Genesis 41
1 A full two years later, Pharaoh had a dream that he was standing beside the River Nile.
Now after two years had gone by, Pharaoh had a dream; and in his dream he was by the side of the Nile;
2 He saw seven cows coming up from the river. They looked well-fed and healthy as they grazed among the reeds.
And out of the Nile came seven cows, good-looking and fat, and their food was the river-grass.
3 Then he saw another seven cows that came up behind them. They looked ugly and skinny as they stood beside the other cows on the bank of the Nile.
And after them seven other cows came out of the Nile, poor-looking and thin; and they were by the side of the other cows.
4 Then the ugly, skinny cows ate the well-fed, healthy cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.
And the seven thin cows made a meal of the seven fat cows. Then Pharaoh came out of his sleep.
5 Pharaoh fell asleep again and had a second dream. Seven heads of grain were growing on one stalk, ripe and healthy.
But he went to sleep again and had a second dream, in which he saw seven heads of grain, full and good, all on one stem.
6 Then seven heads of grain grew up after them, thin and dried by the east wind.
And after them came up seven other heads, thin and wasted by the east wind.
7 The seven thin and dried heads of grain swallowed up the ripe and healthy ones. Then Pharaoh woke up and realized he'd been dreaming.
And the seven thin heads made a meal of the good heads. And when Pharaoh was awake he saw it was a dream.
8 The next morning Pharaoh was worried by his dreams, so he sent for all the magicians and wise men in Egypt. Pharaoh told them about his dreams, but no one could interpret their meaning for him.
And in the morning his spirit was troubled; and he sent for all the wise men of Egypt and all the holy men, and put his dream before them, but no one was able to give him the sense of it.
9 But then the chief cupbearer spoke up. “Today I've just remembered a bad mistake I've made,” he explained.
Then the chief wine-servant said to Pharaoh, The memory of my sin comes back to me now;
10 “Your Majesty was angry with some of your officials and you imprisoned me in the house of the commander of the guard, along with the chief baker.
Pharaoh had been angry with his servants, and had put me in prison in the house of the captain of the army, together with the chief bread-maker;
11 We each had a dream. They were different dreams, each with its own meaning.
And we had a dream on the same night, the two of us, and the dreams had a special sense.
12 A young Hebrew was there with us, a slave of the commander of the guard. When we told him our dreams, he interpreted for us the meaning of our different dreams.
And there was with us a young Hebrew, the captain's servant, and when we put our dreams before him, he gave us the sense of them.
13 Everything happened just as he said it would—I was given back my job and the baker was hanged.”
And it came about as he said: I was put back in my place, and the bread-maker was put to death by hanging.
14 Pharaoh summoned Joseph, and they quickly brought him from the prison. After he'd shaved and changed his clothes, he was presented to Pharaoh.
Then Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and they took him quickly out of prison; and when his hair had been cut and his dress changed, he came before Pharaoh.
15 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had a dream, but no one can interpret its meaning. But I've heard that when someone tells you a dream you know how to interpret it.”
And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have had a dream, and no one is able to give me the sense of it; now it has come to my ears that you are able to give the sense of a dream when it is put before you.
16 “It's not me who can do this,” Joseph replied. “But God will explain its meaning to set Your Majesty's mind at rest.”
Then Joseph said, Without God there will be no answer of peace for Pharaoh.
17 Pharaoh explained to Joseph, “In my dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile.
Then Pharaoh said, In my dream I was by the side of the Nile:
18 I saw seven cows coming up from the river. They looked well-fed and healthy as they grazed among the reeds.
And out of the Nile came seven cows, fat and good-looking, and their food was the river-grass;
19 Then I saw another seven cows that came up behind them. They looked sickly and ugly and skinny—I've never seen such ugly cows in the whole of Egypt!
Then after them came seven other cows, very thin and poor-looking, worse than any I ever saw in the land of Egypt;
20 These skinny, ugly cows ate the first seven healthy-looking cows.
And the thin cows made a meal of the seven fat cows who came up first;
21 But afterwards you couldn't tell they'd eaten them because they looked just as skinny and ugly as before. Then I woke up.
And even with the fat cows inside them they seemed as bad as before. And so I came out of my sleep.
22 Then I fell asleep again. In my second dream I saw seven heads of grain growing on one stalk, ripe and healthy.
And again in a dream I saw seven heads of grain, full and good, coming up on one stem:
23 Then seven heads of grain grew up after them, withered and thin and dried by the east wind.
And then I saw seven other heads, dry, thin, and wasted by the east wind, coming up after them:
24 The seven thin heads of grain swallowed up the healthy ones. I told all this to the magicians, but none of them could explain its meaning to me.”
And the seven thin heads made a meal of the seven good heads; and I put this dream before the wise men, but not one of them was able to give me the sense of it.
25 “Pharaoh's dreams mean the same thing,” Joseph responded. “God is telling Pharaoh what he is going to do.
Then Joseph said, These two dreams have the same sense: God has made clear to Pharaoh what he is about to do.
26 The seven good cows and the seven good heads of grain represent seven good years of harvest. The dreams mean the same thing.
The seven fat cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years: the two have the same sense.
27 The seven skinny and ugly cows that came after them and the seven thin heads of grain dried by the east wind represent seven years of famine.
The seven thin and poor-looking cows who came up after them are seven years; and the seven heads of grain, dry and wasted by the east wind, are seven years when there will be no food.
28 It's just as I told Your Majesty—God has shown Pharaoh what he is going to do.
As I said to Pharaoh before, God has made clear to him what he is about to do.
29 There are going to be seven years with plenty of food produced throughout the whole country of Egypt.
Seven years are coming in which there will be great wealth of grain in Egypt;
30 But after them will come seven years of famine. People will forget the time when there was plenty of food throughout Egypt. Famine will ruin the country.
And after that will come seven years when there will not be enough food; and the memory of the good years will go from men's minds; and the land will be made waste by the bad years;
31 The time of plenty will be completely forgotten because the famine that follows it will be so terrible.
And men will have no memory of the good time because of the need which will come after, for it will be very bitter.
32 The fact that the dream was repeated twice means that it has definitely been decided by God, and that God is going to do this soon.
And this dream came to Pharaoh twice, because this thing is certain, and God will quickly make it come about.
33 So Your Majesty should choose a man with insight and wisdom, and put him in charge of the whole country of Egypt.
And now let Pharaoh make search for a man of wisdom and good sense, and put him in authority over the land of Egypt.
34 Your Majesty should also appoint officials to be in charge of the land, and have them collect one-fifth of the produce of the country during the seven years of plenty.
Let Pharaoh do this, and let him put overseers over the land of Egypt to put in store a fifth part of the produce of the land in the good years.
35 They should collect all the food during the good years that are soon coming, and store the grain under Pharaoh's authority, keeping it under guard to provide food for the towns.
And let them get together all the food in those good years and make a store of grain under Pharaoh's control for the use of the towns, and let them keep it.
36 This will be a food reserve for the country during the seven years of famine so that the people won't die of starvation.”
And let that food be kept in store for the land till the seven bad years which are to come in Egypt; so that the land may not come to destruction through need of food.
37 Pharaoh and all his officials thought Joseph's proposal was a good idea.
And this seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his servants.
38 So Pharaoh asked them, “Where can we find a man like this who has the spirit of God in him?”
Then Pharaoh said to his servants, Where may we get such a man as this, a man in whom is the spirit of God?
39 Then Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, telling him, “Since God has revealed to you all this, and there's no one like you with such insight and wisdom,
And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Seeing that God has made all this clear to you, there is no other man of such wisdom and good sense as you:
40 you will be in charge of all my affairs, and all my people will obey your orders. Only I with my status as king will be greater than you.”
You, then, are to be over my house, and all my people will be ruled by your word: only as king will I be greater than you.
41 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Look, I'm putting you in charge of the whole country of Egypt.”
And Pharaoh said to Joseph, See, I have put you over all the land of Egypt.
42 Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph's finger. He dressed him in fine linen clothes and placed a golden chain around his neck.
Then Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, and he had him clothed with the best linen, and put a chain of gold round his neck;
43 He had Joseph ride in the chariot designated for his second-in-command while his attendants went ahead, shouting, “Bow down!” This is how Pharaoh gave Joseph authority over all of Egypt.
And he made him take his seat in the second of his carriages; and they went before him crying, Make way! So he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt.
44 Then Pharaoh told Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, but without your permission nobody will lift a hand or a foot anywhere in the whole country.”
Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh; and without your order no man may do anything in all the land of Egypt.
45 Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah, and arranged for him to marry Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. This is how Joseph rose to power over the whole of Egypt.
And Pharaoh gave Joseph the name of Zaphnath-paaneah; and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, the priest of On, to be his wife. So Joseph went through all the land of Egypt.
46 Joseph was thirty when he started working for Pharaoh, king of Egypt. After he had left Pharaoh, Joseph traveled on an inspection tour throughout Egypt.
Now Joseph was thirty years old when he came before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from before the face of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt.
47 During the seven years of good harvests, the land produced plenty of food.
Now in the seven good years the earth gave fruit in masses.
48 He collected all the food during the seven good years, and he stored the grain produced in the local fields in each town.
And Joseph got together all the food of those seven years, and made a store of food in the towns: the produce of the fields round every town was stored up in the town.
49 Joseph piled up so much grain that it was like the sand of the seashore. Eventually he stopped keeping records because there was just so much!
So he got together a store of grain like the sand of the sea; so great a store that after a time he gave up measuring it, for it might not be measured.
50 It was during this time, before the years of famine came, that Joseph had two sons by Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On.
And before the time of need, Joseph had two sons, to whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On, gave birth.
51 Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh, because he said, “The Lord has made me forget all my troubles and all my father's family.”
And to the first he gave the name Manasseh, for he said, God has taken away from me all memory of my hard life and of my father's house.
52 His second son he named Ephraim, because he said, “God has made me fruitful in the country of my misery.”
And to the second he gave the name Ephraim, for he said, God has given me fruit in the land of my sorrow.
53 The seven years of plenty in Egypt came to an end,
And so the seven good years in Egypt came to an end.
54 and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all the other countries but the whole of Egypt had food.
Then came the first of the seven years of need as Joseph had said: and in every other land they were short of food; but in the land of Egypt there was bread.
55 When all of Egypt was hungry, the people cried out to Pharaoh for food, and he told everyone, “Go and see Joseph and do whatever he tells you.”
And when all the land of Egypt was in need of food, the people came crying to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to the people, Go to Joseph, and whatever he says to you, do it.
56 The famine had spread all over the country so Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the people of Egypt. The famine was very bad in Egypt,
And everywhere on the earth they were short of food; then Joseph, opening all his store-houses, gave the people of Egypt grain for money; so great was the need of food in the land of Egypt.
57 in fact the famine was very bad everywhere, so people from other countries all around came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph.
And all lands sent to Egypt, to Joseph, to get grain, for the need was great over all the earth.
