The First Book of Moses: Genesis

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- Chapter 41 -

Two complete years later, the king of Egypt had a dream. In the dream, he was standing alongside the Nile River.

Suddenly seven healthy fat cows appeared. They started eating the grass that was on the riverbank.

Soon seven other cows, unhealthy-looking and thin, came up behind them from the Nile River. They stood alongside the fat cows that were on the riverbank.

Then the unhealthy thin cows ate the seven healthy fat cows. And then the king woke up.

The king went to sleep again, and he had another dream. This time he saw seven heads of grain that were full of kernels of grain and ripe, and all growing on one stalk.

After that, the king saw that seven other heads of grain sprouted on that stalk. They were thin and had been dried up by the hot east wind.

Then the thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven ripe full heads. Then the king woke up. He realized that he had been dreaming.

But the next morning he was worried about the meaning of the dream. So he summoned all the magicians and wise men who lived in Egypt. He told them what he had dreamed, but none of them could tell him the meaning of the two dreams.

Then the chief drink server said to the king, “Now I remember something that I should have told you! I made a mistake by forgetting to tell it to you.

One time you were angry with two of us. So you put me and the chief baker in the prison in the house of the captain of the palace guards.

While we were there, one night each of us had a dream, and the dreams had different meanings.

There was a young Hebrew man there with us. He was a servant of the captain of the palace guards. We told him what we had dreamed, and he told us what our dreams meant. He told each of us the meaning of our dreams.

What happened after that was exactly the same as the meanings that he told us: You said I could have my previous job again, but the other man was killed by being hanged.”

Joseph Interprets Pharaoh’s Dreams

When the king heard that, he told some servants to bring Joseph to him, and they quickly brought Joseph out of the prison. Joseph shaved and put on better clothes, and then he went and stood in front of the king.

The king said to Joseph, “I had two dreams, and no one can tell me what they mean. But someone told me that when you hear someone tell about a dream he has had, you can tell that person what the dream means.”

But Joseph replied to the king, “No, I cannot do that. It is God who knows the meaning of dreams, but he will enable me to tell you their meaning, and they will mean something good.”

The king said to Joseph, “In my first dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile River.

Suddenly seven healthy fat cows came up out of the river, and they started eating the grass that was on the riverbank.

Soon seven other cows, ugly and thin ones, came up behind them from the river. I never saw such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt!

The thin ugly cows ate the seven fat cows that came up first.

But afterwards, no one would have known that the thin cows ate them, because they were just as ugly as they were before. Then I woke up.

Then I had another dream. I saw seven heads of grain. They were full of kernels of grain and ripe, and they were all growing on one stalk.

Then to my surprise I saw seven other heads of grain that sprouted. They were thin and had been dried up by the hot east wind.

The thin heads of grain swallowed the seven good heads. I told these dreams to the magicians, but none of them could explain to me what they meant.”

Then Joseph said to the king, “Both your dreams have the same meaning. God is revealing to you in your dreams what he is about to do.

The seven healthy cows represent seven years. The seven good heads of grain also represent seven years. The two dreams both have the same meaning.

The seven thin ugly cows that came up behind them and the seven worthless heads of grain that were dried up by the hot east wind each represent seven years of famine.

It will happen just as I have told you, because God has revealed to you what he is about to do.

There will be seven years in which there will be plenty of food throughout the land of Egypt.

Then there will be seven years of famine. Then people will forget all the years when there was plenty of food, because the famine that will come afterward will ruin the country.

The people will forget how plentiful food was previously, because the famine will be very terrible.

The reason God gave to you two dreams is that he has firmly decided that this will happen, and he will cause it to happen very soon.

Now I suggest that you should choose a man who is wise and can make good decisions. I suggest that you appoint him to direct the affairs of the whole country.

You should also appoint supervisors over the country, in order that they can arrange to collect one-fifth of all the grain that is harvested during the seven years when food is plentiful.

They should collect this amount of grain during those seven years that are coming, when there will be plenty of food. Each of the cities should supervise and protect the food that is stored up.

This grain should be kept so that it can be eaten during the seven years when there will be a famine here in Egypt, so that the people in this country will not die from hunger.”

Joseph Given Charge of Egypt

The king and his officials thought that this would be a good plan.

So the king said to them, “Can we find any other man like Joseph, a man to whom God has given his spirit?

Then the king said to Joseph, “Because God has revealed all this to you, it seems to me that there is no one who is as wise as you and who can decide wisely about things.

So I will put you in charge of everything in my palace. All the people here in Egypt must obey what you command. Only because I am king will I have more authority than you.”

Then the king said to Joseph, “I am now putting you in charge of the whole country of Egypt.”

The king took from his finger the ring that had his seal on it, and he put it on Joseph’s finger. He put robes made of fine linen on him, and he put a gold chain around his neck.

Then he arranged for Joseph to ride around in the chariot that showed that he was the second most important man in the country. When Joseph rode in the chariot, men shouted to the people who were on the road in front of him, “Bow down!” So Joseph went out to supervise this work all over Egypt.

The king said to Joseph, “I am the king, but no one in the whole land of Egypt will do anything if you do not permit them to do it.”

The king gave Joseph a new name, Zaphenath-Paneah. He also gave him Asenath to be his wife. She was the daughter of Potiphera, who was a priest in a temple in the city of On. In this way Joseph became known through all the land of Egypt.

The Seven Years of Plenty

Joseph was thirty years old when he started to work for the king of Egypt. To do his work, he left the king’s palace and traveled throughout Egypt.

During the next seven years, the land produced abundant crops, so there was plenty of food.

As Joseph supervised them, his helpers collected one-fifth of all the grain that was produced during those years, and stored it in the cities. In each city, he had his helpers store up the grain that was grown in the fields that surrounded that city.

Joseph had them store up a huge amount of grain. It looked as plentiful as the sand on the seashore. There was so much grain that after a while they stopped keeping records of how much grain was stored, because there was more grain than they could measure.

Before the seven years of famine started, Joseph’s wife Asenath gave birth to two sons.

Joseph named the first one Manasseh, which sounds like the Hebrew word that means “forget,” because he said, “God has caused me to forget all my troubles and all my father’s family.”

He named his second son Ephraim, which means “to have children,” because he said, “God has given me children here in this land where I have suffered.”

The Famine Begins

Finally the seven years in which there was plenty of food ended.

Then the seven years of famine started, just as Joseph had predicted. There was also a famine in all the other nearby lands, but although the crops did not grow, there was food everywhere in Egypt, because of the grain they had stored up in the cities.

When all the people of Egypt had eaten all of their own food and were still hungry, they begged the king for food. So the king told all the people of Egypt, “Go to Joseph and do what he tells you to do.”

When the famine was very bad over the whole country, Joseph ordered his helpers to open the storehouses. Then they sold the grain in the storehouses to the people of Egypt, because the famine was very severe all over Egypt.

People from many nearby countries came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was very severe everywhere.

At the end of two full years, Pharaoh dreamed, and behold, he stood by the river.

Behold, seven cattle came up out of the river. They were sleek and fat, and they fed in the marsh grass.

Behold, seven other cattle came up after them out of the river, ugly and thin, and stood by the other cattle on the brink of the river.

The ugly and thin cattle ate up the seven sleek and fat cattle. So Pharaoh awoke.

He slept and dreamed a second time; and behold, seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, healthy and good.

Behold, seven heads of grain, thin and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them.

The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy and full ears. Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream.

In the morning, his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all of Egypt’s magicians and wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them to Pharaoh.

Then the chief cup bearer spoke to Pharaoh, saying, “I remember my faults today.

Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, with the chief baker.

We dreamed a dream in one night, he and I. Each man dreamed according to the interpretation of his dream.

There was with us there a young man, a Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard, and we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams. He interpreted to each man according to his dream.

As he interpreted to us, so it was. He restored me to my office, and he hanged him.”

Joseph Interprets Pharaoh’s Dreams

Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon. He shaved himself, changed his clothing, and came in to Pharaoh.

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you, that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.”

Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “It isn’t in me. God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.”

Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, “In my dream, behold, I stood on the brink of the river;

and behold, seven fat and sleek cattle came up out of the river. They fed in the marsh grass;

and behold, seven other cattle came up after them, poor and very ugly and thin, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for ugliness.

The thin and ugly cattle ate up the first seven fat cattle;

and when they had eaten them up, it couldn’t be known that they had eaten them, but they were still ugly, as at the beginning. So I awoke.

I saw in my dream, and behold, seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, full and good;

and behold, seven heads of grain, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them.

The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads of grain. I told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.”

Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dream of Pharaoh is one. What God is about to do he has declared to Pharaoh.

The seven good cattle are seven years; and the seven good heads of grain are seven years. The dream is one.

The seven thin and ugly cattle that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven empty heads of grain blasted with the east wind; they will be seven years of famine.

That is the thing which I have spoken to Pharaoh. God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do.

Behold, seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt are coming.

Seven years of famine will arise after them, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land,

and the plenty will not be known in the land by reason of that famine which follows; for it will be very grievous.

The dream was doubled to Pharaoh, because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.

“Now therefore let Pharaoh look for a discreet and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt.

Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint overseers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt’s produce in the seven plenteous years.

Let them gather all the food of these good years that come, and store grain under the hand of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it.

The food will be to supply the land against the seven years of famine, which will be in the land of Egypt; so that the land will not perish through the famine.”

Joseph Given Charge of Egypt

The thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants.

Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?”

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Because God has shown you all of this, there is no one so discreet and wise as you.

You shall be over my house. All my people will be ruled according to your word. Only in the throne I will be greater than you.”

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Behold, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.”

Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand, and put it on Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in robes of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck.

He made him ride in the second chariot which he had. They cried before him, “Bow the knee!” He set him over all the land of Egypt.

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh. Without you, no man shall lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt.”

Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphenath-Paneah. He gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On as a wife. Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

The Seven Years of Plenty

Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.

In the seven plenteous years the earth produced abundantly.

He gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities. He stored food in each city from the fields around that city.

Joseph laid up grain as the sand of the sea, very much, until he stopped counting, for it was without number.

To Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him.

Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh,(a) “For”, he said, “God has made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.”

The name of the second, he called Ephraim:(b) “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

The Famine Begins

The seven years of plenty, that were in the land of Egypt, came to an end.

The seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.

When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread, and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do.”

The famine was over all the surface of the earth. Joseph opened all the store houses, and sold to the Egyptians. The famine was severe in the land of Egypt.

All countries came into Egypt, to Joseph, to buy grain, because the famine was severe in all the earth.

Footnotes

(a)41:51 “Manasseh” sounds like the Hebrew for “forget”.

(b)41:52 “Ephraim” sounds like the Hebrew for “twice fruitful”.