Genesis
Chapter 41
1 After two whole years, Pharaoh had a dream: he was standing by the river.
2 Look, seven healthy and fat cows came out of the river and they ate in a grassy field.
3 Then seven other skinny and ugly cows came up from the river and stood next to the first cows by the riverbank.
4 The skinny and ugly cows ate the seven healthy and fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.
5 He slept again and had another dream: seven healthy and full ears of corn grew on one stalk.
6 Look, seven skinny ears of grain, damaged by the east wind, grew up after them.
7 The seven skinny heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy and full heads. Then Pharaoh woke up and realized it was a dream.
8 In the morning, he was worried, so he called all of Egypt’s magicians and wise men. Pharaoh shared his dream with them, but no one could explain it to him.
9 The head servant spoke to the king and said, “Today, I remember what I did wrong.”
10 The king was angry with his servants and locked me up in the guard captain’s house, me and the head baker.
11 We both had a dream on the same night, me and him; each of our dreams meant something different.
12 A young Hebrew man, who worked for the guard’s commander, was with us. We shared our dreams with him, and he explained what each dream meant for each person.
13 Just as he explained to us, it happened: he returned me to my job, and he hanged the other man.
14 Then Pharaoh sent for Joseph, who was quickly brought out of the prison. He shaved, put on new clothes, and went to Pharaoh.
15 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had a dream and no one can explain it. But I’ve heard that you can understand and explain dreams.”
16 Joseph said to Pharaoh, “I don’t have the power. God will give Pharaoh a peaceful answer.”
17 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “In my dream, I was standing by the river.”
18 Look, seven healthy and good-looking cows came up from the river and grazed in the grassland.
19 Then seven other cows came up after them, thin, very ugly, and skinny, such as I have never seen in all of Egypt because they were so bad.
20 The skinny and sickly cows ate up the first seven healthy cows.
21 After they ate them, you couldn’t tell they had eaten; they still looked bad as before. Then I woke up.
22 I had a dream where seven healthy and full ears of grain grew on a single stalk.
23 Look, seven thin and dried up ears of grain, damaged by the east wind, grew after the others.
24 The skinny ears of grain swallowed up the seven healthy ears, and I explained this to the magicians, but no one could tell me what it meant.
25 Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Pharaoh’s dream means the same thing: God has shown Pharaoh what He will do.”
26 The seven good cows are seven years; and the seven good heads of grain are seven years: the dream is the same.
27 The seven skinny and bad-looking cows that followed are seven years, and the seven thin ears of grain ruined by the east wind will be seven years of hunger.
28 This is what I told Pharaoh: God is showing Pharaoh what he is going to do.
29 Look, seven years of great abundance will come to the whole land of Egypt.
30 After those seven good years, seven years of hunger will follow. All the abundance in Egypt will be forgotten, and the hunger will destroy the land.
31 The abundance will not be noticed in the land because of the coming famine; it will be very severe.
32 The dream came to Pharaoh two times because God has decided it will happen soon.
33 So now, Pharaoh should choose a smart and wise man to be in charge of Egypt.
34 Pharaoh should do this: he should choose leaders for the land and collect one-fifth of Egypt’s crops during the seven good years.
35 Let them collect all the food from the good years that are coming, and store grain under Pharaoh’s control, and keep food in the cities.
36 That food will be kept to supply the land during the seven years of famine that will happen in Egypt, so the land won’t be destroyed by the famine.
37 Pharaoh and all his servants thought the idea was good.
38 Pharaoh asked his servants, “Can we find anyone like this man who has the Spirit of God in him?”
39 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, no one is as smart and wise as you are.”
40 You will be in charge of my house, and all my people will follow your commands; only I will have more power than you because of my throne.
41 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Look, I have made you the ruler over all of Egypt.”
42 The king took his ring off his hand, gave it to Joseph, dressed him in fine linen clothes, and put a gold necklace around his neck.
43 He let him ride in his second chariot, and as he went, people shouted, “Bow down!” He appointed him to rule over all of Egypt.
44 Pharaoh told Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and no one in Egypt will do anything without your permission.”
45 Pharaoh named Joseph Zaphnathpaaneah and gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potipherah, the priest of On, as his wife. Joseph traveled all through Egypt.
46 Joseph was thirty when he appeared before Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. He left Pharaoh’s presence and traveled all over Egypt.
47 During the seven good years, the earth produced lots of food.
48 He collected all the food from the seven years in Egypt and stored it in the cities. He put the food from the fields around each city in that city.
49 Joseph collected so much grain like the sand of the sea that he stopped keeping track because it was too much to count.
50 Joseph had two sons before the famine started. Asenath, Potipherah the priest of On’s daughter, was their mother.
51 Joseph named his first son Manasseh because, he said, God has made me forget all my hard work and my family back home.
52 He named the second one Ephraim, saying, “God has made me fruitful in the land where I suffered.”
53 The seven plentiful years in Egypt came to an end.
54 The seven years of famine started, just as Joseph had said, and the famine was in every country, but in Egypt, there was still food.
55 When Egypt was very hungry, the people begged the king for food. The king told the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph; do whatever he tells you.”
56 There was a famine everywhere on earth; Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold food to the Egyptians; and the famine became very severe in Egypt.
57 People from every country went to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph because the famine was very severe everywhere.