Genesis 41:21

21 But [when] they went into their bellies it could not be known that they went into their bellies, for their appearance [was] as ugly as at the beginning. Then I awoke.

Genesis 41:21 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 41:21

And when they had eaten them up
Or "were come into their bowels" ^F11, into their inward parts, their bellies, being swallowed and devoured by them: it could not be known that they had eaten them:
or were in their bellies, they seemed never the fuller nor the fatter for them: but they [were] still ill favoured as at the beginning;
looked as thin and as meagre as they did when they first came out of the river, or were first seen by Pharaoh: so I awoke;
surprised at what he had seen; this was his first dream.

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FOOTNOTES:

F11 (hnbrq la hnabtw) "et venerunt ad interiora earum", Pagninus, Montanus; "in ventrem istarum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius, Tigurine version.

Genesis 41:21 In-Context

19 And behold, seven other cows came up after them from the Nile, very {ugly and gaunt}--never have I seen [any] as them in all the land of Egypt for ugliness.

20 And the thin and ugly cows ate the former seven healthy cows.

21 But [when] they went into their bellies it could not be known that they went into their bellies, for their appearance [was] as ugly as at the beginning. Then I awoke.

22 Then I saw in my dream and behold, seven ears of grain were coming out of one stalk, full and good.

23 And behold, seven withered ears of grain, thin [and] scorched by the east wind, sprouted up after them.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "inner parts"
• [b]. Or "inner parts"