Genesis 41
1 Two complete years later, the king of Egypt had a dream. In the dream, he was standing alongside the Nile [River].
Now after two years had gone by, Pharaoh had a dream; and in his dream he was by the side of the Nile;
2 Suddenly seven healthy fat cows come up out of the river. They started eating the grass that was on the riverbank.
And out of the Nile came seven cows, good-looking and fat, and their food was the river-grass.
3 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.
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 unhealthy thin cows ate the seven healthy fat cows. And then the king woke up.
And the seven thin cows made a meal of the seven fat cows. Then Pharaoh came out of his sleep.
5 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.
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 After that, the king saw that seven other heads of grain sprouted on that (OR, on another) stalk. They were thin and had been dried up by the hot east wind.
And after them came up seven other heads, thin and wasted by the east wind.
7 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.
And the seven thin heads made a meal of the good heads. And when Pharaoh was awake he saw it was a dream.
8 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.
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 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.
Then the chief wine-servant said to Pharaoh, The memory of my sin comes back to me now;
10 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.
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 While we were there, one night each of us had a dream, and the dreams had different meanings.
And we had a dream on the same night, the two of us, and the dreams had a special sense.
12 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.
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 And what happened 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. [The Hebrew man’s name was Joseph].”
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 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.
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 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.”
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 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.”
Then Joseph said, Without God there will be no answer of peace for Pharaoh.
17 The king said to Joseph, “In my first dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile [River].
Then Pharaoh said, In my dream I was by the side of the Nile:
18 Suddenly seven healthy fat cows came up out of the river, and they started eating the grass that was on the riverbank.
And out of the Nile came seven cows, fat and good-looking, and their food was the river-grass;
19 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!
Then after them came seven other cows, very thin and poor-looking, worse than any I ever saw in the land of Egypt;
20 The thin ugly cows ate the seven fat cows that came up first.
And the thin cows made a meal of the seven fat cows who came up first;
21 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.
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 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.
And again in a dream I saw seven heads of grain, full and good, coming up on one stem:
23 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.
And then I saw seven other heads, dry, thin, and wasted by the east wind, coming up after them:
24 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.”
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 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.
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 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 fat cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years: the two have the same sense.
27 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/when food will be very scarce).
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 will happen just as I have told you, because God has revealed to you what he is about to do.
As I said to Pharaoh before, God has made clear to him what he is about to do.
29 There will be seven years in which there will be plenty of food throughout the land of Egypt,
Seven years are coming in which there will be great wealth of grain in Egypt;
30 but after that there will be seven years (of famine/when food will be very scarce). Then people will forget all the years when there was plenty of food, because the famine that will come afterward 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 people will forget how plentiful food was previously, because the famine will be very 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 reason God gave to you two dreams is that he [wants you to know] that this will happen, and he will cause it to happen very soon.
And this dream came to Pharaoh twice, because this thing is certain, and God will quickly make it come about.
33 “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.
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 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.
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 this amount of grain during those seven years that are coming, when there will be plenty of food. You should supervise them as they store it in the cities.
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 grain should be stored 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.”
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 The king and his officials thought that this would be a good plan.
And this seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his servants.
38 So the king said to them, “(Can we find any other man like Joseph, a man to whom God has given his Spirit?/It is not likely that we will find another man like this man, one to whom God has given his Spirit!)” [RHQ]
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 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.
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 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 [MTY] will I have more authority 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 the king said to Joseph, “I am now 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 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 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 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, “Get off the road!” So the king put Joseph in charge of everything in the country.
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 The king said to Joseph, “I am the king, but no one in the whole land of Egypt will do anything [IDM] if you do not permit them to do it.”
Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh; and without your order no man may do anything in all the land of Egypt.
45 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 On [city]. Then Joseph became known (OR, traveled) through all the land 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 30 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.
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 next seven years, the land produced abundant crops, so there was plenty of food.
Now in the seven good years the earth gave fruit in masses.
48 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.
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 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.
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 Before the seven years of famine started, Joseph’s wife Asenath gave birth to two sons.
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 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.”
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 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.”
And to the second he gave the name Ephraim, for he said, God has given me fruit in the land of my sorrow.
53 Finally the seven years in which there was plenty of food ended.
And so the seven good years in Egypt came to an end.
54 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.
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 the people of [MTY] 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.”
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 When the famine was very bad throughout 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.
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 And people from many [HYP] nearby countries came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was very severe everywhere [HYP].
And all lands sent to Egypt, to Joseph, to get grain, for the need was great over all the earth.
