Genesis 41:9

9 Then the chief butler said to Pharaoh, "I remember my faults today.

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 thin ears swallowed up the seven plump and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream.

8 So in the morning 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 dream, but there was none who could interpret it to Pharaoh.

9 Then the chief butler said to Pharaoh, "I remember my faults today.

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

11 we dreamed on the same night, he and I, each having a dream with its own meaning.