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Genesis 41
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Chapter 41
Pharaoh’s dreams
1
Two years later it happened that Pharaoh had a dream: he was standing by the Nile,
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and there, coming up from the Nile, were seven cows, sleek and fat, and they began to feed among the rushes.
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And seven other cows, ugly and lean, came up from the Nile after them; and these went over and stood beside the other cows on the bank of the Nile.
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The ugly and lean cows ate the seven sleek and fat cows. Then Pharaoh awoke.
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He fell asleep and dreamed a second time: there, growing on one stalk, were seven ears of corn full and ripe.
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And sprouting up after them came seven ears of corn, meagre and scorched by the east wind.
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The scanty ears of corn swallowed the seven full and ripe ears of corn. Then Pharaoh awoke; it was a dream.
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In the morning Pharaoh, feeling disturbed, had all the magicians and wise men of Egypt summoned to him. Pharaoh told them his dream, but no one could interpret it for Pharaoh.
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Then the chief cup-bearer addressed Pharaoh, ‘Today I must recall my offences.
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Pharaoh was angry with his servants and put myself and the chief baker under arrest in the house of the commander of the guard.
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We had a dream on the same night, he and I, and each man’s dream had a meaning for himself.
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There was a young Hebrew with us, one of the slaves belonging to the commander of the guard. We told our dreams to him and he interpreted them, giving each of us the interpretation of his dream.
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It turned out just as he interpreted for us: I was restored to my place, but the other man was hanged.’
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Then Pharaoh had Joseph summoned, and they hurried him from prison. He shaved and changed his clothes, and came into Pharaoh’s presence.
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Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘I have had a dream which no one can interpret. But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.’
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Joseph answered Pharaoh, ‘I do not count. It is God who will give Pharaoh a favourable answer.’
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So Pharaoh told Joseph, ‘In my dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile.
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And there were seven cows, fat and sleek, coming up out of the Nile, and they began to feed among the rushes.
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And seven other cows came up after them, starved, ugly and lean; I have never seen such poor cows in all the land of Egypt.
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The lean and ugly cows ate up the seven fat cows.
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But when they had eaten them up, it was impossible to tell they had eaten them, for they remained as lean as before. Then I woke up.
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And then again in my dream, there, growing on one stalk, were seven ears of corn, beautifully ripe; but sprouting up after them came seven ears of corn, withered, meagre, and scorched by the east wind.
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The shrivelled ears of corn swallowed the seven ripe ears of corn.
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I told the magicians this, but no one could tell me the meaning.’
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Joseph told Pharaoh, ‘Pharaoh’s dreams are one and the same: God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is going to do.
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The seven fine cows are seven years and the seven ripe ears of corn are seven years; it is one and the same dream.
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The seven gaunt and lean cows coming up after them are seven years, as are the seven shrivelled ears of corn scorched by the east wind: there will be seven years of famine.
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It is as I have told Pharaoh: God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is going to do.
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Seven years are coming, bringing great plenty to the whole land of Egypt,
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but seven years of famine will follow them, when all the plenty in the land of Egypt will be forgotten, and famine will exhaust the land.
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The famine that is to follow will be so very severe that no one will remember what plenty the country enjoyed.
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The reason why the dream came to Pharaoh twice is because the event is already determined by God, and God is impatient to bring it about,
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‘Pharaoh should now choose a man who is intelligent and wise to govern the land of Egypt.
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Pharaoh should take action and appoint supervisors over the land, and impose a tax of one-fifth on the land of Egypt during the seven years of plenty.
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They will collect all food produced during these good years that are coming. They will store the corn in Pharaoh’s name, and place the food in the towns and hold it there.
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This food will serve as a reserve for the land during the seven years of famine that will afflict the land of Egypt. And so the land will not be destroyed by the famine.’
Joseph’s promotion
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Pharaoh and all his ministers approved of what he had said.
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Then Pharaoh asked his ministers, ‘Can we find any other man like this, possessing the spirit of God?’
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So Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Seeing that God has given you knowledge of all this, there can be no one as intelligent and wise as you.
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You shall be my chancellor, and all my people shall respect your orders; only this throne shall set me above you.’
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Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘I hereby make you governor of the whole land of Egypt’.
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Pharaoh took the ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s. He clothed him in fine linen and put a gold chain round his neck.
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He made him ride in the best chariot he had after his own, and they cried before him ‘Abrek’.[*a] This is the way he was made governor of the whole land of Egypt.
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Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘I am Pharaoh: without your permission no one is to move hand or foot throughout the whole land of Egypt’.
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Pharaoh named Joseph Zaphenath-paneah, and gave him Asenath the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On,[*b] for his wife. Joseph travelled through the land of Egypt.
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Joseph was thirty years old when he appeared before Pharaoh king of Egypt. After leaving Pharaoh’s presence Joseph went through the whole land of Egypt.
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During the seven years of plenty, the soil yielded generously.
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He collected all, the food of the seven years when there was an abundance in the land of Egypt, and allotted food to the towns, placing in each the food from the surrounding countryside.
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Joseph stored the corn like the sand of the sea, so much that they stopped reckoning, since it was beyond all estimating.
Joseph’s sons
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Before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph: Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore him these.
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Joseph named the first-born Manasseh, ‘Because’ he said ‘God has made me forget all my suffering and all my father’s household’.
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He named the second Ephraim, ‘Because’ he said ‘God has made me fruitful in the country of my misfortune’.
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Then the seven years of plenty that there had been in the land of Egypt came to an end.
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The seven years of famine began to come as Joseph had said. There was famine in every country, but there was bread to be had throughout the land of Egypt.
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When the whole country began to feel the famine, the people cried out to Pharaoh for bread. But Pharaoh told all the Egyptians, ‘Go to Joseph and do what he tells you’.-
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There was famine all over the world.-Then Joseph opened all the granaries and sold grain to the Egyptians. The famine grew worse in the land of Egypt.
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People came to Egypt from all over the world to buy grain from Joseph, for the famine had grown severe throughout the world.
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