Genesis 41:14-33

Good News Translation

¹⁴The king sent for Joseph, and he was immediately brought from the prison. After he had shaved and changed his clothes, he came into the king's presence. ¹⁵The king said to him, “I have had a dream, and no one can explain it. I have been told that you can interpret dreams.”

¹⁶Joseph answered, “I cannot, Your Majesty, but God will give a favorable interpretation.”

¹⁷The king said, “I dreamed that I was standing on the bank of the Nile, ¹⁸when seven cows, fat and sleek, came up out of the river and began feeding on the grass. ¹⁹Then seven other cows came up which were thin and bony. They were the poorest cows I have ever seen anywhere in Egypt. ²⁰The thin cows ate up the fat ones, ²¹but no one would have known it, because they looked just as bad as before. Then I woke up. ²²I also dreamed that I saw seven heads of grain which were full and ripe, growing on one stalk. ²³Then seven heads of grain sprouted, thin and scorched by the desert wind, ²⁴and the thin heads of grain swallowed the full ones. I told the dreams to the magicians, but none of them could explain them to me.”

²⁵Joseph said to the king, “The two dreams mean the same thing; God has told you what he is going to do. ²⁶The seven fat cows are seven years, and the seven full heads of grain are also seven years; they have the same meaning. ²⁷The seven thin cows which came up later and the seven thin heads of grain scorched by the desert wind are seven years of famine. ²⁸It is just as I told you—God has shown you what he is going to do. ²⁹There will be seven years of great plenty in all the land of Egypt. ³⁰After that, there will be seven years of famine, and all the good years will be forgotten, because the famine will ruin the country. ³¹The time of plenty will be entirely forgotten, because the famine which follows will be so terrible. ³²The repetition of your dream means that the matter is fixed by God and that he will make it happen in the near future.