Genesis 41:16-26

16 Joseph answered, "I cannot, Your Majesty, but God will give a favorable interpretation."

17 The king said, "I dreamed that I was standing on the bank of the Nile,

18 when seven cows, fat and sleek, came up out of the river and began feeding on the grass.

19 Then seven other cows came up which were thin and bony. They were the poorest cows I have ever seen anywhere in Egypt.

20 The thin cows ate up the fat ones,

21 but no one would have known it, because they looked just as bad as before. Then I woke up.

22 I also dreamed that I saw seven heads of grain which were full and ripe, growing on one stalk.

23 Then seven heads of grain sprouted, thin and scorched by the desert wind,

24 and the thin heads of grain swallowed the full ones. I told the dreams to the magicians, but none of them could explain them to me."

25 Joseph said to the king, "The two dreams mean the same thing; God has told you what he is going to do.

26 The seven fat cows are seven years, and the seven full heads of grain are also seven years; they have the same meaning.

Genesis 41:16-26 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 41

In this chapter are related Pharaoh's dreams, which his magicians could not interpret, Ge 41:1-9, upon which the chief butler now remembering Joseph, recommended him to Pharaoh as an interpreter, having had an happy experience of him as such himself, Ge 41:10-13, when Joseph was sent for out of prison; and Pharaoh having related his dreams, he interpreted them of seven years of plenty, and seven years of famine, that should be in the land of Egypt, Ge 41:14-32; and having done, he gave his advice to provide in the years of plenty against the years of famine, and proposed a scheme for doing it, which was approved of by Pharaoh and his ministers, Ge 41:33-37; and Joseph himself was pitched upon as the most proper person to execute it, and was appointed chief over the kingdom next to Pharaoh, who gave him a new name and a wife upon this occasion, Ge 41:38-45; accordingly, in the years of plenty he took a tour throughout the whole land, and gathered and laid up food in vast quantities in every city, Ge 41:46-49; an account is given of two sons born to Joseph, and of their names, Ge 41:50-52; and of the seven years of famine, beginning to come on at the end of the seven years of plenty, which brought great distress on the land of Egypt, and the countries round about, who all came to Joseph to buy corn, Ge 41:53-57.