¹⁸ Seven cows, plump and attractive, came up out of the Nile and fed in the reed grass. ¹⁹ Seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and thin, such as I had never seen in all the land of Egypt. ²⁰ And the thin, ugly cows ate up the first seven plump cows, ²¹ but when they had eaten them no one would have known that they had eaten them, for they were still as ugly as at the beginning. Then I awoke. ²² I also saw in my dream seven ears growing on one stalk, full and good. ²³ Seven ears, withered, thin, and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them, ²⁴ and the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears. And ^(A)I told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.”

²⁵ Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; ^(B)God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁶ The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years; the dreams are one. ²⁷ The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty ears blighted by the east wind are also ^(C)seven years of famine. ²⁸ It is as I told Pharaoh; ^(D)God has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁹ There will come ^(E)seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, ³⁰ but after them there will arise ^(F)seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. ^(G)The famine will consume the land, ³¹ and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of the famine that will follow, for it will be very severe. ³² And the doubling of Pharaoh's dream means that the ^(H)thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about. ³³ Now therefore let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt. ³⁴ Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land and take one-fifth of the produce of the land^[a] of Egypt during the seven plentiful years. ³⁵ And ^(I)let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it. ³⁶ That food shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that are to occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish through the famine.”

The Ark Returned to Israel

6 The ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. ² And the Philistines called for the priests and ^(A)the diviners and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us with what we shall send it to its place.” ³ They said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty, but by all means return him ^(B)a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why ^(C)his hand does not turn away from you.” ⁴ And they said, “What is the guilt offering that we shall return to him?” They answered, “Five golden ^(D)tumors and five golden mice, ^(E)according to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for the same plague was on all of you and on your lords. ⁵ So you must make images of your ^(F)tumors and images of your mice that ravage the land, ^(G)and give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps ^(H)he will lighten his hand from off you ^(I)and your gods and your land. ⁶ Why should you harden your hearts as ^(J)the Egyptians and ^(K)Pharaoh hardened their hearts? After he had dealt severely with them, ^(L)did they not send the people away, and they departed? ⁷ Now then, take and prepare ^(M)a new cart and two milk cows ^(N)on which there has never come a yoke, and yoke the cows to the cart, but take their calves home, away from them. ⁸ And take the ark of the Lord and place it on the cart and put in a box at its side ^(O)the figures of gold, which you are returning to him as ^(P)a guilt offering. Then send it off and let it go its way ⁹ and watch. If it goes up on the way to its own land, to ^(Q)Beth-shemesh, then it is he who has done us this great harm, but if not, then we shall know that it is not ^(R)his hand that struck us; it happened to us by coincidence.”

¹⁰ The men did so, and took two milk cows and yoked them to the cart and shut up their calves at home. ¹¹ And they put the ark of the Lord on the cart and the box with the golden mice and the images of their tumors. ¹² And the cows went straight in the direction of ^(S)Beth-shemesh along ^(T)one highway, lowing as they went. They turned neither to the right nor to the left, and the lords of the Philistines went after them as far as the border of ^(U)Beth-shemesh. ¹³ Now the people of ^(V)Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. And when they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, they rejoiced to see it. ¹⁴ The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there. ^(W)A great stone was there. And they split up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. ¹⁵ And the Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the box that was beside it, in which were the golden figures, and set them upon ^(X)the great stone. And the men of ^(Y)Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices on that day to the Lord. ¹⁶ And when ^(Z)the five lords of the Philistines saw it, they returned that day to Ekron.

¹⁷ These are the golden tumors that the Philistines returned as a ^(AA)guilt offering to the Lord: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron, ¹⁸ and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, ^(AB)both fortified cities and unwalled villages. ^(AC)The great stone beside which they set down the ark of the Lord is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh.

The Future Glory of Israel