Genesis 41:1

Joseph Interprets Pharaoh’s Dreams

1 And it happened [that] after {two full years} Pharaoh dreamed, and behold, he was standing by the Nile.

Genesis 41:1 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 41:1

And it came to pass at the end of two full years
It is not a clear case, as Aben Ezra observes, from whence these years are to be reckoned, whether from the time of Joseph's being put into prison, or from the time that the chief butler was taken out of it; the latter seems more probable, and better connects this and the preceding chapter: that Pharaoh dreamed, and, behold, he stood by the river;
it seemed to him, in his dream, as if he stood near the river Nile, or some canal or flow of water cut out of that river.

Genesis 41:1 In-Context

1 And it happened [that] after {two full years} Pharaoh dreamed, and behold, he was standing by the Nile.

2 And behold, seven cows, {well built and fat}, were coming up from the Nile, and they grazed among the reeds.

3 And behold, seven other cows came up after them from the Nile, {ugly and gaunt}, and they stood beside those cows on the bank of the Nile.

4 And the {ugly and gaunt} cows ate the seven {well built and fat} cows. Then Pharaoh awoke.

5 And he fell asleep and dreamed a second time, and behold, seven ears of grain, plump and good, were coming out of one stalk.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "two years of days"