Genesis 41:1

The Dreams of Pharaoh

1 After two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing beside 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 After two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing beside the Nile,

2 when seven cows, sleek and well-fed, came up from the river and began to graze among the reeds.

3 After them, seven other cows, sickly and thin, came up from the Nile and stood beside the well-fed cows on the bank of the river.

4 And the cows that were sickly and thin devoured the seven sleek, well-fed cows. Then Pharaoh woke up,

5 but he fell back asleep and dreamed a second time: Seven heads of grain, plump and ripe, came up on one stalk.