What Does Genesis 40:18 Mean in the King James?

And Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation thereof: The three baskets are three days:

Genesis 40:18 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

Interpretation reveals that the three baskets were carrying a measure of time: three days.

THE MEANING

A visible image can hold meaning beyond its surface: here, three baskets resolve into three days. Interpretation makes that hidden measure legible now.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

A sign means only what it visibly shows.

THE ROOT

פִּתְרֹנוֹ

pithrōnô

GROWS FROM

פ־ת־ר

p-t-r

To interpret or solve; to make a dream’s meaning intelligible.

The verse uses pithron, “interpretation” or “solution,” from the same root used for “interpreter” and “interpretations” nearby. That shared root binds the one who interprets to the solution itself: both make a hidden sign intelligible.

ALSO GROWS

pōtēr: Interpreter; one who interprets a dream.

פֹּתֵר

Genesis 40:8 uses this form when the dreamers say there is no interpreter, linking the act of interpretation to the solution Joseph gives here.

pithrōnîm: Interpretations; solutions to dreams.

פִּתְרֹנִים

Also in Genesis 40:8, this plural form shares the root of the singular “interpretation” in this verse.

THE PATTERN

Scripture makes hidden things legible by naming what an image signifies.

The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one.

Genesis 41:26 · KJVThe dream’s animals and grain become legible as a measure of years.

And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.

Daniel 2:38 · KJVThe image of a golden head is identified with the king it signifies.

And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

Revelation 17:9 · KJVThe vision’s heads are made intelligible by naming the mountains they signify.

THE THREAD

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.

Genesis 40:8 · KJV

“Interpreter,” “interpretations,” and “interpretation” all come from the Hebrew root ⁨פ־ת־ר⁩ (p-t-r). This earlier verse frames the solution here as the making of a hidden sign intelligible.

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