdom of heaven. M.

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

Do not interpretations belong to God? - He means the God whom he worshipped, to the knowledge of whom he endeavours hereby to lead them. And if interpretations belong to God, he is a free agent, and may communicate the power to whom he pleases, therefore tell me your dreams.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

On their replying that they had dreamed, and there was no one to interpret the dream, Joseph reminded them first of all that "interpretations are God's," come from God, are His gift; at the same time he bade them tell him their dreams, from a consciousness, no doubt, that he was endowed with this divine gift.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

AND THERE IS NO INTERPRETER OF IT. The meaning thereof is that “there is no one to inform us concerning the future which can be derived from the dream.”It is possible that they sent for some magicians in the morning, or that there were people with them in the prison, but no one could interpret it. It may be that they said; “There is no one in the world, in our opinion, who can interpret it, for it is very obscure.”

DO NOT (‘HALO’) INTERPRETATIONS BELONG TO G-D? Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained it as saying that “future events destined to come as indicated in dreams belong to G-d, for He alone brings on the dream and lets the future be known, and it is He who makes peace, and creates evil, but in my speaking to you there is neither benefit nor loss.” This he said so that they should not punish him if evil should befall them, or so that they should tell him the dreams and not scorn him. But if so, there is no sense for the word halo (do not) in this context. is out of place. Perhaps its meaning is the same as that of the word hinei (behold). Thus Joseph is saying, “Behold, to G-d alone belong interpretations, but not to man the interpreter.”In my opinion the correct interpretation is that Joseph is saying; “Do not interpretations of all dreams which are obscure and confined belong to G-d? He can make known the interpretation of your dreams. Now if it is obscure to you tell it to me; perhaps He will be pleased to reveal His secret to me.”

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

ופתר אין אותו, they had already asked other people to explain their dreams to them but had not found anyone who could interpret it.

?הלא לאלוקים פתרונים, he was reminded of his own dreams. He was still awaiting the correct interpretation of his own dreams, something known only to G’d. He knew however, that G’d lets you dream certain dreams in order to foreshadow coming events. Seeing that this is so, there must be people who can interpret such dreams, why else would the phenomenon of dreams exist? The reason why their dreams were so confused, i.e. that they perceived themselves to be merely bakers and cup-bearers respectively, was that at the time they themselves were imprisoned and it would not have reflected their psychological makeup to perceive of themselves as occupying positions of authority.

ספרו נא לי, perhaps G’d will grant me the insight to interpret the dream.

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.