3and lo, seven other kine are coming up after them out of the River, of bad appearance, and lean [in] flesh, and they stand near the kine on the edge of the River,

4and the kine of bad appearance and lean [in] flesh eat up the seven kine of fair appearance, and fat — and Pharaoh awaketh.

5And he sleepeth, and dreameth a second time, and lo, seven ears are coming up on one stalk, fat and good,

6and lo, seven ears, thin, and blasted with an east wind, are springing up after them;

7and the thin ears swallow the seven fat and full ears — and Pharaoh awaketh, and lo, a dream.

8And it cometh to pass in the morning, that his spirit is moved, and he sendeth and calleth all the scribes of Egypt, and all its wise men, and Pharaoh recounteth to them his dream, and there is no interpreter of them to Pharaoh.

9And the chief of the butlers speaketh with Pharaoh, saying, ‘My sin I mention this day:

10Pharaoh hath been wroth against his servants, and giveth me into charge in the house of the chief of the executioners, me and the chief of the bakers;

11and we dream a dream in one night, I and he, each according to the interpretation of his dream we have dreamed.

12And there [is] with us a youth, a Hebrew, servant to the chief of the executioners, and we recount to him, and he interpreteth to us our dreams, [to] each according to his dream hath he interpreted,

13and it cometh to pass, as he hath interpreted to us so it hath been, me he put back on my station, and him he hanged.’

14And Pharaoh sendeth and calleth Joseph, and they cause him to run out of the pit, and he shaveth, and changeth his garments, and cometh in unto Pharaoh.

15And Pharaoh saith unto Joseph, ‘A dream I have dreamed, and there is no interpreter of it, and I — I have heard concerning thee, saying, Thou understandest a dream to interpret it,’

16and Joseph answereth Pharaoh, saying, ‘Without me — God doth answer Pharaoh with peace.’

17And Pharaoh speaketh unto Joseph: ‘In my dream, lo, I am standing by the edge of the River,

18and lo, out of the River coming up are seven kine, fat [in] flesh, and of fair form, and they feed among the reeds;

19and lo, seven other kine are coming up after them, thin, and of very bad form, and lean [in] flesh; I have not seen like these in all the land of Egypt for badness.

20‘And the lean and the bad kine eat up the first seven fat kine,

21and they come in unto their midst, and it hath not been known that they have come in unto their midst, and their appearance [is] bad as at the commencement; and I awake.

22‘And I see in my dream, and lo, seven ears are coming up on one stalk, full and good;

23and lo, seven ears, withered, thin, blasted with an east wind, are springing up after them;

24and the thin ears swallow the seven good ears; and I tell unto the scribes, and there is none declaring to me.’

25And Joseph saith unto Pharaoh, ‘The dream of Pharaoh is one: that which God is doing he hath declared to Pharaoh;

26the seven good kine are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years, the dream is one;

27and the seven thin and bad kine which are coming up after them are seven years, and the seven empty ears, blasted with an east wind, are seven years of famine;

28this [is] the thing which I have spoken unto Pharaoh: That which God is doing, he hath shewn Pharaoh.

29‘Lo, seven years are coming of great abundance in all the land of Egypt,

30and seven years of famine have arisen after them, and all the plenty is forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine hath finished the land,

31and the plenty is not known in the land because of that famine afterwards, for it [is] very grievous.

32‘And because of the repeating of the dream unto Pharaoh twice, surely the thing is established by God, and God is hastening to do it.

33‘And now, let Pharaoh provide a man, intelligent and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt;

34let Pharaoh make and appoint overseers over the land, and receive a fifth of the land of Egypt in the seven years of plenty,

35and they gather all the food of these good years that are coming, and heap up corn under the hand of Pharaoh — food in the cities; and they have kept [it],

36and the food hath been for a store for the land, for the seven years of famine which are in the land of Egypt; and the land is cut off by the famine.’

37And the thing is good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants,

38and Pharaoh saith unto his servants, ‘Do we find like this, a man in whom the spirit of God [is]?’

39and Pharaoh saith unto Joseph, ‘After God's causing thee to know all this, there is none intelligent and wise as thou;

40thou — thou art over my house, and at thy mouth do all my people kiss; only in the throne I am greater than thou.’

41And Pharaoh saith unto Joseph, ‘See, I have put thee over all the land of Egypt.’

42And Pharaoh turneth aside his seal-ring from off his hand, and putteth it on the hand of Joseph, and clotheth him [with] garments of fine linen, and placeth a chain of gold on his neck,

43and causeth him to ride in the second chariot which he hath, and they proclaim before him, ‘Bow the knee!’ and — to put him over all the land of Egypt.

44And Pharaoh saith unto Joseph, ‘I [am] Pharaoh, and without thee a man doth not lift up his hand and his foot in all the land of Egypt;’

45and Pharaoh calleth Joseph's name Zaphnath-Paaneah, and he giveth to him Asenath daughter of Poti-Pherah, priest of On, for a wife, and Joseph goeth out over the land of Egypt.

46And Joseph [is] a son of thirty years in his standing before Pharaoh king of Egypt, and Joseph goeth out from the presence of Pharaoh, and passeth over through all the land of Egypt;

47and the land maketh in the seven years of plenty by handfuls.

48And he gathereth all the food of the seven years which have been in the land of Egypt, and putteth food in the cities; the food of the field which [is] round about [each] city hath he put in its midst;

49and Joseph gathereth corn as sand of the sea, multiplying exceedingly, until that he hath ceased to number, for there is no number.

50And to Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine cometh, whom Asenath daughter of Poti-Pherah, priest of On, hath borne to him,

51and Joseph calleth the name of the first-born Manasseh: ‘for, God hath made me to forget all my labour, and all the house of my father;’

52and the name of the second he hath called Ephraim: ‘for, God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of mine affliction.’

53And the seven years of plenty are completed which have been in the land of Egypt,

54and the seven years of famine begin to come, as Joseph said, and famine is in all the lands, but in all the land of Egypt hath been bread;

55and all the land of Egypt is famished, and the people crieth unto Pharaoh for bread, and Pharaoh saith to all the Egyptians, ‘Go unto Joseph; that which he saith to you — do.’

56And the famine has been over all the face of the land, and Joseph openeth all [places] which have [corn] in them, and selleth to the Egyptians; and the famine is severe in the land of Egypt,

57and all the earth hath come to Egypt, to buy, unto Joseph, for the famine was severe in all the earth.

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Genesis 41

Joseph interprets the king's dreams

1Two years later the king#41.1 the king: See the note at 12.15. of Egypt dreamed he was standing beside the River Nile. 2Suddenly, seven fat, healthy cows came up from the river and started eating grass along the bank. 3Then seven ugly, skinny cows came up out of the river and 4ate the fat, healthy cows. When this happened, the king woke up.

5The king went back to sleep and had another dream. This time seven full heads of grain were growing on a single stalk. 6Later, seven other heads of grain appeared, but they were thin and scorched by the east wind. 7The thin heads of grain swallowed the seven full heads. Again the king woke up, and it had only been a dream.

8The next morning the king was upset. So he called in his magicians and wise men and told them what he had dreamed. None of them could tell him what the dreams meant.#Dn 2.2.

9The king's personal servant said:

Now I remember what I was supposed to do. 10When you were angry with me and your chief cook, you threw us both in jail in the house of the captain of the guard. 11One night we both had dreams, and each dream had a different meaning. 12A young Hebrew, who was a servant of the captain of the guard, was there with us at the time. When we told him our dreams, he explained what each of them meant, 13and everything happened just as he said it would. I got my job back, and the cook was put to death.

14The king sent for Joseph, who was quickly brought out of jail. He shaved, changed his clothes, and went to the king.

15The king said to him, “I had a dream, yet no one can explain what it means. I am told that you can interpret dreams.”

16“Your Majesty,” Joseph answered, “I can't do it myself, but God can give a good meaning to your dreams.”

17The king told Joseph:

I dreamed I was standing on the bank of the River Nile. 18I saw seven fat, healthy cows come up out of the river, and they began feeding on the grass. 19Next, seven skinny, bony cows came up out of the river. I have never seen such terrible looking cows anywhere in Egypt. 20The skinny cows ate the fat ones. 21But you couldn't tell it, because these skinny cows were just as skinny as they were before. Straight away, I woke up.

22I also dreamed that I saw seven heads of grain growing on one stalk. The heads were full and ripe. 23Then seven other heads of grain came up. They were thin and scorched by a wind from the desert. 24These heads of grain swallowed the full ones. I told my dreams to the magicians, but none of them could tell me the meaning of the dreams.

25Joseph replied:

Your Majesty, both of your dreams mean the same thing, and in them God has shown what he is going to do. 26The seven good cows stand for seven years, and so do the seven good heads of grain. 27The seven skinny, ugly cows that came up later also stand for seven years, as do the seven bad heads of grain that were scorched by the east wind. The dreams mean there will be seven years when there won't be enough grain.

28It is just as I said—God has shown what he intends to do. 29For seven years Egypt will have more than enough grain, 30but that will be followed by seven years when there won't be enough. The good years of plenty will be forgotten, and everywhere in Egypt people will be starving. 31The famine will be so bad that no one will remember that once there had been plenty. 32God has given you two dreams to let you know that he has definitely decided to do this and that he will do it soon.

33Your Majesty, you should find someone who is wise and will know what to do, so that you can put him in charge of all Egypt. 34Then appoint some other officials to collect one-fifth of every crop harvested in Egypt during the seven years when there is plenty. 35Give them the power to collect the grain during those good years and to store it in your cities. 36It can be stored until it is needed during the seven years when there won't be enough grain in Egypt. This will keep the country from being destroyed because of the lack of food.

Joseph is made governor over Egypt

37The king#41.37 The king: See the note at 12.15. and his officials liked this plan. 38So the king said to them, “No one could possibly handle this better than Joseph, since the Spirit of God is with him.”

39The king told Joseph, “God is the one who has shown you these things. No one else is as wise as you are or knows as much as you do. 40I'm putting you in charge of my palace, and everybody will have to obey you. No one will be over you except me.#Ac 7.10. 41You are now governor of all Egypt!”

42Then the king took off his royal ring and put it on Joseph's finger. He gave him fine clothes to wear and placed a gold chain around his neck.#Dn 5.29. 43He also let him ride in the chariot next to his own, and people shouted, “Make way for Joseph!” So Joseph was governor of Egypt.

44The king told Joseph, “Although I'm king, no one in Egypt is to do anything without your permission.” 45He gave Joseph the Egyptian name Zaphenath Paneah. And he let him marry Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, a priest in the city of Heliopolis.#41.45 Heliopolis: The Hebrew text has “On”, which is better known by its Greek name “Heliopolis”. Joseph travelled all over Egypt.

46Joseph was thirty when the king made him governor, and he went everywhere for the king. 47For seven years there were big harvests of grain. 48Joseph collected and stored up the extra grain in the cities of Egypt near the fields where it was harvested. 49In fact, there was so much grain that they stopped keeping record, because it was like counting the grains of sand along the beach.

50Joseph and his wife had two sons before the famine began. 51Their first son was named Manasseh, which means, “God has let me forget all my troubles and my family back home.” 52His second son was named Ephraim, which means “God has made me a success#41.52 God has made me a success: Or “God has given me children.” in the land where I suffered.”#41.52 Ephraim…suffered: In Hebrew “Ephraim” actually means either “fertile land” or “pasture land”.

53Egypt's seven years of plenty came to an end, 54and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was not enough food in other countries, but all over Egypt there was plenty.#Ac 7.11. 55When the famine finally struck Egypt, the people asked the king for food, but he said, “Go to Joseph and do what he tells you to do.”#Jn 2.5.

56The famine became bad everywhere in Egypt, so Joseph opened the storehouses and sold the grain to the Egyptians. 57People from all over the world came to Egypt, because the famine was severe in their countries.

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Genesis 41

Genesis 41