Genesis 40:17

17 And in the upper basket [were] all sorts of baked foods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket upon my head."

Genesis 40:17 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 40:17

And in the uppermost basket [there was] of all manner of
bakemeats for Pharaoh
All sorts of pastry, as tarts, pies, &c. Josephus ^F2 says, two of the baskets were full of bread, and the third had various sorts of food, such as is usually, prepared for kings: and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head;
all the three baskets were upon his head, but this seems to be the uppermost, which the birds could more easily come at; though if the baskets were full of holes, they might through them peck the bread with their bills.

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 Antiqu. l. 2. c. 5. sect. 3.

Genesis 40:17 In-Context

15 For I was surely kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me in this pit."

16 And when the chief baker saw that the interpretation [was] good he said to Joseph, "I also [dreamed]. In my dream, now behold, [there were] three baskets of bread upon my head.

17 And in the upper basket [were] all sorts of baked foods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket upon my head."

18 Then Joseph answered and said, "This [is] its interpretation: The three baskets, they [are] three days.

19 In three days Pharaoh will lift your head from you and hang you on a pole, and the birds will eat your flesh from you."