Genesis 41:1-6

Joseph Interprets Pharaoh's Dreams

1 Two years later Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing beside the Nile,

2 when seven healthy-looking, well-fed cows came up from the Nile and began to graze among the reeds.

3 After them, seven other cows, sickly and thin, came up from the Nile and stood beside those cows along the bank of the Nile.

4 The sickly, thin cows ate the healthy, well-fed cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.

5 He fell asleep and dreamed a second time: Seven heads of grain, full and good, came up on one stalk.

6 After them, seven heads of grain, thin and scorched by the east wind, sprouted up.

Genesis 41:1-6 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 41

In this chapter are related Pharaoh's dreams, which his magicians could not interpret, Ge 41:1-9, upon which the chief butler now remembering Joseph, recommended him to Pharaoh as an interpreter, having had an happy experience of him as such himself, Ge 41:10-13, when Joseph was sent for out of prison; and Pharaoh having related his dreams, he interpreted them of seven years of plenty, and seven years of famine, that should be in the land of Egypt, Ge 41:14-32; and having done, he gave his advice to provide in the years of plenty against the years of famine, and proposed a scheme for doing it, which was approved of by Pharaoh and his ministers, Ge 41:33-37; and Joseph himself was pitched upon as the most proper person to execute it, and was appointed chief over the kingdom next to Pharaoh, who gave him a new name and a wife upon this occasion, Ge 41:38-45; accordingly, in the years of plenty he took a tour throughout the whole land, and gathered and laid up food in vast quantities in every city, Ge 41:46-49; an account is given of two sons born to Joseph, and of their names, Ge 41:50-52; and of the seven years of famine, beginning to come on at the end of the seven years of plenty, which brought great distress on the land of Egypt, and the countries round about, who all came to Joseph to buy corn, Ge 41:53-57.