Genesis 41:23

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

Genesis 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.

Genesis 41:23 In-Context

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.

24 And the thin ears of grain swallowed up the seven good ears of grain. And I told the magicians, but there was none to explain [it] to me."

25 Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, "The dreams of Pharaoh [are] one. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.