Genesis - Chapter 41

1Now after two years had gone by, Pharaoh had a dream; and in his dream he was by the side of the Nile; 2And out of the Nile came seven cows, good-looking and fat, and their food was the river-grass. 3And after them seven other cows came out of the Nile, poor-looking and thin; and they were by the side of the other cows. 4And the seven thin cows made a meal of the seven fat cows. Then Pharaoh came out of his sleep. 5But he went to sleep again and had a second dream, in which he saw seven heads of grain, full and good, all on one stem. 6And after them came up seven other heads, thin and wasted by the east wind. 7And the seven thin heads made a meal of the good heads. And when Pharaoh was awake he saw it was a dream. 8And in the morning his spirit was troubled; and he sent for all the wise men of Egypt and all the holy men, and put his dream before them, but no one was able to give him the sense of it. 9Then the chief wine-servant said to Pharaoh, The memory of my sin comes back to me now; 10Pharaoh had been angry with his servants, and had put me in prison in the house of the captain of the army, together with the chief bread-maker; 11And we had a dream on the same night, the two of us, and the dreams had a special sense. 12And there was with us a young Hebrew, the captain's servant, and when we put our dreams before him, he gave us the sense of them. 13And it came about as he said: I was put back in my place, and the bread-maker was put to death by hanging. 14Then Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and they took him quickly out of prison; and when his hair had been cut and his dress changed, he came before Pharaoh. 15And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have had a dream, and no one is able to give me the sense of it; now it has come to my ears that you are able to give the sense of a dream when it is put before you. 16Then Joseph said, Without God there will be no answer of peace for Pharaoh. 17Then Pharaoh said, In my dream I was by the side of the Nile: 18And out of the Nile came seven cows, fat and good-looking, and their food was the river-grass; 19Then after them came seven other cows, very thin and poor-looking, worse than any I ever saw in the land of Egypt; 20And the thin cows made a meal of the seven fat cows who came up first; 21And even with the fat cows inside them they seemed as bad as before. And so I came out of my sleep. 22And again in a dream I saw seven heads of grain, full and good, coming up on one stem: 23And then I saw seven other heads, dry, thin, and wasted by the east wind, coming up after them: 24And the seven thin heads made a meal of the seven good heads; and I put this dream before the wise men, but not one of them was able to give me the sense of it. 25Then Joseph said, These two dreams have the same sense: God has made clear to Pharaoh what he is about to do. 26The seven fat cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years: the two have the same sense. 27The seven thin and poor-looking cows who came up after them are seven years; and the seven heads of grain, dry and wasted by the east wind, are seven years when there will be no food. 28As I said to Pharaoh before, God has made clear to him what he is about to do. 29Seven years are coming in which there will be great wealth of grain in Egypt; 30And after that will come seven years when there will not be enough food; and the memory of the good years will go from men's minds; and the land will be made waste by the bad years; 31And men will have no memory of the good time because of the need which will come after, for it will be very bitter. 32And this dream came to Pharaoh twice, because this thing is certain, and God will quickly make it come about. 33And now let Pharaoh make search for a man of wisdom and good sense, and put him in authority over the land of Egypt. 34Let Pharaoh do this, and let him put overseers over the land of Egypt to put in store a fifth part of the produce of the land in the good years. 35And let them get together all the food in those good years and make a store of grain under Pharaoh's control for the use of the towns, and let them keep it. 36And let that food be kept in store for the land till the seven bad years which are to come in Egypt; so that the land may not come to destruction through need of food. 37And this seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his servants. 38Then Pharaoh said to his servants, Where may we get such a man as this, a man in whom is the spirit of God? 39And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Seeing that God has made all this clear to you, there is no other man of such wisdom and good sense as you: 40You, then, are to be over my house, and all my people will be ruled by your word: only as king will I be greater than you. 41And Pharaoh said to Joseph, See, I have put you over all the land of Egypt. 42Then Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, and he had him clothed with the best linen, and put a chain of gold round his neck; 43And he made him take his seat in the second of his carriages; and they went before him crying, Make way! So he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt. 44Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh; and without your order no man may do anything in all the land of Egypt. 45And Pharaoh gave Joseph the name of Zaphnath-paaneah; and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, the priest of On, to be his wife. So Joseph went through all the land of Egypt. 46Now Joseph was thirty years old when he came before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from before the face of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt. 47Now in the seven good years the earth gave fruit in masses. 48And Joseph got together all the food of those seven years, and made a store of food in the towns: the produce of the fields round every town was stored up in the town. 49So he got together a store of grain like the sand of the sea; so great a store that after a time he gave up measuring it, for it might not be measured. 50And before the time of need, Joseph had two sons, to whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On, gave birth. 51And to the first he gave the name Manasseh, for he said, God has taken away from me all memory of my hard life and of my father's house. 52And to the second he gave the name Ephraim, for he said, God has given me fruit in the land of my sorrow. 53And so the seven good years in Egypt came to an end. 54Then came the first of the seven years of need as Joseph had said: and in every other land they were short of food; but in the land of Egypt there was bread. 55And when all the land of Egypt was in need of food, the people came crying to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to the people, Go to Joseph, and whatever he says to you, do it. 56And everywhere on the earth they were short of food; then Joseph, opening all his store-houses, gave the people of Egypt grain for money; so great was the need of food in the land of Egypt. 57And all lands sent to Egypt, to Joseph, to get grain, for the need was great over all the earth.