Genesis 41
1 Two complete years later, the king of Egypt had a dream. In the dream, he was standing alongside the Nile [River].
A full two years later, Pharaoh had a dream that he was standing beside the River Nile.
2 Suddenly seven healthy fat cows come up out of the river. They started eating the grass that was on the riverbank.
He saw seven cows coming up from the river. They looked well-fed and healthy as they grazed among the reeds.
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.
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.
4 Then the unhealthy thin cows ate the seven healthy fat cows. And then the king woke up.
Then the ugly, skinny cows ate the well-fed, healthy cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.
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.
Pharaoh fell asleep again and had a second dream. Seven heads of grain were growing on one stalk, ripe and healthy.
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.
Then seven heads of grain grew up after them, thin and dried 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
But then the chief cupbearer spoke up. “Today I've just remembered a bad mistake I've made,” he explained.
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.
“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.
11 While we were there, one night each of us had a dream, and the dreams had different meanings.
We each had a dream. They were different dreams, each with its own meaning.
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.
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.
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].”
Everything happened just as he said it would—I was given back my job and the baker was hanged.”
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.
Pharaoh summoned Joseph, and they quickly brought him from the prison. After he'd shaved and changed his clothes, he was presented to 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.”
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.”
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.”
“It's not me who can do this,” Joseph replied. “But God will explain its meaning to set Your Majesty's mind at rest.”
17 The king said to Joseph, “In my first dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile [River].
Pharaoh explained to Joseph, “In my dream I was standing on the bank 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.
I saw seven cows coming up from the river. They looked well-fed and healthy as they grazed among the reeds.
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 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!
20 The thin ugly cows ate the seven fat cows that came up first.
These skinny, ugly cows ate the first seven healthy-looking cows.
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.
But afterwards you couldn't tell they'd eaten them because they looked just as skinny and ugly as before. Then I woke up.
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.
Then I fell asleep again. In my second dream I saw seven heads of grain growing on one stalk, ripe and healthy.
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.
Then seven heads of grain grew up after them, withered and thin and dried by the east wind.
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.”
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.”
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.
“Pharaoh's dreams mean the same thing,” Joseph responded. “God is telling Pharaoh what he is going 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 good cows and the seven good heads of grain represent seven good years of harvest. The dreams mean the same thing.
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 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.
28 It will happen just as I have told you, because God has revealed to you what he is about to do.
It's just as I told Your Majesty—God has shown Pharaoh what he is going to do.
29 There will be seven years in which there will be plenty of food throughout the land of Egypt,
There are going to be seven years with plenty of food produced throughout the whole country of 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.
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.
31 The people will forget how plentiful food was previously, because the famine will be very terrible.
The time of plenty will be completely forgotten because the famine that follows it will be so terrible.
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.
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.
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.
So Your Majesty should choose a man with insight and wisdom, and put him in charge of the whole country 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
This will be a food reserve for the country during the seven years of famine so that the people won't die of starvation.”
37 The king and his officials thought that this would be a good plan.
Pharaoh and all his officials thought Joseph's proposal was a good idea.
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]
So Pharaoh asked them, “Where can we find a man like this who has the spirit of God in him?”
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.
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,
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 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.”
41 Then the king said to Joseph, “I am now putting you in charge of the whole country of Egypt.”
Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Look, I'm putting you in charge of the whole country 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 told Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, but without your permission nobody will lift a hand or a foot anywhere in the whole country.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
47 During the next seven years, the land produced abundant crops, so there was plenty of food.
During the seven years of good harvests, the land produced plenty of food.
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.
He collected all the food during the seven good years, and he stored the grain produced in the local fields in each 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.
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!
50 Before the seven years of famine started, Joseph’s wife Asenath gave birth to two sons.
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.
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.”
Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh, because he said, “The Lord has made me forget all my troubles and all my father's family.”
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.”
His second son he named Ephraim, because he said, “God has made me fruitful in the country of my misery.”
53 Finally the seven years in which there was plenty of food ended.
The seven years of plenty 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.
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.
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.”
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.”
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.
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,
57 And people from many [HYP] nearby countries came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was very severe everywhere [HYP].
in fact the famine was very bad everywhere, so people from other countries all around came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph.
