Genesis 41:9-32

Contemporary English Version

⁹ The king's personal servant said:

Now I remember what I was supposed to do. ¹⁰ When you were angry with me and your chief cook, you threw us both in jail in the house of the captain of the guard. ¹¹ One night we both had dreams, and each dream had a different meaning. ¹² A young Hebrew, who was a servant of the captain of the guard, was there with us at the time. When we told him our dreams, he explained what each of them meant, ¹³ and everything happened just as he said it would. I got my job back, and the cook was put to death.

¹⁴ The king sent for Joseph, who was quickly brought out of jail. He shaved, changed his clothes, and went to the king.

¹⁵ The king said to him, “I had a dream, yet no one can explain what it means. I am told that you can interpret dreams.”

¹⁶ “Your Majesty,” Joseph answered, “I can't do it myself, but God can give a good meaning to your dreams.”

¹⁷ The king told Joseph:

I dreamed I was standing on the bank of the Nile River. ¹⁸ I saw seven fat, healthy cows come up out of the river, and they began feeding on the grass. ¹⁹ Next, seven skinny, bony cows came up out of the river. I have never seen such terrible looking cows anywhere in Egypt. ²⁰ The skinny cows ate the fat ones. ²¹ But you couldn't tell it, because these skinny cows were just as skinny as they were before. At once, I woke up.

²² I also dreamed that I saw seven heads of grain growing on one stalk. The heads were full and ripe. ²³ Then seven other heads of grain came up. They were thin and scorched by a wind from the desert. ²⁴ These heads of grain swallowed the full ones. I told my dreams to the magicians, but none of them could tell me the meaning of the dreams.

²⁵ Joseph replied:

Your Majesty, both of your dreams mean the same thing, and in them God has shown what he is going to do. ²⁶ The seven good cows stand for seven years, and so do the seven good heads of grain. ²⁷ The seven skinny, ugly cows that came up later also stand for seven years, as do the seven bad heads of grain that were scorched by the desert wind. The dreams mean there will be seven years when there won't be enough grain.

²⁸ It is just as I said—God has shown what he intends to do. ²⁹ For seven years Egypt will have more than enough grain, ³⁰ but that will be followed by seven years when there won't be enough. The good years of plenty will be forgotten, and everywhere in Egypt people will be starving. ³¹ The famine will be so bad that no one will remember that once there had been plenty. ³² God has given you two dreams to let you know that he has definitely decided to do this and that he will do it soon.