41Genesis 41

Joseph Interprets the King's Dreams

1Two years later the king of Egypt dreamed he was standing beside the Nile River.Select Genesis 41:1

2Suddenly, seven fat, healthy cows came up from the river and started eating grass along the bank.Select Genesis 41:2

3Then seven ugly, skinny cows came up out of the river andSelect Genesis 41:3

4ate the fat, healthy cows. When this happened, the king woke up.Select Genesis 41:4

5The king went back to sleep and had another dream. This time seven full heads of grain were growing on a single stalk.Select Genesis 41:5

6Later, seven other heads of grain appeared, but they were thin and scorched by a wind from the desert.Select Genesis 41:6

7The thin heads of grain swallowed the seven full heads. Again the king woke up, and it had only been a dream.Select Genesis 41:7

8The next morning the king was upset. So he called in his magicians and wise men and told them what he had dreamed. None of them could tell him what the dreams meant.Select Genesis 41:8

9The king's personal servant said: Now I remember what I was supposed to do.Select Genesis 41:9

10When you were angry with me and your chief cook, you threw us both in jail in the house of the captain of the guard.Select Genesis 41:10

11One night we both had dreams, and each dream had a different meaning.Select Genesis 41:11

12A young Hebrew, who was a servant of the captain of the guard, was there with us at the time. When we told him our dreams, he explained what each of them meant,Select Genesis 41:12

13and everything happened just as he said it would. I got my job back, and the cook was put to death.Select Genesis 41:13

14The king sent for Joseph, who was quickly brought out of jail. He shaved, changed his clothes, and went to the king.Select Genesis 41:14

15The king said to him, “I had a dream, yet no one can explain what it means. I am told that you can interpret dreams.”Select Genesis 41:15

16“Your Majesty,” Joseph answered, “I can't do it myself, but God can give a good meaning to your dreams.”Select Genesis 41:16

17The king told Joseph: I dreamed I was standing on the bank of the Nile River.Select Genesis 41:17

18I saw seven fat, healthy cows come up out of the river, and they began feeding on the grass.Select Genesis 41:18

19Next, seven skinny, bony cows came up out of the river. I have never seen such terrible looking cows anywhere in Egypt.Select Genesis 41:19

20The skinny cows ate the fat ones.Select Genesis 41:20

21But you couldn't tell it, because these skinny cows were just as skinny as they were before. At once, I woke up.Select Genesis 41:21

22I also dreamed that I saw seven heads of grain growing on one stalk. The heads were full and ripe.Select Genesis 41:22

23Then seven other heads of grain came up. They were thin and scorched by a wind from the desert.Select Genesis 41:23

24These heads of grain swallowed the full ones. I told my dreams to the magicians, but none of them could tell me the meaning of the dreams.Select Genesis 41:24

25Joseph replied: Your Majesty, both of your dreams mean the same thing, and in them God has shown what he is going to do.Select Genesis 41:25

26The seven good cows stand for seven years, and so do the seven good heads of grain.Select Genesis 41:26

27The seven skinny, ugly cows that came up later also stand for seven years, as do the seven bad heads of grain that were scorched by the desert wind. The dreams mean there will be seven years when there won't be enough grain.Select Genesis 41:27

28It is just as I said—God has shown what he intends to do.Select Genesis 41:28

29For seven years Egypt will have more than enough grain,Select Genesis 41:29

30but that will be followed by seven years when there won't be enough. The good years of plenty will be forgotten, and everywhere in Egypt people will be starving.Select Genesis 41:30

31The famine will be so bad that no one will remember that once there had been plenty.Select Genesis 41:31

32God has given you two dreams to let you know that he has definitely decided to do this and that he will do it soon.Select Genesis 41:32

33Your Majesty, you should find someone who is wise and will know what to do, so that you can put him in charge of all Egypt.Select Genesis 41:33

34Then appoint some other officials to collect one fifth of every crop harvested in Egypt during the seven years when there is plenty.Select Genesis 41:34

35Give them the power to collect the grain during those good years and to store it in your cities.Select Genesis 41:35

36It can be stored until it is needed during the seven years when there won't be enough grain in Egypt. This will keep the country from being destroyed because of the lack of food.Select Genesis 41:36

Joseph Is Made Governor over Egypt

37The king and his officials liked this plan.Select Genesis 41:37

38So the king said to them, “Who could possibly handle this better than Joseph? After all, the Spirit of God is with him.”Select Genesis 41:38

39The king told Joseph, “God is the one who has shown you these things. No one else is as wise as you are or knows as much as you do.Select Genesis 41:39

40I'm putting you in charge of my palace, and everybody will have to obey you. No one will be over you except me.Select Genesis 41:40

41You are now governor of all Egypt!”Select Genesis 41:41

42Then the king took off his royal ring and put it on Joseph's finger. He gave him fine clothes to wear and placed a gold chain around his neck.Select Genesis 41:42

43He also let him ride in the chariot next to his own, and people shouted, “Make way for Joseph!” So Joseph was governor of Egypt.Select Genesis 41:43

44The king told Joseph, “Although I'm king, no one in Egypt is to do anything without your permission.”Select Genesis 41:44

45He gave Joseph the Egyptian name Zaphenath Paneah. And he let him marry Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, a priest in the city of Heliopolis. Joseph traveled all over Egypt.Select Genesis 41:45

46Joseph was 30 when the king made him governor, and he went everywhere for the king.Select Genesis 41:46

47For seven years there were big harvests of grain.Select Genesis 41:47

48Joseph collected and stored up the extra grain in the cities of Egypt near the fields where it was harvested.Select Genesis 41:48

49In fact, there was so much grain that they stopped keeping record, because it was like counting the grains of sand along the beach.Select Genesis 41:49

50Joseph and his wife had two sons before the famine began.Select Genesis 41:50

51Their first son was named Manasseh, which means, “God has let me forget all my troubles and my family back home.”Select Genesis 41:51

52His second son was named Ephraim, which means “God has made me a success in the land where I suffered.”Select Genesis 41:52

53Egypt's seven years of plenty came to an end,Select Genesis 41:53

54and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was not enough food in other countries, but all over Egypt there was plenty.Select Genesis 41:54

55When the famine finally struck Egypt, the people asked the king for food, but he said, “Go to Joseph and do what he tells you to do.”Select Genesis 41:55

56The famine became bad everywhere in Egypt, so Joseph opened the storehouses and sold the grain to the Egyptians.Select Genesis 41:56

57People from all over the world came to Egypt to buy grain, because the famine was so severe in their countries.Select Genesis 41:57