Genesis 40:7

And he asked Pharaoh’s officers that were with him in the ward of his lord’s house, saying, Wherefore look ye so sadly to day?

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
asked	וַיִּשְׁאַ֞ל vai.yish.'Al	H7592	to inquire · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Pharaoh’s	פַרְעֹ֗ה far.'Oh	H6547	Paroh · noun, masculine singular absolute
officers	סְרִיסֵ֣י se.ri.Sei	H5631	a eunuch · noun, common masculine plural construct
ward	בְמִשְׁמַ֛ר ve.mish.Mar	H4929	a guard (the man · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
lord’s	אֲדֹנָ֖יו 'a.do.Nav	H113	sovereign · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
house	בֵּ֥ית beit	H1004	a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine singular construct
saying	לֵאמֹ֑ר le.Mor	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
look	פְּנֵיכֶ֥ם pe.nei.Khem	H6440	the face (as the part that turns) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
sadly	רָעִ֖ים ra.'Im	H7451	bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · adjective, masculine plural absolute
day	הַיּֽוֹם hai.Yom	H3117	a day (as the warm hours) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Nehemiah 2:2 Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was…
1 Samuel 1:8 Then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to th…
Judges 18:24 And he said, Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and ye are gone away: and what have I more? and what is this that ye s…
2 Samuel 13:4 And he said unto him, Why art thou, being the king’s son, lean from day to day? wilt thou not tell me? And Amnon said unto him, I love Tamar…
Luke 24:17 And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 40:5-19

Observe, I. The special providence of God, which filled the heads of these two prisoners with unusual dreams, such as made extraordinary impressions upon them, and carried with them evidences of a divine origin, both in one night. Note, God has immediate access to the spirits of men, which he can make serviceable to his own purposes whenever he pleases, quite beyond the intention of those concerned. To him all hearts are open, and anciently he spoke not only to his own people, but to others, in dreams, Job 33:15. Things to come were thus foretold, but very obscurely. II. The impression which was made upon these prisoners by their dreams (Gen 40:6): They were sad. It was not the prison that m…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 40:5

they dreamed a dream--Joseph, influenced by the spirit of true religion, could feel for others (Ecc 4:1; Rom 12:15; Phi 2:4). Observing them one day extremely depressed, he inquired the cause of their melancholy; and being informed it was owing to a dream they had respectively dreamed during the previous night, after piously directing them to God (Dan 2:30; Isa 26:10), he volunteered to aid them, through the divine help, in discovering the import of their vision. The influence of Providence must be seen in the remarkable fact of both officers dreaming such dreams in one night. He moves the spirits of men.

Adam Clarke on Genesis 40:6

They were sad - They concluded that their dreams portended something of great importance, but they could not tell what.

John Gill on Genesis 40:7

And he asked Pharaoh's officers that were with him,.... The chief butler and baker that were committed to his care, and with whom he now was: in the ward of the lord's house; this seems to confirm what is before observed, that the captain of the guard that charged Joseph with them was Potiphar his master; though indeed the keeper of the prison that was under Potiphar, the captain of the guard, might be called Joseph's lord or master, but the house could not with so much propriety be called his: saying, wherefore look ye so sadly today? as they were officers, who had been in lucrative places, they lived well and merrily, and expected very probably they should be released in a short time, no…

The Church Fathers

This remarkable man, however, concerned for their comfort, noticed that they were dismayed by the experience of the dreams and confused in mind; so he asked, "Why so downcast today?" The dejection on their faces, you see, betrayed the apprehension within them. Hence a sage too has said, "When the heart is free from care, the face beams, but when it is in mourning the face falls." So, when he saw them lost in dejection from the experience of their dreams, he questioned them to discover the cause. See how, even when he found himself in prison, he gave evidence of his characteristic virtue and was concerned to relieve the sadness of others.
— John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON GENESIS 63.4

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Butler — Properly a servant in charge of the wine (Gen. 40:1-13; 41:9). The Hebrew word, mashkeh, thus translated is rendered also (plural) “cup-bearers” (1 Kings 10:5; 2 Chr. 9:4). Nehemiah (1:11) was…
Cup-bearer — An officer of high rank with Egyptian, Persian, Assyrian, and Jewish monarchs. The cup-bearer of the king of Egypt is mentioned in connection with Joseph’s history (Gen. 40:1-21; 41:9). Rabshakeh…
Dreams · Mentioned in scripture of: Pharaoh’s butler and baker — Mentioned in scripture of: Pharaoh’s butler and baker
Egypt · History of Israel in: Joseph interprets the chief baker’s and the chief butler’s dreams — History of Israel in: Joseph interprets the chief baker’s and the chief butler’s dreams
Joseph · .Of the two pri — .Of the two pri

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Genesis 40:7

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 40:5-19

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 40:5

Adam Clarke on Genesis 40:6

John Gill on Genesis 40:7

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Genesis 40:7

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 40:5-19

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 40:5

Adam Clarke on Genesis 40:6

John Gill on Genesis 40:7

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Genesis 40:6-11

Keil & Delitzsch on Genesis 40:5-7

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Genesis 40:5-8

Rashi on Genesis 40:6