Chapter 41
Pharaoh’s Dream. 1 [a]After a lapse of two years, Pharaoh had a dream. He was standing by the Nile, 2 when up out of the Nile came seven cows, fine-looking and fat; they grazed in the reed grass. 3 Behind them seven other cows, poor-looking and gaunt, came up out of the Nile; and standing on the bank of the Nile beside the others, 4 the poor-looking, gaunt cows devoured the seven fine-looking, fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.
5 He fell asleep again and had another dream. He saw seven ears of grain, fat and healthy, growing on a single stalk. 6 Behind them sprouted seven ears of grain, thin and scorched by the east wind; 7 and the thin ears swallowed up the seven fat, healthy ears. Then Pharaoh woke up—it was a dream!
8 Next morning his mind was agitated. So Pharaoh had all the magicians[b] and sages of Egypt summoned and recounted his dream to them; but there was no one to interpret it for him. 9 Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh: “Now I remember my negligence! 10 Once, when Pharaoh was angry with his servants, he put me and the chief baker in custody in the house of the chief steward. 11 Later, we both had dreams on the same night, and each of our dreams had its own meaning. 12 There was a Hebrew youth with us, a slave of the chief steward; and when we told him our dreams, he interpreted them for us and explained for each of us the meaning of his dream.(A) 13 Things turned out just as he had told us: I was restored to my post, but the other man was impaled.”
14 Pharaoh therefore had Joseph summoned, and they hurriedly brought him from the dungeon. After he shaved and changed his clothes, he came to Pharaoh.(B) 15 Pharaoh then said to Joseph: “I had a dream but there was no one to interpret it. But I hear it said of you, ‘If he hears a dream he can interpret it.’” 16 “It is not I,” Joseph replied to Pharaoh, “but God who will respond for the well-being of Pharaoh.”(C)
17 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph: “In my dream, I was standing on the bank of the Nile, 18 when up from the Nile came seven cows, fat and well-formed; they grazed in the reed grass. 19 Behind them came seven other cows, scrawny, most ill-formed and gaunt. Never have I seen such bad specimens as these in all the land of Egypt! 20 The gaunt, bad cows devoured the first seven fat cows. 21 But when they had consumed them, no one could tell that they had done so, because they looked as bad as before. Then I woke up. 22 In another dream I saw seven ears of grain, full and healthy, growing on a single stalk. 23 Behind them sprouted seven ears of grain, shriveled and thin and scorched by the east wind; 24 and the seven thin ears swallowed up the seven healthy ears. I have spoken to the magicians, but there is no one to explain it to me.”
25 Joseph said to Pharaoh: “Pharaoh’s dreams have the same meaning. God has made known to Pharaoh what he is about to do. 26 The seven healthy cows are seven years, and the seven healthy ears are seven years—the same in each dream. 27 The seven thin, bad cows that came up after them are seven years, as are the seven thin ears scorched by the east wind; they are seven years of famine. 28 Things are just as I told Pharaoh: God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. 29 Seven years of great abundance are now coming throughout the land of Egypt; 30 but seven years of famine will rise up after them, when all the abundance will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. When the famine has exhausted the land, 31 no trace of the abundance will be found in the land because of the famine that follows it, for it will be very severe. 32 That Pharaoh had the same dream twice means that the matter has been confirmed by God and that God will soon bring it about.
33 “Therefore, let Pharaoh seek out a discerning and wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt. 34 Let Pharaoh act and appoint overseers for the land to organize it during the seven years of abundance. 35 They should collect all the food of these coming good years, gathering the grain under Pharaoh’s authority, for food in the cities, and they should guard it. 36 This food will serve as a reserve for the country against the seven years of famine that will occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish in the famine.”
37 This advice pleased Pharaoh and all his servants.(D) 38 “Could we find another like him,” Pharaoh asked his servants, “a man so endowed with the spirit of God?” 39 So Pharaoh said to Joseph: “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as discerning and wise as you are. 40 You shall be in charge of my household, and all my people will obey your command. Only in respect to the throne will I outrank you.”(E) 41 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Look, I put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.” 42 With that, Pharaoh took off his signet ring[c] and put it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. 43 He then had him ride in his second chariot, and they shouted “Abrek!”[d] before him.
Thus was Joseph installed over the whole land of Egypt. 44 “I am Pharaoh,” he told Joseph, “but without your approval no one shall lift hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” 45 Pharaoh also bestowed the name of Zaphenath-paneah[e] on Joseph, and he gave him in marriage Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis. And Joseph went out over the land of Egypt. 46 Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
After Joseph left Pharaoh, he went throughout the land of Egypt. 47 During the seven years of plenty, when the land produced abundant crops, 48 he collected all the food of these years of plenty that the land of Egypt was enjoying and stored it in the cities, placing in each city the crops of the fields around it. 49 Joseph collected grain like the sands of the sea, so much that at last he stopped measuring it, for it was beyond measure.
50 Before the famine years set in, Joseph became the father of two sons, borne to him by Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis.(F) 51 Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh,[f] meaning, “God has made me forget entirely my troubles and my father’s house”; 52 and the second he named Ephraim,[g] meaning, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
53 When the seven years of abundance enjoyed by the land of Egypt came to an end, 54 the seven years of famine set in, just as Joseph had said. Although there was famine in all the other countries, food was available throughout the land of Egypt.(G) 55 When all the land of Egypt became hungry and the people cried to Pharaoh for food, Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians: “Go to Joseph and do whatever he tells you.” 56 When the famine had spread throughout the land, Joseph opened all the cities that had grain and rationed it to the Egyptians, since the famine had gripped the land of Egypt. 57 Indeed, the whole world came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, for famine had gripped the whole world.
Footnotes
- 41:1–57 Joseph correctly interprets Pharaoh’s dream and becomes second in command over all Egypt.
- 41:8 Magicians: one of the tasks of the “magicians” was interpreting dreams. The interpretation of dreams was a long-standing practice in Egypt. A manual of dream interpretation has been found, written in the early second millennium and re-published later in which typical dreams are given (“If a man sees himself in a dream…”) followed by a judgment of “good” or “bad.” Interpreters were still needed for dreams, however, and Pharaoh complains that none of his dream interpreters can interpret his unprecedented dream. The same term will be used of Pharaoh’s magicians in Exodus.
- 41:42 Signet ring: a finger ring in which was set a stamp seal, different from the cylinder seal such as Judah wore; see note on 38:18. By receiving Pharaoh’s signet ring, Joseph was made vizier of Egypt (v. 43); the vizier was known as “seal-bearer of the king of Lower Egypt.” The gold chain was a symbol of high office in ancient Egypt.
- 41:43 Abrek: apparently a cry of homage, though the word’s derivation and actual meaning are uncertain.
- 41:45 Zaphenath-paneah: a Hebrew transcription of an Egyptian name meaning “the god speaks and he (the newborn child) lives.” Asenath: means “belonging to (the Egyptian goddess) Neith.” Potiphera: means “he whom Ra (the Egyptian god) gave”; a shorter form of the same name was borne by Joseph’s master (37:36). Heliopolis: in Hebrew, On, a city seven miles northeast of modern Cairo, site of the chief temple of the sun god; it is mentioned also in v. 50; 46:20; Ez 30:17.
- 41:51 Manasseh: an allusion to this name is in the Hebrew expression, nishshani, “he made me forget.”
- 41:52 Ephraim: related to the Hebrew expression hiphrani, “(God) has made me fruitful.” The name originally meant something like “fertile land.”