Genesis 41:14–36

^14eThen Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they ^fquickly brought him ^gout of the pit. And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh. ¹⁵And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. ^hI have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” ¹⁶Joseph answered Pharaoh, ⁱ“It is not in me; ^jGod will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”^{1 17}Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Behold, ^kin my dream I was standing on the banks of the Nile. ¹⁸Seven cows, plump and attractive, came up out of the Nile and fed in the reed grass. ¹⁹Seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and thin, such as I had never seen in all the land of Egypt. ²⁰And the thin, ugly cows ate up the first seven plump cows, ²¹but when they had eaten them no one would have known that they had eaten them, for they were still as ugly as at the beginning. Then I awoke. ²²I also saw in my dream seven ears growing on one stalk, full and good. ²³Seven ears, withered, thin, and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them, ²⁴and the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears. And ^lI told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.”

²⁵Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; ^mGod has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁶The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years; the dreams are one. ²⁷The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty ears blighted by the east wind are also ⁿseven years of famine. ²⁸It is as I told Pharaoh; ^oGod has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁹There will come ^pseven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, ³⁰but after them there will arise ^qseven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. ^rThe famine will consume the land, ³¹and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of the famine that will follow, for it will be very severe. ³²And the doubling of Pharaoh’s dream means that the ^sthing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about. ³³Now therefore let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt. ³⁴Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land and take one-fifth of the produce of the land² of Egypt during the seven plentiful years. ³⁵And ^tlet them gather all the food of these good years that are coming and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it. ³⁶That food shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that are to occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish through the famine.”