Genesis 41:15-32

Complete Jewish Bible

(A: ii) ¹⁵ Pharaoh said to Yosef, “I had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it; but I’ve heard it said about you that when you hear a dream, you can interpret it.” ¹⁶ Yosef answered Pharaoh, “It isn’t in me. God will give Pharaoh an answer that will set his mind at peace.” (S: ii) ¹⁷ Pharaoh said to Yosef, “In my dream, I stood at the edge of the river; ¹⁸ and there came up out of the river seven cows, fat and sleek; and they began feeding in the swamp grass. ¹⁹ After them, there came up out of the river seven more cows, poor, miserable-looking and lean — I’ve never seen such bad-looking cows in all the land of Egypt! ²⁰ Then the lean and miserable-looking cows ate up the first seven fat cows. ²¹ But after they had eaten them up, one couldn’t tell that they had eaten them; because they were as miserable-looking as before. At this point I woke up. ²² But I dreamed again and saw seven full, ripe ears of grain growing out of a single stalk. ²³ After them, seven ears, thin and blasted by the east wind, sprang up. ²⁴ And the thin ears swallowed up the seven ripe ears. I told this to the magicians, but none of them could explain it to me.”

²⁵ Yosef said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are the same: God has told Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁶ The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears of grain are seven years — the dreams are the same. ²⁷ Likewise the seven lean and miserable-looking cows that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven empty ears blasted by the east wind — there will be seven years of famine. ²⁸ This is what I told Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁹ Here it is: there will be seven years of abundance throughout the whole land of Egypt; ³⁰ but afterwards, there will come seven years of famine; and Egypt will forget all the abundance. The famine will consume the land, ³¹ and the abundance will not be known in the land because of the famine that will follow, because it will be truly terrible. ³² Why was the dream doubled for Pharaoh? Because the matter has been fixed by God, and God will shortly cause it to happen.