Genesis 40:19

19 Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head and hang you on a tree. ^[a] Then the birds will eat the flesh of your body.”

Genesis 40:19 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 40:19

Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head from
off thee
Order thee to be beheaded; so the Targum of Jonathan and Ben Melech interpret it,

``Pharaoh shall remove thy head from thy body with a sword:''

and shall hang thee on a tree;
his body after his head was severed from it, this should be hung upon a gallows or gibbet, and there continue: and the birds shall eat the flesh from off thee;
as they usually do when bodies are thus hung up, see ( 2 Samuel 21:9 2 Samuel 21:10 ) ; this was signified by the birds eating the bakemeats out of the uppermost basket when upon his head, as it seemed to him in his dream.

Genesis 40:19 In-Context

17 In the top basket were all sorts of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.”

18 Joseph replied, “This is the interpretation: The three baskets are three days.

19 Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head and hang you on a tree. Then the birds will eat the flesh of your body.”

20 On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he held a feast for all his officials, and in their presence he lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker.

21 Pharaoh restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.

Footnotes

• [a] Or and impale you on a pole; similarly in verse 22