Genesis 41

¹ Two full years later, Pharaoh had a dream: he was standing by the Nile.

² Seven beautiful, fat cows came up out of the Nile and grazed among the reeds.

³ After them, seven other cows came up out of the Nile, ugly and thin, and stood beside the cows on the bank of the Nile.

⁴ The ugly, thin cows devoured the seven beautiful, fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.

⁵ He went back to sleep and dreamed a second time: seven full, good ears of grain were growing on a single stalk.

⁶ After them, seven withered ears of grain, scorched by the east wind, sprouted.

⁷ The withered ears swallowed the seven full, plump ears. Pharaoh woke up, and it was a dream.

⁸ In the morning his spirit was troubled, so he summoned all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dream, but no one could interpret it for him.

⁹ Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “Today I remember my faults.

¹⁰ Pharaoh was angry with his servants and put me in custody in the house of the chief of the guards, both me and the chief baker.

¹¹ One night, he and I each had a dream, each dream with its own meaning.”

¹² “A young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the chief of the guards. We told him our dreams, and he interpreted them for us, each dream according to its meaning.

¹³ It happened exactly as he interpreted them for us: I was restored to my position, and the other man was hanged.”

¹⁴ Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and they hurried him out of the dungeon. He shaved, changed his clothes, and came before Pharaoh.

¹⁵ Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard that when you hear a dream, you can interpret it.”

¹⁶ Joseph answered Pharaoh, “It is beyond me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”

¹⁷ Pharaoh said to Joseph, “In my dream, I was standing on the bank of the Nile.

¹⁸ Seven fat, beautiful cows came up out of the Nile and grazed among the reeds.

¹⁹ After them, seven other cows came up, weak, terribly ugly, and thin. I have never seen cows as bad as those anywhere in the land of Egypt.

²⁰ The thin, ugly cows devoured the first seven cows, the fat ones.

²¹ They swallowed them, but you could not tell they had done so, because they still looked as bad as before. Then I woke up.

²² Then in my dream I saw seven full, good ears of grain growing on a single stalk.

²³ After them, seven dry, withered ears of grain, scorched by the east wind, sprouted.”

²⁴ “The withered ears swallowed the seven good ears. I told the magicians, but no one could explain it to me.”

²⁵ Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Pharaoh’s dream is one and the same: God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.

²⁶ The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears of grain are seven years; the dream is one and the same.

²⁷ The seven thin, ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty ears of grain, scorched by the east wind, will be seven years of famine.

²⁸ It is as I told Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do.

²⁹ Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt.

³⁰ After them, seven years of famine will come. All the abundance will be forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine will consume the land.

³¹ The abundance in the land will no longer be remembered because of the famine that follows, for it will be very severe.

³² The dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice because the matter is firmly decided by God, and God is hastening to bring it about.

³³ So now, let Pharaoh choose a discerning and wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt.

³⁴ Let Pharaoh take action and appoint officials over the land to collect a fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven years of abundance.”

³⁵ “Let them gather all the food from these good years that are coming, store the grain under Pharaoh’s authority as food in the cities, and keep it.

³⁶ This food will be a reserve for the land during the seven years of famine that will come upon the land of Egypt, so the land will not be destroyed by the famine.”

³⁷ The proposal seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his servants.

³⁸ Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find another man like this, one in whom is the Spirit of God?”

³⁹ He said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as discerning and wise as you.

⁴⁰ You will be in charge of my household, and all my people will obey your orders. Only the throne will make me greater than you.”

⁴¹ Pharaoh also said to Joseph, “See, I am putting you in charge of all the land of Egypt.”

⁴² Pharaoh took the signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand; he dressed him in fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck.

⁴³ He had Joseph ride in his second chariot, and people shouted before him, “Make way!” So Pharaoh put him in charge of all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁴ Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without you no one will lift a hand or foot anywhere in the land of Egypt.”

⁴⁵ Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah and gave him Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, as a wife. Joseph then went out through the land of Egypt.

⁴⁶ Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He left Pharaoh’s presence and traveled throughout the land of Egypt.

⁴⁷ During the seven years of abundance, the land produced in handfuls.

⁴⁸ Joseph gathered all the food from the seven years that came in the land of Egypt and stored it in the cities. In each city he stored the food from the fields around it.

⁴⁹ Joseph stored up grain in enormous quantities, like the sand of the sea, until he stopped counting, because it could no longer be counted.

⁵⁰ Before the year of famine came, Joseph had two sons, whom Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him.

⁵¹ Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, saying, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s household.”

⁵² He named the second Ephraim, saying, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

⁵³ The seven years of abundance in the land of Egypt came to an end.

⁵⁴ Then the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all the lands, but throughout the land of Egypt there was bread.

⁵⁵ When the whole land of Egypt felt the famine, the people cried out to Pharaoh for bread, and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph and do whatever he tells you.”

⁵⁶ The famine spread over the whole face of the earth. Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians, and the famine grew severe in the land of Egypt.

⁵⁷ People from every land came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe throughout the whole earth.

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