Scriptural poems being several portions of Scripture digested into English verse / by John Bunyan.

CHAP. XL.

AND now whilst Joseph in Confinement lay, It came to pass upon a certain day, That Pharaoh King of Egypt, being wroth With his chief Butler, and chief Baker both, For their Offences, put them both in Ward, In the House of the Captain of the Guard: Into the Place where Joseph was confin'd, Unto whose Custody they were resign'd, And he attended on them in the Prison. And there they were continu'd for a season, During which time, it chanced both of them Did in the same Night dream each Man his Dream: Which Dreams according to Interpretation, Had to themselves particular Relation. And Joseph coming early the next day, Into the Room where Pharaoh's Servants lay, Beheld their Countenances much dejected: Wherefore he said. What Evil hath effected This melancholy Frame, what is't that causes These marks of Discontentment in your Faces? Then said they, we have dream'd each Man his Dream, And there is no Man to interpret them. Then Joseph said your Dreams to me make known; Interpretations are from God alone.

Then unto Joseph the chief Butler told His Dream, and said, Methought I did behold A Vine, whereon three Branches did appear, Which seem'd to bud, to blossom, and to bear Clusters of full ripe Grapes, which to my thinking I press'd into the Cup for Pharaoh's drinking. And Joseph said, Thy Dream doth signifie, Thou shalt enjoy thy former Dignity: The Branches which thou sawest are three days, In which King Pharaoh will his Butler raise, And to thy Place again wil thee restore, And thou shalt serve him as thou'st done before: But do not, when it shall be well with thee, Forget me, but shew Kindness unto me, And unto Pharaoh represent my Case, That I may be deliver'd from this Place, For I was stoln out of the Hebrews Land, And also here am wrongfully detain'd. Then the chief Baker having understood, That the Interpretation was so good, He told his Dream to Joseph too, and said, Lo, I had three white Baskets on my Head, And in the Uppermost there seem'd to be, Of bak'd Provision, great variety, Fit for King Pharaoh's Table, and there came A Flock of Birds, and seem'd to eat the same. And Joseph said, Thy Dream portends thy fall, For at the end of three days Pharaoh shall Lift up thy Head, and hang thee on a Tree, So that the Birds shall feast themselves on thee. And on the third day Pharaoh made a Feast Unto his Servants, and among the rest

The Butler and the Baker were brought forth, The day being kept in Memory of his Birth: And to his Place King Pharaoh did restore His Butler, and he serv'd him as before. But the chief Baker he condemn'd to die, According unto Joseph's Prophecy. Yet though the Butler had regain'd his Place, He was unmindful of poor Joseph's Case.