Genesis 41:17-27

17 So Pharao told what he had dreamed: Me thought I stood upon the bank of the river,
18 And seven kine came up out of the river, exceeding beautiful and full of flesh: and they grazed on green places in a marshy pasture.
19 And behold, there followed these, other seven kine, so very ill favoured and lean, that I never saw the like in the land of Egypt:
20 And they devoured and consumed the former,
21 And yet gave no mark of their being full: but were as lean and ill favoured as before. I awoke, and then fell asleep again,
22 And dreamed a dream: Seven ears of corn grew up upon one stalk, full and very fair.
23 Other seven also thin and blasted, sprung of the stalk:
24 And they devoured the beauty of the former: I told this dream to the conjecturers, and there is no man that can expound it.
25 Joseph answered: The king’s dream is one: God hath shewn to Pharao what he is about to do.
26 The seven beautiful kine, and the seven full ears, are seven years of plenty: and both contain the same meaning of the dream.
27 And the seven lean and thin kine that came up after them, and the seven thin ears that were blasted with the burning wind, are seven years of famine to come:

Genesis 41:17-27 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.

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