Genesis 41:14–36

Joseph Interprets

¹⁴Then Pharaoh sent and ^acalled for Joseph, and they ^bhurriedly brought him out of the dungeon; and when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came to Pharaoh.

¹⁵Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, ^abut no one can interpret it; and ^bI have heard ¹it said about you, that ²when you hear a dream you can interpret it.”

¹⁶Joseph then answered Pharaoh, saying, “^1aIt is not in me; ^bGod will ²give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”

¹⁷So Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, “In my dream, behold, I was standing on the bank of the Nile;

¹⁸and behold, seven cows, ¹fat and sleek came up out of the Nile, and they grazed in the marsh grass.

¹⁹“Lo, seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and ¹gaunt, such as I had never seen for ²ugliness in all the land of Egypt;

²⁰and the lean and ¹ugly cows ate up the first seven fat cows.

²¹“Yet when they had ¹devoured them, it could not be ²detected that they had devoured them, ³for they were just as ugly as ⁴before. Then I awoke.

²²“I saw also in my dream, and behold, seven ears, full and good, came up on a single stalk;

²³and lo, seven ears, withered, thin, and scorched by the east wind, sprouted up after them;

²⁴and the thin ears swallowed the seven good ears. Then ^aI told it to the ¹magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.”

²⁵Now Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Pharaoh’s ¹dreams are one and the same; ^aGod has told to Pharaoh what He is about to do.

²⁶“The seven good cows are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years; the ¹dreams are one and the same.

²⁷“The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven thin ears scorched by the east wind ^awill be seven years of famine.

²⁸“¹It is as I have spoken to Pharaoh: ^aGod has shown to Pharaoh what He is about to do.

²⁹“Behold, ^aseven years of great abundance are coming in all the land of Egypt;

³⁰and after them ^aseven years of famine will ¹come, and all the abundance will be forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine will ²ravage the land.

³¹“So the abundance will be unknown in the land because of that subsequent famine; for it will be very severe.

³²“Now as for the repeating of the dream to Pharaoh twice, it means that ^athe matter is determined by God, and God will quickly bring it about.

³³“Now let Pharaoh look for a man ^adiscerning and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt.

³⁴“Let Pharaoh take action to appoint overseers ¹in charge of the land, and let him exact a fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt in the seven years of abundance.

³⁵“Then let them ^agather all the food of these good years that are coming, and store up the grain for food in the cities under Pharaoh’s authority, and let them guard it.

³⁶“Let the food become as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which will occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land will not perish during the famine.”