Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

133 How wonderful it is, how pleasant, when brothers live in harmony! ² For harmony is as precious as the fragrant anointing oil that was poured over Aaron’s head and ran down onto his beard and onto the border of his robe. ³ Harmony is as refreshing as the dew on Mount Hermon, on the mountains of Israel. And God has pronounced this eternal blessing on Jerusalem,^[a] even life forevermore.

¹⁴ Pharaoh sent at once for Joseph. He was brought hastily from the dungeon, and after a quick shave and change of clothes, came in before Pharaoh.

¹⁵ “I had a dream last night,” Pharaoh told him, “and none of these men can tell me what it means. But I have heard that you can interpret dreams, and that is why I have called for you.”

¹⁶ “I can’t do it by myself,” Joseph replied, “but God will tell you what it means!”

¹⁷ So Pharaoh told him the dream. “I was standing upon the bank of the Nile River,” he said, ¹⁸ “when suddenly, seven fat, healthy-looking cows came up out of the river and began grazing along the riverbank. ¹⁹ But then seven other cows came up from the river, very skinny and bony—in fact, I’ve never seen such poor-looking specimens in all the land of Egypt. ²⁰ And these skinny cattle ate up the seven fat ones that had come out first, ²¹ and afterwards they were still as skinny as before! Then I woke up.

²² “A little later I had another dream. This time there were seven heads of grain on one stalk, and all seven heads were plump and full. ²³ Then, out of the same stalk, came seven withered, thin heads. ²⁴ And the thin heads swallowed up the fat ones! I told all this to my magicians, but not one of them could tell me the meaning.”

²⁵ “Both dreams mean the same thing,” Joseph told Pharaoh. “God was telling you what he is going to do here in the land of Egypt. ²⁶ The seven fat cows (and also the seven fat, well-formed heads of grain) mean that there are seven years of prosperity ahead. ²⁷ The seven skinny cows (and also the seven thin and withered heads of grain) indicate that there will be seven years of famine following the seven years of prosperity.

²⁸ “So God has showed you what he is about to do: ²⁹ The next seven years will be a period of great prosperity throughout all the land of Egypt; ³⁰ but afterwards there will be seven years of famine so great that all the prosperity will be forgotten and wiped out; famine will consume the land. ³¹ The famine will be so terrible that even the memory of the good years will be erased. ³² The double dream gives double impact, showing that what I have told you is certainly going to happen, for God has decreed it, and it is going to happen soon. ³³ My suggestion is that you find the wisest man in Egypt and put him in charge of administering a nationwide farm program. ^34-35 Let Pharaoh divide Egypt into five administrative districts,^[a] and let the officials of these districts gather into the royal storehouses all the excess crops of the next seven years, ³⁶ so that there will be enough to eat when the seven years of famine come. Otherwise, disaster will surely strike.”

15 And I saw in heaven another mighty pageant showing things to come: Seven angels were assigned to carry down to earth the seven last plagues—and then at last God’s anger will be finished.

² Spread out before me was what seemed to be an ocean of fire and glass, and on it stood all those who had been victorious over the Evil Creature and his statue and his mark and number. All were holding harps of God, ^3-4 and they were singing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb: