Bereshis 41:23

23 And, hinei, seven heads of grain, withered, thin, and scorched with the east wind, tzomechot (sprung up) after them;

Bereshis 41:23 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 41:23

And, behold, seven ears withered
Here a new epithet of the bad ears is given, and expressed by a word nowhere else used, which Ben Melech interprets, small, little, according to the use of the word in the Misnah; Aben Ezra, void, empty, such as had no grains of corn in them, nothing but husk or chaff, and observes that some render it images; for the word is so used in the Arabic language, and may signify that these ears were only mere shadows or images of ears, which had no substance in them: Jarchi says, the word, in the Syriac language signifies a rock, and so it denotes that these ears were dry as a rock, and had no moisture in them, laid dried, burnt up, and blasted with the east wind.

Bereshis 41:23 In-Context

21 And when they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them; but they were still rah in appearance, as at the beginning. So I awoke.

22 And I saw in my chalom, and, hinei, seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, mele’ot (full) and tovot (good);

23 And, hinei, seven heads of grain, withered, thin, and scorched with the east wind, tzomechot (sprung up) after them;

24 And the thin heads of grain devoured the seven tov heads of grain; and I told this unto the chartummi (magicians); but there was none that could explain it to me.

25 And Yosef said unto Pharaoh, The chalom of Pharaoh is echad: HaElohim hath revealed to Pharaoh what He is about to do.