Genesis 41
41
1And two yeeres after, Pharaoh also dreamed, and beholde, he stoode by a riuer, 2And loe, there came out of the riuer seuen goodly kine and fatfleshed, and they fedde in a medowe: 3And loe, seuen other kine came vp after the out of the riuer, euill fauoured and leane fleshed, and stoode by the other kine vpon the brinke of the riuer. 4And the euilfauoured and leane fleshed kine did eate vp the seuen welfauoured and fatte kine: so Pharaoh awoke. 5Againe he slept, and dreamed the second time: and beholde, seuen eares of corne grewe vpon one stalke, ranke and goodly. 6And loe, seuen thinne eares, and blasted with the east winde, sprang vp after them: 7And the thinne eares deuoured the seuen ranke and full eares. then Pharaoh awaked, and loe, it was a dreame. 8Nowe when the morning came, his spirit was troubled: therefore he sent and called all the soothsayers of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof, and Pharaoh tolde them his dreames: but none coulde interprete them to Pharaoh. 9Then spake the chiefe butler vnto Pharaoh, saying, I call to minde my faultes this day. 10Pharaoh being angrie with his seruantes, put me in ward in the chiefe stewards house, both me and the chiefe baker. 11Then we dreamed a dreame in one night, both I, and he: we dreamed eche man according to the interpretation of his dreame. 12And there was with vs a yong man, an Ebrew, seruant vnto the chiefe steward, whome when we told, he declared our dreames to vs, to euery one he declared according to his dreame. 13And as he declared vnto vs, so it came to passe: for he restored me to mine office, and hanged him. 14Then sent Pharaoh, and called Ioseph, and they brought him hastily out of prison, and he shaued him, and chaunged his rayment, and came to Pharaoh. 15Then Pharaoh sayde to Ioseph, I haue dreamed a dreame, and no man can interprete it, and I haue hearde say of thee, that when thou hearest a dreame, thou canst interprete it. 16And Ioseph answered Pharaoh, saying, Without me God shall answere for the wealth of Pharaoh. 17And Pharaoh sayde vnto Ioseph, In my dreame, beholde, I stoode by the banke of the riuer: 18And lo, there came vp out of the riuer seuen fat fleshed, and welfauoured kine, and they fedde in the medowe. 19Also loe, seuen other kine came vp after them, poore and very euilfauoured, and leanefleshed: I neuer sawe the like in all the lande of Egypt, for euilfauoured. 20And the leane and euilfauoured kine did eate vp the first seuen fat kine. 21And when they had eaten them vp, it could not be knowen that they had eaten them, but they were still as euilfauoured, as they were at the beginning: so did I awake. 22Moreouer I sawe in my dreame, and beholde, seuen eares sprang out of one stalke, full and faire. 23And lo, seuen eares, withered, thinne, and blasted with the East winde, sprang vp after them. 24And the thinne eares deuoured the seuen good eares. Nowe I haue tolde the soothsayers, and none can declare it vnto me. 25Then Ioseph answered Pharaoh, Both Pharaohs dreames are one. God hath shewed Pharaoh, what he is about to doe. 26The seuen good kine are seuen yeres, and the seuen good eares are seuen yeeres: this is one dreame. 27Likewise the seuen thinne and euilfauoured kine, that came out after them, are seuen yeeres: and the seuen emptie eares blasted with the East winde, are seuen yeeres of famine. 28This is the thing which I haue saide vnto Pharaoh, that God hath shewed vnto Pharaoh, what he is about to doe. 29Beholde, there come seuen yeeres of great plentie in all the land of Egypt. 30Againe, there shall arise after them seuen yeeres of famine, so that all the plentie shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine shall consume the land: 31Neither shall the plentie bee knowen in the land, by reason of this famine that shall come after: for it shalbe exceeding great. 32And therefore the dreame was doubled vnto Pharaoh the second time, because the thing is established by God, and God hasteth to performe it. 33Nowe therefore let Pharaoh prouide for a man of vnderstanding and wisedome, and set him ouer the land of Egypt. 34Let Pharaoh make and appoynt officers ouer the lande, and take vp the fift part of the land of Egypt in the seuen plenteous yeeres. 35Also let them gather all the foode of these good yeeres that come, and lay vp corne vnder the hand of Pharaoh for foode, in the cities, and let them keepe it. 36So the foode shall be for the prouision of the lande, against the seuen yeeres of famine, which shalbe in the lande of Egypt, that the land perish not by famine. 37And the saying pleased Pharaoh and all his seruants. 38Then saide Pharaoh vnto his seruants, Can we finde such a man as this, in whom is the Spirit of God? 39The Pharaoh said to Ioseph, For as much as God hath shewed thee all this, there is no man of vnderstanding, or of wisedome like vnto thee. 40Thou shalt be ouer mine house, and at thy word shall all my people be armed, onely in the kings throne will I be aboue thee. 41Moreouer Pharaoh said to Ioseph, Behold, I haue set thee ouer all the land of Egypt. 42And Pharaoh tooke off his ring from his hand, and put it vpon Iosephs hand, and arayed him in garments of fine linnen, and put a golden cheyne about his necke. 43So he set him vpon the best charet that hee had, saue one: and they cryed before him, Abrech, and placed him ouer all the land of Egypt. 44Againe Pharaoh saide vnto Ioseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift vp his hand or his foote in all the land of Egypt. 45And Pharaoh called Iosephs name Zaphnath-paaneah: and he gaue him to wife Asenath the daughter of Poti-pherah prince of On. then went Ioseph abrode in the land of Egypt. 46And Ioseph was thirtie yeere old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt: and Ioseph departing from the presence of Pharaoh, went throughout all the land of Egypt. 47And in the seuen plenteous yeres the earth brought foorth store. 48And hee gathered vp all the foode of the seuen plenteous yeeres, which were in the lande of Egypt, and layde vp foode in the cities: the foode of the fielde, that was round about euery citie, layde he vp in the same. 49So Ioseph gathered wheate, like vnto the sand of the sea in multitude out of measure, vntill he left numbring: for it was without number. 50Now vnto Ioseph were borne two sonnes (before the yeeres of famine came) which Asenath the daughter of Poti-pherah prince of On bare vnto him. 51And Ioseph called the name of the first borne Manasseh: for God, said he, hath made me forget all my labour and al my fathers houshold. 52Also hee called the name of the second, Ephraim: For God, sayde he hath made me fruitfull in the land of mine affliction. 53So the seuen yeeres of the plentie that was in the land of Egypt were ended. 54Then began the seuen yeeres of famine to come, according as Ioseph had saide: and the famine was in all landes, but in all the land of Egypt was bread. 55At the length all the lande of Egypt was affamished, and the people cryed to Pharaoh for bread. And Pharaoh said vnto all the Egyptians, Goe to Ioseph: what he sayth to you, doe ye. 56When the famine was vpon all the land, Ioseph opened all places, wherein the store was, and solde vnto the Egyptians: for the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt. 57And all countries came to Egypt to bye corne of Ioseph, because the famine was sore in all landes.
Currently Selected:
Genesis 41: GNV
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
PUBLIC DOMAIN
Genesis 41
41
The King’s Dreams
1Two years later the king dreamed he was standing on the bank of the Nile River. 2He saw seven fat and beautiful cows come up out of the river, and they stood there, eating the grass. 3Then seven more cows came up out of the river, but they were thin and ugly. They stood beside the seven beautiful cows on the bank of the Nile. 4The seven thin and ugly cows ate the seven beautiful fat cows. Then the king woke up. 5The king slept again and dreamed a second time. In his dream he saw seven full and good heads of grain growing on one stalk. 6After that, seven more heads of grain sprang up, but they were thin and burned by the hot east wind. 7The thin heads of grain ate the seven full and good heads. Then the king woke up again, and he realized it was only a dream. 8The next morning the king was troubled about these dreams, so he sent for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. The king told them his dreams, but no one could explain their meaning to him.
9Then the chief officer who served wine to the king said to him, “Now I remember something I promised to do, but I forgot about it. 10There was a time when you were angry with the baker and me, and you put us in prison in the house of the captain of the guard. 11In prison we each had a dream on the same night, and each dream had a different meaning. 12A young Hebrew man, a servant of the captain of the guard, was in the prison with us. When we told him our dreams, he explained their meanings to us. He told each man the meaning of his dream, and 13things happened exactly as he said they would: I was given back my old position, and the baker was hanged.”
14So the king called for Joseph. The guards quickly brought him out of the prison, and he shaved, put on clean clothes, and went before the king.
15The king said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, but no one can explain its meaning to me. I have heard that you can explain a dream when someone tells it to you.”
16Joseph answered the king, “I am not able to explain the meaning of dreams, but God will do this for the king.”
17Then the king said to Joseph, “In my dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile River. 18I saw seven fat and beautiful cows that came up out of the river and ate the grass. 19Then I saw seven more cows come out of the river that were thin and lean and ugly—the worst looking cows I have seen in all the land of Egypt. 20And these thin and ugly cows ate the first seven fat cows, 21but after they had eaten the seven cows, no one could tell they had eaten them. They looked just as thin and ugly as they did in the beginning. Then I woke up.
22“I had another dream. I saw seven full and good heads of grain growing on one stalk. 23Then seven more heads of grain sprang up after them, but these heads were thin and ugly and were burned by the hot east wind. 24Then the thin heads ate the seven good heads. I told this dream to the magicians, but no one could explain its meaning to me.”
Joseph Tells the Dreams’ Meaning
25Then Joseph said to the king, “Both of these dreams mean the same thing. God is telling you what he is about to do. 26The seven good cows stand for seven years, and the seven good heads of grain stand for seven years. Both dreams mean the same thing. 27The seven thin and ugly cows stand for seven years, and the seven thin heads of grain burned by the hot east wind stand for seven years of hunger. 28This will happen as I told you. God is showing the king what he is about to do. 29You will have seven years of good crops and plenty to eat in all the land of Egypt. 30But after those seven years, there will come seven years of hunger, and all the food that grew in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. The time of hunger will eat up the land. 31People will forget what it was like to have plenty of food, because the hunger that follows will be so great. 32You had two dreams which mean the same thing. This shows that God has firmly decided that this will happen, and he will make it happen soon.
33“So let the king choose a man who is very wise and understanding and set him over the land of Egypt. 34And let the king also appoint officers over the land, who should take one-fifth of all the food that is grown during the seven good years. 35They should gather all the food that is produced during the good years that are coming, and under the king’s authority they should store the grain in the cities and guard it. 36That food should be saved to use during the seven years of hunger that will come on the land of Egypt. Then the people in Egypt will not die during the seven years of hunger.”
Joseph Is Made Ruler over Egypt
37This seemed like a very good idea to the king, and all his officers agreed. 38And the king asked them, “Can we find a better man than Joseph to take this job? God’s spirit is truly in him!”
39So the king said to Joseph, “God has shown you all this. There is no one as wise and understanding as you are, so 40I will put you in charge of my palace. All the people will obey your orders, and only I will be greater than you.”
41Then the king said to Joseph, “Look! I have put you in charge of all the land of Egypt.” 42Then the king took off from his own finger his ring with the royal seal on it, and he put it on Joseph’s finger. He gave Joseph fine linen clothes to wear, and he put a gold chain around Joseph’s neck. 43The king had Joseph ride in the second royal chariot, and people walked ahead of his chariot calling, “Bow down!” By doing these things, the king put Joseph in charge of all of Egypt.
44The king said to him, “I am the king, and I say that no one in all the land of Egypt may lift a hand or a foot without your permission.” 45The king gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-Paneah. He also gave Joseph a wife named Asenath, who was the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. So Joseph traveled through all the land of Egypt.
46Joseph was thirty years old when he began serving the king of Egypt. And he left the king’s court and traveled through all the land of Egypt. 47During the seven good years, the crops in the land grew well. 48And Joseph gathered all the food produced in Egypt during those seven years of good crops and stored the food in the cities. In every city he stored grain that had been grown in the fields around that city. 49Joseph stored much grain, as much as the sand of the seashore—so much that he could not measure it.
50Joseph’s wife was Asenath daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On. Before the years of hunger came, Joseph and Asenath had two sons. 51Joseph named the first son Manasseh and said, “God has made me forget all the troubles I have had and all my father’s family.” 52Joseph named the second son Ephraim and said, “God has given me children in the land of my troubles.”
53The seven years of good crops came to an end in the land of Egypt. 54Then the seven years of hunger began, just as Joseph had said. In all the lands people had nothing to eat, but in Egypt there was food. 55The time of hunger became terrible in all of Egypt, and the people cried to the king for food. He said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph and do whatever he tells you.”
56The hunger was everywhere in that part of the world. And Joseph opened the storehouses and sold grain to the people of Egypt, because the time of hunger became terrible in Egypt. 57And all the people in that part of the world came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain because the hunger was terrible everywhere in that part of the world.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.